u out
there in the dark. My mother would never allow that, either!

CLARA.

I don't see him at all!

MOTHER.

Have you had a quarrel? Otherwise I think I might like him--he is so
steady! If he only amounted to something! In my time he would not have
had to wait long. Then gentlemen were eager for a good penman, as lame
people are for their crutch, for they were rare. Even we humble people
could use one. Today he would compose for a son a New Year's greeting to
his father and receive for the gilded initials alone enough to buy a
child's doll with. Tomorrow the father would give him a sly wink and
have him read the greeting aloud, secretly and behind closed doors, so
as not to be surprised and have his ignorance discovered. That meant
double pay. Then penmen were jolly people and made the price of beer
high. It is different now. Now we old folks, not knowing anything about
reading and writing, must allow ourselves to be made fun of by
nine-year-old children. The world is steadily growing wiser; perhaps the
time is yet to come when people who can't walk a tight-rope will have to
feel ashamed of it!

CLARA.

The bell is ringing!

MOTHER.

Well, child, I will pray for you. And as far as Leonard is concerned,
love him as he loves God--no more and no less. That is what my old
mother said to me when she died and gave me her blessing. I have kept it
long enough; now you have it!

CLARA (_hands her a nosegay_).

There!

MOTHER.

That certainly comes from Carl.

CLARA (_nods; then aside_.)

Would it were so! Anything that is to give her real pleasure has to come
from him!

MOTHER.

Oh, he is so good--and he likes me! [_Exit_.]

CLARA (_looks after her through the window_).

There she goes! Three times I have dreamt that she was lying in her
coffin, and now--oh, these awful dreams! I am not going to care about
dreams any more; I will take no pleasure in a good dream, and then I
shall not have to worry about the bad one that follows it. How firmly
and confidently she steps out! She is already close to the church-yard.
I wonder who will be the first person she meets? It would signify
nothing--no, I mean only [_she shudders_]--the gravedigger! He has just
finished digging a grave and is climbing out of it! She greets him and
glances smilingly down into the dismal hole! She throws the nosegay into
it and enters the church!

[_A choir is heard_.]

They are singing: _Praise ye the Lord_.

[_She folds her