and
nobody paid any attention to it.

[_Pause; aside_.]

It is so still. I must keep on talking, otherwise he can hear me
breathing, and will notice my anxiety--and also that he may not hear
Mary when she climbs in at the window.

[_Listening repeatedly_.]

The whole evening I have been thinking about it. Only yesterday Robert
said to me--

FORESTER.

Always Robert--

SOPHY (_has seated herself by his side_).

We were walking along the willows, where the pine-thicket is, under the
rock, in the Dell--

FORESTER (_violently_).

Don't mention that--

SOPHY.

How you start! It was at sunset; and as I looked around, something was
coming out from under the pines--so red. I--frightened--For God's sake,
I say, why, that is blood!

[FORESTER _throws down his spoon and rises_.]

SOPHY.

Then the evening glow was reflected in the water.--But what is the
matter with you?

FORESTER.

Always with your Dell. What do you care about the Dell?

SOPHY.

Did something happen to you there? People say the place is haunted.
Robert said so to me yesterday. They say that there is an accursed spot!
There some one committed a murd--

FORESTER (_seizes his gun_).

What do you know?

SOPHY (_recoiling in terror_).

Ulrich!--

FORESTER.

Will you keep quiet?

SOPHY (_stops before him, shuddering, filled with a presentiment_).

Ulrich! What have you done?

FORESTER (_has recovered his self-possession_).

Stuff and nonsense! Is this a night for such stories?

[_Lost in thought_.]

SOPHY.

Go ahead. Whether an hour sooner, or an hour later. You have me on your
conscience.

[_Sinks down upon a chair to the left_.]

FORESTER (_pause; then he walks slowly up and down, and gradually comes
near her, hesitating_).

I must tell you something, Sophy--if you do not already know it; it will
not let me rest. I am in the right; but--and then I cannot tell--is it
true or is it only an oppressive dream?--a dream in which one cannot do
what one wishes--and exhausts oneself--because one must always do what
one does not wish. Come here! Do you hear? Place your hand on the Bible.

SOPHY.

Great God! What can be the meaning of this!

FORESTER.

It would be horrible if I had been obliged to kill her, and after all
everything were only--and then I should have in vain--Sophy!

[_Quite close to her; softly_.]

There is a report that a corpse is lying in the Dell!

SOPHY.

You are drunk or mad!

FORESTER.