Jo.
[Anxiously.] I couldn’t stand against the wind. Half the guard rail is washed away, the pier is under water. [A silence. Kneirtje prays.] Oh! Oh! I’m dead from those miserable stories!
Kneirtje.
You’re not yourself tonight. You never went on like this when Geert sailed with the Navy. Go to bed and pray. Prayer is the only consolation. A sailor’s wife must not be weak. In a month or two it will storm again; each time again. And there are many fishermen on the sea besides our boys. [Her speech sinks into a soft murmur. Her old fingers handle the rosary.]
Jo.
Barend, we almost drove him away! I taunted him to the last. [Seeing that Kneirtje prays, she walks to the window wringing her hands, pulls up the curtain uncertainly, stares through the window panes. Then she cautiously opens a window shutter. The wind blows the curtain on high, the lamp dances, the light puffs out. She swiftly closes the window.]
Kneirtje.
[Angry from fear.] Have you gone crazy! Keep your paws off that window!
Jo.
[Moaning.] Oh! oh! oh!——