FLAMM
Come in! Surely someone's been knocking again! Come in! Come in! Confound it all! [Old BERND, very pale himself, urges ROSE to enter. She is pale and resists him. She and FLAMM look steadfastly into each other's eyes for a moment. Thereupon FLAMM continues:] Very well! Just wait one little minute.
[He goes into the den as though to search for something.
The following colloquy of BERND, ROSE and AUGUST is carried on in eager whispers.
BERND
What was Streckmann sayin' to you?
ROSE
Who? But, father …
BERND
Streckmann was out there, talkin' an' talkin' to her!
ROSE
Well, what should he ha' been talkin' to me about?
BERND
That's what I'm askin' you.
ROSE
An' I know about nothin'.
AUGUST
You ought to have no dealin's with such a scamp!
ROSE
Can I help it if he talks to me?
BERND
You see, you must confess that he's been talkin' to you!
ROSE
An' if he has! I didn't listen to him—
BERND
I'll have to be givin' notice about that feller Streckmann. I'll have to get the help o' the law against him. We was walkin' past there a while ago where they're workin' with that threshin' machine. You hear? They're beginnin' again! [From afar the humming and rumbling of the machine is heard.] An' then he called out somethin' after us. I couldn't just rightly hear what it was.
AUGUST
If a girl talks as much as two words to that man, her good repute is almost ruined.
ROSE
Well, go an' get yourself a better girl.