Child, it does me good. Am I not strong and healthy again? Didn’t God simply call me to make me see that my garment was not yet spotless and pure, and didn’t He let me turn back at the mouth of the grave, and give me time to adorn myself for the heavenly bridal? He was not as lenient as that to those seven virgins in the Gospel that I made you read to me last night. That’s why I’ve put this dress on to-day, to go to holy communion in. I wore it on the day when I made my best and purest vows. Let it remind me of those I didn’t keep. CLARA. You are talking just as you did in your illness! SCENE 2 KARL (_enters_). Good-morning, mother. Now, Clara, how would you fancy me, suppose I weren’t your brother? CLARA. A gold chain? Where’ve you got that? KARL. What do I toil and sweat for? Why do I work two hours longer than the others every night? I like your cheek. MOTHER. Quarrelling on a good Sunday morning? For shame, Karl. KARL. Mother, haven’t you got a couple of shillings for me? MOTHER. I’ve only got money for house-keeping. KARL. Well, give me some of that. I won’t grumble if the pancakes are a bit thin for the next fortnight. You’ve done it many a time before. I know that. When you were saving up for Clara’s white dress, there was nothing tasty on the table for months. I closed my eyes to it, but I knew very well that a new hat or some show-piece was on the way. Let me have the benefit of it for a change. MOTHER. You are impudent. KARL. Well, I’ve no time now, or else----(_going_). MOTHER. Where are you going? KARL. I won’t tell you. Then you won’t need to blush when the old grizzly asks where I’ve gone. Tell him you don’t know. I don’t want your money either. It’s a good job there’s water in more wells than one. (_Aside._) They always think the worst of me at home, anyway. Why shouldn’t I keep them on the tremble, just for fun? Why should I tell them that I shall have to go to church now, unless somebody helps me out? SCENE 3 CLARA. What does that mean? MOTHER. Oh, he grieves me to the heart. Yes, your father’s right. That’s the outcome of it. When he was still a curly-headed boy, he used to ask so sweetly for his piece of sugar, and now he demands money of me just as insolently. I wonder whether he really wouldn’t want the money, if I had refused him the sugar. It worries me often. I don’t believe he even loves me. Did you ever once see him crying when I was sick? CLARA. I saw very little of him; scarcely ever, except at meal times. He had a better appetite than I had! MOTHER (_quickly_). That’s natural; his work is hard. CLARA.