HUMMEL. Oh, no, no, no!—Merciful heavens!...
MUMMY. How I look! That's right!—And have looked like that! [Pointing to the statue] Life is a pleasant thing, is it not?... I live mostly in the closet, both in order to see nothing and not to be seen.... But, Jacob, what do you want here?
HUMMEL. My child our child....
MUMMY. There she sits.
HUMMEL. Where?
MUMMY. There—in the Hyacinth Room.
HUMMEL. [Looking at the YOUNG LADY] Yes, that is she! [Pause] And what does her father say.... I mean the Colonel.... your husband?
MUMMY. Once, when I was angry with him, I told him everything....
HUMMEL. And?...
MUMMY. He didn't believe me. All he said was: "That's what all women say when they wish to kill their husbands."—It is a dreadful crime, nevertheless. His whole life has been turned into a lie—his family tree, too. Sometimes I take a look in the peerage, and then I say to myself: "Here she is going about with a false birth certificate, just like any runaway servant-girl, and for such things people are sent to the reformatory."