JUDGE. I don't know what has brought you to these thoughts just now, and I don't like them. Perhaps it is the fact that the mausoleum is to be consecrated in a few days?
OLD LADY. Perhaps that is it, for, as a rule, I don't give much thought to death. I have still every tooth left in my mouth, and my hair is as plentiful as when I was a bride.
JUDGE. Yes, yes—you have eternal youth, you as well as I, but just the same we shall have to pass away. And as fortune has smiled on us, we have wanted to avail ourselves of the privilege of resting in ground belonging to ourselves And so we have built this little tomb for ourselves here, where every tree knows us, where every flower will whisper of our labours, and our troubles, and our struggles——
OLD LADY. Yes, struggles against envious neighbours and ungrateful children——
JUDGE. There you said it: ungrateful children.—Have you seen anything of Adolph?
OLD LADY. No, I haven't seen him since he started out this morning to raise the money for the rent.
JUDGE. The money which he will never get—and I still less. But he knows now that the time of grace is up, for this is the third quarter rent that he has failed to pay.
OLD LADY. Yes, out with him into the world, and let him learn to work instead of sitting here and playing at son-in-law. I'll keep Amelia and the children——
JUDGE. Do you think Amelia will let herself be separated from Adolph?
OLD LADY. I think so, when it is a question whether her children are to inherit anything from us or not—No, look! There it is again!