WILKENS.

Well.  Now we are just as far as we were at the beginning.

[Turns away.]

SOPHY.

You are not going?  You are my only consolation, cousin.  No doubt, he will change his mind.  He has the greatest respect for you, cousin.

WILKENS.

I notice he has.

SOPHY.

The betrothal!—­Mary!  How unfortunate that the pastor has not yet arrived!  Cousin, if you only would—­

Enter ANDREW.

WILKENS.

His head is as hard as iron.  Can any one make anything plain to him?  MOeLLER (who until now has been looking out of the window without saying anything, looks at his watch, and then turns pompously to the FORESTER).

Sir, I should like to ask you for your final decision.

FORESTER.

What I have said, I have said.

[Takes a few steps, then stops.]

And moreover, he can’t do it; I mean, dismiss me.  He has no right to dismiss me.  First of all he must produce evidence that I have deserved it.  He has no right to dismiss me without any cause whatever.

MOeLLER (with authority).

So you will not clear the forest?  Say it plainly:  You will not?

FORESTER.

If it was not sufficiently plain to you before, then:  No!  I can’t state it more plainly.  I will not be a scoundrel, and he cannot dismiss an honest man.  Is that plain, definite and unmistakable?  I am forester, and I remain forester—­and the forest shall not be cleared.  That you may tell your master and your Godfrey and whomever you please.

SOPHY.

Have only a little patience with him.  I am sure Mr. Stein does not mean it, and you have been so kind already—­

MOeLLER.

If the decision rested with me, with me, Justus Moeller,—­what would I not do to please you, madam?  But I am here as the representative of Stein and Son.

FORESTER.

And if he thinks he has a right, let him act accordingly.  But you, woman, do not insult my good right by asking favors of the wrong-doer.  Good-day, Mr. Moeller.  Is there anything else you desire?  Nothing?  Have you anything else to tell me?

MOeLLER (very pompously).

Nothing beyond the fact that your incumbency of the post of forester ceases with the present moment.  Here is your salary—­a half year in advance.  In consideration whereof, as soon as possible, within three days at the latest, you will vacate this house, so that the present forester may move in, upon whom, from this moment on, rests the sole responsibility for the forest.

[The FORESTER is obliged to sit down.]

SOPHY (to ANDREW, whom she has been compelled to restrain all the while, and who now rushes toward the door).

Where are you going, Andrew?

ANDREW.

I am going to tell Robert what his father—­