A door creaked and the schoolmaster changed the conversation. 'Come this way, your wife is in the schoolroom.'
'Is that Slimak?' Fritz called out.
'It is I.'
'Don't stay long with your wife, she is being looked after, and we want you at daybreak; you must sleep in the kitchen.'
The noise of loud conversation and clinking of glasses came from the back of the house, but the large schoolroom was empty, and only lighted by a small lamp. His wife was lying on a plank bed; a pungent smell of vinegar pervaded the room. That smell took the heart out of Slimak; surely his wife must be very ill! He stood over her; her eye-lashes twitched and she looked steadily at him.
'Is it you, Josef?'
'Who else should it be?'
Her hands moved about restlessly on the sheepskin; she said distinctly:
'What are you doing, Josef, what are you doing?'
'You see I am standing here.'
'Ah yes, you are standing there…but what are you doing? I know everything, never fear!'