KERSTI. [Submissively] I am dead! I have been dying for days.... Are you satisfied now?
BRITA. No, you shall go on dying for days to come! You shall die for perjury, falsehood, murder, theft, slander, deceit! You shall die six times over! And when you really die the seventh time, it will seem so only! You shall not rest in consecrated ground! You shall have no black coffin with stars of silver on it! You shall have no spruce strewn and no bells rung....
KERSTI. I suppose not!
BRITA. Therefore [Heavy steps are heard outside] Do you hear those steps? Count them! [She counts in time with the approaching steps of the SHERIFF] One, two, three, four, five, six....
The SHERIFF enters from the rear. BRITA goes to him and whispers something in his ear.
SHERIFF. It's here, you say?
BRITA. Not the crown, I guess!
SHERIFF. Something else, then! [He raises the trap-door and looks down] No, it is not the crown! Poor Kersti! Did you put it there?
KERSTI. I did not!
SHERIFF. No?—Tell the truth!