Mrs. Rummel: Of course she had. She imagined that he and she would make a match of it when he came back from Paris.

Mrs. Holt: The idea of her thinking such a thing! Karsten Bernick--a man of the world and the pink of courtesy, a perfect gentleman, the darling of all the ladies...

Mrs. Rummel: And, with it all, such an excellent young man, Mrs. Holt--so moral.

Mrs. Lynge: But what has this Miss Hessel made of herself in America?

Mrs. Rummel: Well, you see, over that (as my husband once put it) has been drawn a veil which one should hesitate to lift.

Mrs. Lynge: What do you mean?

Mrs. Rummel: She no longer has any connection with the family, as you may suppose; but this much the whole town knows, that she has sung for money in drinking saloons over there--

Mrs. Holt: And has given lectures in public--

Mrs. Rummel: And has published some mad kind of book.

Mrs. Lynge: You don't say so!