Mrs. Lynge: Yes, what happened to Dina's parents afterwards?
Mrs. Rummel: Well, Dorf deserted both his wife and his child. But madam was impudent enough to stay here a whole year. Of course she had not the face to appear at the theatre any more, but she kept herself by taking in washing and sewing--
Mrs. Holt: And then she tried to set up a dancing school.
Mrs. Rummel: Naturally that was no good. What parents would trust their children to such a woman? But it did not last very long. The fine madam was not accustomed to work; she got something wrong with her lungs and died of it.
Mrs. Lynge: What a horrible scandal!
Mrs. Rummel: Yes, you can imagine how hard it was upon the Bernicks. It is the dark spot among the sunshine of their good fortune, as Rummel once put it. So never speak about it in this house, Mrs. Lynge.
Mrs. Holt: And for heaven's sake never mention the stepsister, either!
Mrs. Lynge: Oh, so Mrs. Bernick has a step-sister, too?
Mrs. Rummel: Had, luckily-- for the relationship between them is all over now. She was an extraordinary person too! Would you believe it, she cut her hair short, and used to go about in men's boots in bad weather!
Mrs. Holt: And when her step-brother, the black sheep, had gone away, and the whole town naturally was talking about him--what do you think she did? She went out to America to him!