PIPER
Hist! Who dared?
VERONIKA'S VOICE
. . . Jan!—
PIPER
Who dared, I say?
A woman.—'T is a woman!
[Enter VERONIKA, on the road from Hamelin. She is very pale and worn, and drags herself along, clutching in her hand a herd-bell. She looks about her, holds up the bell and shakes it once softly, covering it with her fingers again; then she sits wearily down at the foot of the ruined shrine and covers her face, with a sharp breath.
VERONIKA
. . . Ah,—ah,—ah!
[The PIPER watches with breathless wonder and fascination. It seems
to horrify him.
PIPER [under breath] That woman!
[VERONIKA lifts her head suddenly and sees the motion of the bushes.
VERONIKA
He is coming!—He is here!
[She darts towards the well.—The PIPER springs up.
Oh, God of Mercy! . . . It is only you!
Where is he?—Where?—Where are you hiding him?
PIPER
[confusedly]
Woman . . . what do you, wandering, with that bell?
That herd-bell?
VERONIKA
Oh! are you man or cloud? . . . Where is my Jan?
Jan,—Jan,—the little lame one! He is mine.
He lives, I know he lives. I know—yes, yes,
You've hidden him. I will be patient.—Yes.