HEDWIG: Franz? AMELIA: Franz, too.
[Hedwig lies prostrate on the floor. Their grief is very silent; terrible because it is so dumb and stoical. The Mother is the first to rouse herself. She bends over Hedwig.]
Mother:
Hedwig. [Hedwig sobs convulsively.] Don't, child. Be careful for the little one's sake. [Hedwig sits up.] For your child be quiet, be brave.
Hedwig:
I loved him so, Mother!
Mother:
Yes, he was my boy—my first-born.
Hedwig:
Your first-born, and this is the end.
[She rises up in unutterable wrath and despair.]
O God!
Mother: [Anxious for her.]
Promise me you will be careful, Hedwig. For the sake of your child, your first-born, that is to be—
Hedwig:
My child? For this end? For the empire—the war that is to be? No!
Mother: [Half to herself.]
He may look like Franz.
[Hedwig quickly seizes the pistol from the mantel-shelf and moves to the bedroom door.
Amelia, watching her, sees her do it, and cries out in alarm and rushes to take it from her.]
Amelia: [In horror.]
Hedwig! What are you doing? Give it to me! No, you must not! You have too much to live for.
