CLARA.

Oh, what anguish!  Yes, I must go!  Away!

CARL.

What do you mean by that?

CLARA.

I must go into the kitchen!  What else should I mean?

[Clasping her forehead.]

Yes!  That too!  Just to hear that I came home again!

[Exit.]

CARL.

She acts very strangely!

[Sings]

  A bold and saucy sea-gull
  Sweeps round, as if possessed—­

CLARA. [Reenters.]

The last thing is done!  Father’s supper is on the fire!  As I closed the kitchen door behind me, I thought to myself:  You are never to enter there again!  I shuddered in my very soul!  Thus I shall go out of the room too, thus out of the house, thus out of the world!

CARL. [Sings; he continues to walk back and forth; CLARA remains in the background.]

  Aloft the sun is burning,
  The fishes, glancing, turning,
  Circle about their guest.

CLARA.

Why do I not do it then?  Shall I never do it?  Am I going to continue putting it off from day to day, as I am now doing from one minute to the next, until—­certainly!  Then, away!  Away!  And yet I stand still!  I have a feeling as if imploring hands were raised in my womb, as if eyes—­[She sits down on a chair.] What does it mean?  Am I too weak to do it?  Then ask yourself if you are strong enough to see your father with his throat cut!—­[She rises.] No!  No!—­Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name—­God!  God!  My poor head!  I cannot even pray!  Brother!  Brother!  Help me!

CARL.

What’s the matter with you

CLARA.

The Lord’s Prayer!

[She bethinks herself.]

It seemed to me as if I were already lying in the water and sinking, and had not yet prayed!  I [suddenly]—­Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us!  That is it!  Yes!  Yes!  Certainly I forgive him!  I shall think no more of him!—­Good night, Carl!

CARL.

Are you going to bed so soon?  Good night!

CLARA. [Like a child, repeating the Lord’s Prayer.]

Forgive us—­

CARL.

You might bring me a glass of water first—­but it must be absolutely fresh!

CLARA (quickly).

I will bring it to you from the well!

CARL.

All right!  If you want to.  It is not far, you know.

CLARA.

Thank you!  Thank you!  That was the last thing that still troubled me!  The deed itself would have betrayed me!  Now people will say:  She had an accident!  She fell in!

CARL.

Be careful of yourself!  The board has probably not been nailed down yet!

CLARA.

It is bright moonlight!—­Oh, God, I am coming only because otherwise my father would come!  Forgive me, as I—­have mercy on me—­mercy—­[Exit.]