I am. Indeed I am. I know what I'm doing. Don't be afraid. God will protect me.
[MRS. KITTELHAUS presses his hand, draws back, and wipes tears from her eyes.
KITTELHAUS
[While the dull murmur of a great, excited crowd is heard uninterruptedly outside.] I'll go … I'll go out as if I were simply on my way home. I shall see if my sacred office … if the people have not sufficient respect for me left to … I shall try … [He takes his hat and stick.] Forward, then, in God's name!
[Goes out accompanied by DREISSIGER, PFEIFER and JOHN.
MRS. KITTELHAUS
Oh, dear Mrs. Dreissiger! [She bursts into tears and embraces her.] I do trust nothing will happen to him.
MRS. DREISSIGER
[Absently.] I don't know how it is, Mrs. Kittelhaus, but I … I can't tell you how I feel. I didn't think such a thing was possible. It's … it's as if it was a sin to be rich. If I had been told about all this beforehand, Mrs. Kittelhaus, I don't know but what I would rather have been left in my own humble position.