Aren’t you my husband? Isn’t it a sort of injustice that I really know nothing about your past? HUSBAND You surely don’t think I have such bad taste, as to—No, Emma … it would be like a profanation. YOUNG WIFE And yet you have … heaven knows how many other women you have held in your arms, just as you are holding me now. HUSBAND Don’t say “women.” You are _the_ woman. YOUNG WIFE But you must answer one question … otherwise … otherwise … there won’t be any honeymoon. HUSBAND That’s a nice way to talk … remember you are a mother … our little girl is sleeping in there… YOUNG WIFE (_Snuggling against him_) But I want a boy, too. HUSBAND Emma! YOUNG WIFE Don’t be silly … of course, I am your wife … but I’d like also to be … to be your sweetheart. HUSBAND Would you?… YOUNG WIFE Well—now my question. HUSBAND (_Accommodating_) All right. YOUNG WIFE Was there … a married woman … amongst them? HUSBAND Why? What do you mean? YOUNG WIFE You know what I mean. HUSBAND (_Slightly disconcerted_) What makes you think of a thing like that? YOUNG WIFE I would like to know if … I mean—there are such women… I know that very well. But did you?… HUSBAND (_Seriously_) Do you know such a woman? YOUNG WIFE Well, I hardly know. HUSBAND Is there, perhaps, such a woman among your friends? YOUNG WIFE How can I be sure that there is—or that there isn’t? HUSBAND Did any of your friends … women talk about a lot of things—alone among themselves—did any of them ever confess—? YOUNG WIFE (_Uncertainly_) No. HUSBAND Do you suspect any of your friends—that she… YOUNG WIFE Suspect … oh … suspect. HUSBAND It would seem so. YOUNG WIFE No, indeed, Karl, most certainly not. When I think things over—I don’t believe there is any one. HUSBAND No one? YOUNG WIFE Not among my friends. HUSBAND Promise me something, Emma. YOUNG WIFE Well? HUSBAND That you will never associate with a woman about whom you have the slightest suspicion that she … doesn’t lead a completely blameless life. YOUNG WIFE And you think it necessary for me to promise that? HUSBAND I know that you will not seek out the company of such women. But, it might happen that you … in fact it often happens that such women, whose reputations are not of the best, seek out good women, partly to give them standing, and partly because they feel … how shall I say?… because they feel a certain homesickness for virtue. YOUNG WIFE Do they? HUSBAND Yes. I believe what I just said is very true. Homesickness for virtue. For all of these women are at heart very unhappy; you can believe that. YOUNG WIFE Why? HUSBAND You ask me, Emma?—How can you even ask?—Just imagine what a life these women lead! Full of lies, perfidy, vulgarity, and danger. YOUNG WIFE Yes, of course. You are right. HUSBAND Truly … they pay for their little happiness … their little… YOUNG WIFE Pleasure. HUSBAND Why “pleasure”? Why do you call it “pleasure”? YOUNG WIFE