Yes, quite badly, indeed.
LOTH
Ah—ha! And what was it that happened to his leg?
HELEN
That's a delicate subject. You have met Mr. Kahl?… But I must tell you this story very softly. [She draws nearer to LOTH.] His father, you know, was just as silly about hunting as he is. When wandering apprentices came into his yard he shot at them—sometimes only into the air in order to frighten them. He had a violent temper too, and especially when he had been drinking. Well, I suppose Beipst grumbled one day—he likes to grumble, you know—and so the farmer snatched up his rifle and fired at him. Beipst, you know, used to be coachman at the Kahls.
LOTH
Outrage and iniquity wherever one goes.
HELEN
[Growing more uncertain and excited in her speech.] Oh, I've had my own thoughts often and often … and I've felt so sick with pity for them all, for old Beipst and … When the farmers are so coarse and brutish like—well, like Streckmann, who—lets his farm hands starve and feeds sweetmeats to the dogs. I've often felt confused in my mind since I came home from boarding-school … I have my burden too!—But I'm talking nonsense. It can't possibly interest you, and you will only laugh at me to yourself.