DOMINICAN [Note: The same character as the CONFESSOR and BEGGAR.]. You called me to discuss a family matter of importance to you. Tell me what it is.
MOTHER. Father, life has treated me hardly. I don't know what I've done to be so frowned upon by Providence.
DOMINICAN. It's a mark of favour to be tried by the Eternal One, and triumph awaits the steadfast.
MOTHER. That's what I've often said to myself; but there are limits to the suffering one can bear....
DOMINICAN. There are no limits. Suff'ering's as boundless as grace.
MOTHER. First my husband leaves me for another woman.
DOMINICAN. Then let him go. He'll come crawling back again on his bare knees!
MOTHER. And as you know, Father, my only daughter was married to a doctor. But she left him and came home with a stranger, whom she presented to me as her new husband.
DOMINICAN. That's not easy to understand. Divorce isn't recognised by our religion.
MOTHER. No. But they'd crossed the frontier, to a land where there are other laws. He's an Old Catholic, and he found a priest to marry them.