Chapter 88

_In the_ FORESTER's _house_.

SOPHY _alone; then_ WEILER; _and, later, the_ FORESTER.

SOPHY (_closing the window_).

Robert hasn't come back yet, nor the pastor.

WEILER (_entering through the centre door_).

Bless my soul, if he don't come to grief! But who, in thunder, is really forester? I wonder whether the mistress has saved me anything? But, anyhow, I have no appetite. Well!

SOPHY.

I suppose it has become cold by this time.

[_Takes from the oven a plate with food, from the closet bread, etc., and puts it on the table to the left_.]

WEILER.

We shall all be cold some day.

[_Sits down to eat_.]

FORESTER (_has entered from the side_).

Have you found the trail of the stag from Lützdorf again?

WEILER.

Stalking about. But that's the way it goes. As soon as they are man and wife, master and servant--then love and friendship fly out of the window.

FORESTER.

What do you mean by "stalking about?"

WEILER.

On his four legs he stood by the boundary forest in the oats, and was eating.

FORESTER.

Who?

WEILER.

The stag from Lützdorf.

FORESTER (_emphatically_).

A stag does not--eat; he browses.

WEILER.

All right!

SOPHY (_waiting on him_).

But what is your news?

WEILER.

Well--

SOPHY.

I wonder whether I shall hear anything now? If I don't care to know anything, then you never get through talking.

FORESTER (_stands before him; severely_).

Weiler, do you hear?

WEILER.

Well, Godfrey. Today he has grown six inches; he immediately put on his laced hat, girded on his hunting knife and drank two bitters and a half dozen glasses of whisky more than usual; in consequence he has need of a road that's broader than the ordinary by half.

FORESTER.

Have you done eating?

WEILER.

Almost. But tell me, who is now the real forester of Düsterwalde? The other fellow is already giving orders to the woodcutters for the clearing, so he must be the forester. But you also act as if you were still forester.

FORESTER.

You may be sure, I still am. I am forester of Düsterwalde, and nobody else.

WEILER.

You intend to carry your point? But I'll tell you who is in the right nowadays [_makes a pantomime of counting money_]--whoever has the longest breath.--Who is coming there in such a hurry?