Mrs. Bernick.

And it wasn’t I that asked them to come home.

Bernick.

Aha, there we have it! “I didn’t ask them to come home; I didn’t write for them; I didn’t drag them home by the hair of their heads.” Oh, I know the whole story off by heart.

Mrs. Bernick.

[Bursting into tears.] Oh, why are you so unkind?

Bernick

Yes, that’s right; set to crying, so that the town may have that to chatter about too. Stop this nonsense, Betty. You had better sit outside there; some one might come in. Perhaps you want people to see Madam with red eyes? It would be a nice thing indeed if it got abroad that——Ah! I hear some one in the passage. [A knock.] Come in.

[Mrs. Bernick goes out to the verandah with her work. Aune comes in from the right.

Aune.