Chapter 92

_The same. Enter_ ANDREW. ANDREW _at the door; when he sees the people he is going to withdraw_.

FORESTER.

Andrew, you come in. Before your superior!

[_Seats himself as if preparing for trial_.]

_The_ FORESTER, SOPHY, WEILER, WILLIAM _on the left. The_ PASTOR, WILKENS _on the right_. ANDREW, _who dares not look any one in the face, in the centre_.

FORESTER.

Come here, forester's assistant Andrew Ulrich. Where do you come from?

ANDREW. From the nursery, father.

FORESTER.

Where is your rifle, Andrew Ulrich?

[ANDREW _is silent_.]

FORESTER.

Who has it?

ANDREW (_in a hollow voice_).

Godfrey.

[FORESTER _rises involuntarily_.]

SOPHY (_in great alarm_).

Ulrich!

FORESTER (_sits down again_).

Here no one has anything to say, except the forester's assistant Ulrich and his superior. Andrew--

ANDREW.

Father--

FORESTER.

Why do you not look at me?

ANDREW.

I no longer can look any one in the face. I want to go to America as cabin-boy. Let me go, father.

FORESTER.

Boy, it is your duty to answer when your superior asks. What is it that Godfrey has? Out with it!

ANDREW.

I was just at my task of taking out the maple trees in the nursery--

FORESTER.

As I had ordered you.

ANDREW.

Then came--

FORESTER.

Godfrey? Go on, Andrew Ulrich.

ANDREW.

With six woodcutters from the Brandsberg--

FORESTER.

From--go on, Andrew Ulrich.

ANDREW.

He was intoxicated--

WEILER (_half audibly_).

As usual--

[_When the forester casts a look at him, he pretends not to have said anything_.]

ANDREW.

And so were the woodcutters. He had them pass the bottle round. "Here we begin," he said. "Ulrich has made a fine mess of it," he said; "for that reason he is dismissed." When he had said that I stepped forward forward--

FORESTER.

You stepped forward?--

[_Rises_.]

ANDREW.

And said he was a miserable slanderer. And that, moreover, he had no business to give orders in the forest.

FORESTER (_straightens himself_).

In the forest.

ANDREW.

And that he should go where he belonged.

FORESTER (_emphatically_).

Where he belonged.

[_Sits down_.]

And he--

ANDREW.

Laughed.

FORESTER (_rises and sits down again; whistles, and drums on the table_).

Go on.

ANDREW.

And said: "What does that fellow want?"

FORESTER (_in a loud voice_).

Andrew!

ANDREW.

Father--

FORESTER.

And you? Go on, go on.

ANDREW.

"Hasn't he plants from my forest in his hand?" [_Lowering his voice._]

"Hold that thief who steals wood and plants."

FORESTER (_short pause_).

And they--

ANDREW.

Held me.

FORESTER.

And you--

ANDREW.

They were too many. My resistance was of no avail--

FORESTER (_acting as if he were present at the fight_).

Was of no avail. They were six against one.

ANDREW.

I was furious when I saw what he intended to do. They took off my clothes. I told him to shoot me, otherwise I would shoot him if he let me escape with my life. At that he laughed. They--had--to hold--me.

FORESTER (_jumps up_).

And he--

ANDREW (_reluctantly, imploring_).

Father--

FORESTER.

And he--he--

ANDREW.

He--

FORESTER (_faintly_).

He--

ANDREW (_beside himself_).

Father, I cannot say it. No man in God's world has ever dared to do that to me!

FORESTER (_drawing a deep breath_).

Be quiet now. Say it later--Andrew.

[_Pause. He passes by ANDREW, who now steps over to SOPHY._]

Fine weather today, pastor. All at once the old rheumatism in my arm begins to bother me again.--And the gnats are flying so low. We shall have a thunderstorm before the day is over.--Andrew, he did--I never did, and a stranger--a--say nothing, Andrew--I understand you.

[_Goes up and down._]

SOPHY (_to ANDREW_).

How unfortunate that you provoked Godfrey yesterday!

WEILER.

Haven't I foretold it?

SOPHY.

You are deathly pale. I will give you some drops--

FORESTER (_drawn up to his full height, stops before_ ANDREW. SOPHY _timidly draws back_).

Listen, Andrew. And you, Weiler.

[WEILER _advances_.]

Open your ears! Whoever comes into my forest with a gun--you challenge him! You understand?

WEILER.

Well, yes.

FORESTER.

Those are your instructions. You challenge him! I am forester, and nobody else, and you are my servants. The master and his son may pass. But whoever else comes into my forest with a gun--do you hear?--be he who he may--whether he wears a green coat or not--he is a poacher, he is to be challenged--"Stop! Down with your gun!" As is provided in the regulations. If he throws it down--all right. If he does not throw it down--fire! As is provided in the regulations. And you, William, go without delay to town to see lawyer Schirmer. You tell him the whole affair. He is to draw up a complaint against Stein and his Godfrey, and is to file it with the court. Don't forget anything, William: that my father and grandfather held the position; that people call me the Hereditary Forester; the case of Rupert in Erdmansgrün. It probably will not be necessary, but one cannot be too careful. Don't forget that the forest is exposed toward the north and west and that Stein intends to dismiss me because I refuse to act as a scoundrel toward him. If you go now, you can be home before night. Andrew and I will accompany you as far as the Boundary Inn. There Andrew can wait for you in the evening when you return.

[_To_ ANDREW, _who is examining the guns_.]

Take the double-barreled one with the yellow strap, Andrew. I am going to take the other.

ANDREW (_does as told_).

Mother, a muffler; I feel chilly.

SOPHY (_takes one from the closet_).

But you really should stay home, Andrew, after that outrage.

[_Helps him to tie the muffler around his neck.]

WILKENS.

And you don't see that you are absolutely in the wrong? You will be wilfully blind?

PASTOR.

You wish to begin a suit because of your dismissal? You cannot do that.

FORESTER (_who in the meantime has girded on his hunting knife_).

I cannot do that? Then it is right that he wishes to dismiss me?

PASTOR.

It certainly is unfair; wrong before the tribunal of the heart, but not before the law.

FORESTER.

Whatever is right before the heart must also be right before the law.

PASTOR.

If you would permit me to explain to you--

FORESTER.

Explain? Here everything is clear, except your cobwebs of the brain by means of which those gentlemen would like to puzzle you, so that you might lose confidence in your own common-sense. Those Buts and those Ifs! I know all about that! The Buts and the Ifs--they originate entirely in the head; the heart knows nothing of them; they are the creators of intrigues. Very well, sir, go ahead with your explanation. But confine yourself to plain Yes and No. Anything outside of that is a nuisance. The Buts and Ifs are a nuisance. Mr. Stein intends to rob me of my honor; he intends to reward my fidelity and my honesty with disgrace; in my sixty-fifth year I am to stand before the world as a scoundrel. Now, Sir, Yes or No--is that right?

PASTOR.

I am to answer Yes or No? Indeed, it is not right in the ordinary sense, but--

FORESTER (_interrupts triumphantly_).

Then it is not right? And if it is not right, it must be wrong. And for this purpose the courts are there, that no wrong shall be done. No man shall make me doubt my good right. And I shall break friendship forever with him who says another word to me about yielding. Amen! If only a But were required to make wrong right, then I would rather live among the savages, then I would rather be the most miserable beast on God's earth than a human being. Are you ready, boys?

ANDREW _and_ WILLIAM.

Yes.

FORESTER.

Come then, boys. Everything else may go to the devil, sir. But right, sir, right must remain right!

[_Exeunt_.]