CHRISTINE. Oh, yes, that's so. But mother will soon be home.
ELIS. I am always afraid to have her come home. She has had so many experiences of people's evil and malice.
CHRISTINE. There is a strain of unusual melancholy in your family, Elis.
ELIS. And that's why none but the melancholy have ever been our friends. Light-hearted people have always avoided us—shrunk from us.
CHRISTINE. There is mother, going in the kitchen door.
ELIS. Don't be impatient with her, Christine.
CHRISTINE. Impatient! Ah, no, it's worse for her than any of us. But I can't quite understand her.
ELIS. She is always trying to hide our disgrace. That's why she seems so peculiar. Poor mother!
MRS. HEYST [Enters, dressed in black, psalm book in hand, and handkerchief]. Good evening, children.
ALL. Good evening, mother dear.