LOTH
I've been continually astonished. I can assure you that such farms are not to be found elsewhere; they seem literally steeped in abundance.
HELEN
You are quite right. There's more than one stable here in which the cows and horses feed from marble mangers and racks of German silver! It is all due to the coal which was found under our fields and which turned the poor peasants rich almost in the twinkling of an eye. [She points to the picture in the background.] Do you see—my grandfather was a freight carter. The little property here belonged to him, but he could not get a living out of his bit of soil and so he had to haul freight. That's a picture of him in his blue blouse; they still wore blouses like that in those days. My father, when he was young, wore one too.—No! When I said "wretched" I didn't mean that. Only it's so desolate here. There's nothing, nothing for the mind. Life is empty … it's enough to kill one.
MIELE and EDWARD pass to and fro, busy laying the table to the right in the background.
LOTH
Aren't there balls or parties once in a while?
HELEN
Not even that! The farmers gamble, hunt, drink … What is there to be seen all the long day? [She has approached the window and points out.] Such figures, mainly.