Bernick.

And we are alone. My name no longer shines in the transparencies; all the lights are out in the windows.

Lona.

Would you have them lighted again?

Bernick.

Not for all the world. Where have I been? You will be horrified when you know. I am feeling now as if I had just come to my senses again after being poisoned. But I feel—I feel that I can be young and strong again. Oh, come nearer—closer around me. Come, Betty! Come, Olaf! Come, Martha! Oh, Martha, it seems as though I had never seen you during all these years.

Lona.

No, I daresay not; your society is a society of bachelor-souls; you have no eyes for womanhood.

Bernick.

True, true. And for that very reason—it is settled, Lona, is it not?—you won’t leave Betty and me?