SCHWARZ. She said she had grown up with an aunt.
SCHÖN. That was the woman I gave her to. She was her best pupil. The mothers used to make her an example to their children. She has the feeling for duty. It is simply and solely your mistake if you have till now neglected to take her on her best sides.
SCHWARZ. (Sobbing.) O God!—
SCHÖN. (With emphasis.) No O God!! Nothing of the happiness you have cost can be changed. Done is done. You over-rate yourself against your better knowledge if you persuade yourself you will lose. You stand to gain. But with "O God" nothing is gained. A greater friendliness I have not yet shown you: I speak plainly and offer you my help. Don't show yourself unworthy of it!
SCHWARZ. (From now on more and more broken up.) When I first knew her, she told me she had never loved.
SCHÖN. When a widow says that—! It does her credit that she chose you for a husband. Make the same claims on yourself and your happiness is without a blot.
SCHWARZ. She says he made her wear short dresses.
SCHÖN. But he married her! That was her master-stroke. How she brought the man to it is beyond me. You really must know it now: you are enjoying the fruits of her diplomacy.
SCHWARZ. How did she get to know Dr. Goll then?
SCHÖN. Through me! It was after my wife's death, when I was making the first advances to my present fiancée. She stuck herself in between. She had fixed her mind on becoming my wife.