Laura. Yes, it irritates me, this libelling of all fidelity. What is fidelity, if it does not mean that a child should be true to its parents?
Mathilde. But I was just reading to you about that. (Reads.) "The object of fidelity changes, as we ourselves change. The child's duty is to be true to its parents; the married, to one another; the aged, to their children—"
Laura. Don't read any more! I won't hear any more! Its whole train of thought offends me. (After a pause.) What a horrid book! (Indifferently.) What happens to them in the end?
Mathilde (in the same tone). To whom?
Laura. That couple—in the book.
Mathilde (still in an indifferent tone). It doesn't end happily. (A pause.)
Laura (looking up). Which of them suffers?
Mathilde. Which do you think?
Laura (beginning to sew again). She, I should think—because she is unhappy already.
Mathilde. You have guessed right. She falls in love.