"Very natural, I'm sure."
"And I have therefore resolved to marry again."
"Have you, though? Good idea."
"Yes; don't you think so? And I have decided to take a wife who is first of all a good-hearted and domesticated woman, but at the same time one who will be able to brighten up the home."
"Excellent! I quite agree. A sound and healthy man of your type should certainly marry as soon as opportunity occurs. And I don't mind saying that the life we two have led here all these years hasn't exactly been an ideal existence."
"Perhaps not—though you might have been worse off. However, now that I am about to bring home a bride for the third——"
"And last time?"
"—I cannot but feel a certain emotion in saying to you, my son, as I do now: look up to her as a mother, love her as she deserves, for she is a woman in a thousand."
"I'm sure, father, you could not have made a better choice. Mrs. Rantzau is, I believe, an excellent woman."
"Mrs. Rantzau! What on earth are you talking about?"