MOTHER. The thoughts were yours.
STRANGER. This begins to be interesting. I imagined an idyll in the forest, but this is a witches' cauldron.
MOTHER. Not quite. You've forgotten, or never knew, that a man deserted me shamefully, and that you're a man who also shamefully deserted a woman.
STRANGER. Frank words. Now I know where I am.
MOTHER. I'd like to know where I am. Can you support two families?
STRANGER. If all goes well.
MOTHER. All doesn't—in this life. Money can be lost.
STRANGER. But my talent's capital I can never lose.
MOTHER. Really? The greatest of talents has been known to fail... gradually, or suddenly.
STRANGER. I've never met anyone who could so damp one's courage.