Hedwig: [Starting up.]
Amelia? Marry you? No! Amelia, is this true?
Amelia: [Hesitating, troubled, and uncertain.]
They tell me I must—for the fatherland.
Hedwig:
Marry this man, whom you scarcely know, whom surely you cannot love! Why, you make a mock of marriage! It isn't that they have tempted you with the widow's pension? It is so tiny; it's next to nothing. Surely you wouldn't yield to that?
Amelia: [Frightened.]
I did want to go as a nurse, but the priests and the generals—they say we must marry—to—for the fatherland, Hedwig.
Hoffman: [To Hedwig.]
I command you to be silent!