The Grandfather [shuddering with peculiar horror]. Who is that who got up?
The Uncle. No one got up!
The Father. I did not get up!
The Three Daughters. Nor I!—Nor I!—Nor I!
The Grandfather. Some one got up from the table!
The Uncle. Light the lamp!... [Cries of terror are suddenly heard from the child's room, on the right; these cries continue, with gradations of horror, until the end of the scene.]
The Father. Listen to the child!
The Uncle. He has never cried before!
The Father. Let us go and see him!
The Uncle. The light! The light! [At this moment, quick and heavy steps are heard in the room on the left.—Then a deathly silence.—They listen in mute terror, until the door of the room opens slowly; the light from it is cast into the room where they are sitting, and the Sister of Mercy appears on the threshold, in her black garments, and bows as she makes the sign of the cross, to announce the death of the wife. They understand, and, after a moment of hesitation and fright, silently enter the chamber of death, while the Uncle politely steps aside on the threshold to let the three girls pass. The blind man, left alone, gets up, agitated, and feels his way round the table in the darkness.]