Well, you see! There you are! That's what I say! You've just changed entirely! Till two, three months ago, you was as merry as the day's long; you shot birds an' stuffed them, increased your botanical collection, hunted birds' eggs—and sang the livelong day! 'Twas a joy to see you! An' now, suddenly, you're like another person.
FLAMM
If only we had been able to keep Kurt!
MRS. FLAMM
How would it be if we adopted a child?
FLAMM
All of a sudden? No, mother. I don't care about it now. Before, you couldn't make up your mind to it; now I've passed that stage too.
MRS. FLAMM
'Tis easily said: Take a child into the house! First of all it seemed to me like betraying Kurt … yes, like a regular betrayal … that's what the very thought of It seemed to me. I felt—how shall I say it?—as if we were putting the child away from us utterly—out of the house, out of his little room an' his little bed, an', last of all, out of our hearts.—But the main thing was this: Where can you get a child in whom you can hope to have some joy?—But let that rest where it is. Let's go back to Rose once more!—Do you know how it is with her, Christopher?