OLD SOLDIER (_interrupting_). And then put on your red ones!

KAREN. Sh-h! Grandmother must not know.

OLD SOLDIER. She can't hear, for I am talking through my long red beard.

KAREN. Why is your beard so red, Old Soldier?

OLD SOLDIER. To make more light for my eyes--that I may see without
looking.

KAREN. See without looking?

OLD SOLDIER (_nodding_). I was not in the church, yet I saw you clearly
when you knelt at the altar and raised the golden cup to your lips.

KAREN (_surprised_). You saw that?

OLD SOLDIER (_nodding_). And more--I saw your thoughts.

KAREN. You saw my thoughts?

OLD SOLDIER (_nodding_). It was to you as if your red shoes passed before
your eyes in the cup. Am I not right?

KAREN (_showing fear_). Y-e-s--

OLD SOLDIER. And I saw by the light of my beard that you forgot to sing the
hymns; eh, Karen?