Just a little after half-past four. When do they expect you?
Wendla.
I thought it was later. I lay dreaming for a long time on the moss by the brook. The time went by so fast, I feared it was already evening.
Melchior.
If nobody is waiting for you, let us linger here a little longer. Under the oak tree there is my favorite place. If one leans one's head back against the trunk and looks up through the branches at the sky, one becomes hypnotized. The ground is warm yet from the morning sun.——For weeks I've been wanting to ask you something, Wendla.
Wendla.
But I must be home at five o'clock.
Melchior.
We'll go together, then. I'll take the basket and we'll beat our way through the bushes, so that in ten minutes we'll be on the bridge!——When one lies so, with one's head in one's hand, one has the strangest thoughts.——
(Both lie down under the oak.)