ERICSON. It's horrible—don't you find life horrible?
STRANGER. [Covering his eyes with his hand] Yes, horrible beyond all description!
ERICSON. I don't want to live any longer!
STRANGER. Must! [Pause] Must! [Pause] Tell me—the student is arrested, you say—can he get out of it?
ERICSON. Hardly!—And now, as we are talking nicely, I'll tell you something: he is innocent, but he cannot clear himself. For the only witness that can prove him innocent would, by doing so, prove him guilty—in another way.
STRANGER. She with the hairpins, isn't it?
ERICSON. Yes.
STRANGER. The old one or the young one?
ERICSON. You have to figure that out yourself. But it isn't the cook.
STRANGER. What a web this is!—But who put the lamp there?