“The fog is rising!” says one, looking out of the window. “Do you hear what I said about the fog?”

“It’s time to go to sleep. I say, it’s time to go to sleep!”

Desfoso comes forward and speaks cautiously:

“That isn’t quite so, abbot. It seems you didn’t say exactly what you ought to say, abbot. They seem to think differently. I don’t say anything for myself—I am simply talking about them. What do you say, Thomas?”

THOMAS—We ought to go to sleep, I say. Isn’t it true that it is time to go to sleep?

MARIET (softly)—Sit down, Gart. You are tired to-night. You don’t answer?

An old fisherman says:

“There used to be a custom in our land, I heard, that a murderer was to pay a fine for the man he killed. Have you heard about it, Desfoso?”

Another voice is heard:

“Philipp is dead. Philipp is dead already, do you hear, neighbour? Who is going to support his mother?”