AXEL. You hate Bertha; what have you against her?
ABEL. I don't know, but perhaps I, too, have been struck with that same passion for justice.
AXEL. Look here. Don't you believe in your great cause any longer?
ABEL. Sometimes! Sometimes not! What can one believe in any more? Sometimes it strikes me that the old ways were better. As mothers we had an honored and respected position when in that way we fulfilled our duty as citizens; as housewives we were a great power, and to bring up a family was not an ignominious occupation. Give me a cognac, Axel. We have talked so much.
AXEL [Getting cognac]. Why do you drink?
ABEL. I don't know. If one could only find the exceptional man!
AXEL. What sort would that be?
ABEL. The man who rules a woman!
AXEL. Well, and if you found one?
ABEL. Then I would—as they say—fall in love with him. Think if this whole noise were blague. Think!