AMELIA. This is sinful and shameful——
The NEIGHBOUR signals to AMELIA by putting his finger across his lips.
AMELIA. [Goes up to her children] Don't cry, children! Obey grandmother now—there is nothing to be afraid of. It is better to suffer evil than to do it, and I know that you are innocent. May God preserve you! And don't forget your evening prayer!
The OLD LADY goes out with the children.
AMELIA. Belief comes so hard, but it is sweet if you can achieve it.
NEIGHBOUR. Is it so hard to believe that God is good—at the very moment when his kind intentions are most apparent?
AMELIA. Give me a great and good word for the night, so that I may sleep on it as on a soft pillow.
NEIGHBOUR. You shall have it. Let me think a moment.—This is it: Isaac was to be sacrificed——
AMELIA. Oh, no, no!
NEIGHBOUR. Quiet, now!—Isaac was to be sacrificed, but he never was!