Did any one of us really know her? And who takes a real interest in another person anyhow?
REUMANN
It is apparently fortunate that such is the case. Otherwise we should all go mad from pity or loathing or anxiety. (Pause) Now I must get around to my patients. There are a few calls that cannot be postponed. I shall be back by dinner-time. Good-by for a while. (He goes out)
WEGRAT
To think that you can watch a young creature like her grow up—can see the child turn into girl, and then into a young lady—can speak hundreds of thousands of words to her.... And one day she rises from the table, puts on hat and coat, and goes ... and you have no idea as to whether she has slipped away—if into nothingness or into a new life.
FELIX
But whatever may have happened, father—she wanted to get away from us. And in that fact, I think, we should find a certain consolation.
WEGRAT (shakes his head in perplexity)
Everything is fluttering away—willingly or unwillingly—but away it goes.
FELIX