Svava. Isn't he handsome? I think so, at all events. And so does mother, I think?
Mrs. Riis (without looking up from her book). And so does mother.
Riis. Mothers always fall in love with their daughters' young men—but they fall out again when they become their mothers-in-law!
Svava. Is that your experience?
Riis. That is my experience. So Alfred Christensen has blossomed into a beauty? Well, we must consider that settled.
Svava. He stood there so sure of himself, and looking so honest and clean—for that is an essential thing, you know.
Riis. What exactly do you mean by "clean," my dear?
Svava. I mean just what the word means.
Riis. Exactly—but I want to know what meaning attach to the word.
Svava. Well—the meaning that I hope any one would attach to it if they used the word of me.