Svava. Oh, please go on, dear!--No, he prophesied a great social revolution, and spoke so fervently about it--and it was then that he told me what his ideas about wealth were. It was the greatest possible surprise to me--and a new idea to me, too, to some extent. You should have seen how handsome he looked! Riis. Handsome, did you say? Svava. Isn't he handsome? I think so, at all events. And so does mother, I think? Mrs. Riis (without looking up from her book). And so does mother. Riis. Mothers always fall in love with their daughters' young men--but they fall out again when they become their mothers-in-law! Svava. Is that your experience? Riis. That is my experience. So Alfred Christensen has blossomed into a beauty? Well, we must consider that settled. Svava. He stood there so sure of himself, and looking so honest and clean--for that is an essential thing, you know. Riis. What exactly do you mean by "clean," my dear? Svava. I mean just what the word means. Riis. Exactly--but I want to know what meaning attach to the word. Svava. Well--the meaning that I hope any one would attach to it if they used the word of me. Riis. Do you attach the same meaning to it if it is used' of a man, as you would if it were used of a girl? Svava. Yes, of course. Riis. And do you suppose that Christensen's son-- Svava (getting up). Father, you are insulting me! Riis. How can the fact of his being his father's son I an insult to you? Svava. In that respect he is not his father's son! I am not likely to make any mistake in a thing of that sort! Mrs. Riis. I am just reading about inherited tendencies. It is Not necessary to suppose that he has inherited all his father's. Riis. Oh, well--have it as you please! I am afraid all these superhuman theories of yours. You will never get through the world with them. Svava. What do you mean?--Mother, what does father mean? Mrs. Riis. I suppose he means that all men are alike. And one must allow that it is true. Svava. You do not really mean that? Riis. But why get so excited about it?--Come and sit down! And, besides, how can you possibly tell? Svava. Tell? What? Riis. Well, in each individual case-- Svava.--whether the man I see standing before me or walking past me is an unclean, disgusting beast--or a man? Riis. Etcetera, etcetera!--You may make mistakes, my dear Svava? Svava. No--not any more than I should make a mistake about you, father, when you begin to tease me with your horrid principles! Because, in spite of them, you are the chastest and most refined man I know. Mrs. Riis (laying down her book). Are you going to keep that morning frock on, dear child? Won't you change your dress before Alfred comes? Svava. No, mother, I am not going to be put off like that.--By this time I have seen so many of my girl friends giving themselves trustfully to their "fairy prince," as they think, and waking in the arms of a beast. I shall not risk that! I shall not make that mistake!