And now … now it seems we are at the end of another such period of friendship—? HUSBAND (_Pressing her tenderly to him_) So it might seem. YOUNG WIFE But if … if I should feel differently? HUSBAND You couldn’t. You are the wisest and most delicious being in the world. I am very happy to have found you. YOUNG WIFE You know how to make love very well—every now and then. HUSBAND (_Who has also gone to bed_) Well, for a man who has looked about in the world a bit—come, lay your head on my shoulder—who has seen something of the world, marriage is really something much more mysterious than it is for you sheltered young girls. You come to us entirely innocent and … to a certain degree, at least, ignorant of things, and therefore you really understand the essence of love much better than we. YOUNG WIFE (_Laughing_) Oh! HUSBAND Certainly. For we get all tangled up by the many experiences that we have to go through before marriage. You women, of course, hear a lot of things, you know a lot of things, no doubt read too much, but you can’t have any real idea of the things men experience. We men really become quite disgusted with this thing people call love, for the kind of creatures to which we are restricted really are… YOUNG WIFE Tell me—what kind of creatures are they? HUSBAND (_Kissing her on the forehead_) You ought to be glad, dear child, that you never have had a glimpse of relations like that. After all most of the poor things deserve pity—it is not for us to throw stones. YOUNG WIFE But—this pity—it doesn’t seem quite appropriate to me. HUSBAND (_With gentle benevolence_) They deserve it. You young girls of good family, who wait quietly under the care of your parents for the man who desires you in marriage,—you won’t know the misery that drives most of these poor creatures into the arms of sin. YOUNG WIFE Do all of them really sell themselves? HUSBAND I would hardly say that. I don’t mean the material misery alone. There is also—one might call it—a moral misery, a lack of appreciation for what is permissible, and, especially, for what is noble. YOUNG WIFE But why are they to be pitied?—They seem to enjoy themselves. HUSBAND You have strange ideas, my child. You must not forget that such people are predestined by nature to sink lower and lower. There is no stopping them. YOUNG WIFE (_Cuddling to him_) It seems pleasant to fall. HUSBAND (_Hurt_) How can you say things like that, Emma? I should think that to good women like you, nothing could be more repulsive than those who are not! YOUNG WIFE Of course, Karl, of course. I was just thinking. Go on, tell me more. I like it when you talk like this. Tell me something. HUSBAND What?— YOUNG WIFE Why—about these people. HUSBAND The idea! YOUNG WIFE But, I asked you a long time ago—you know, when we were first married to tell me something of your younger days. HUSBAND Why does that interest you? YOUNG WIFE