Norbert enters.
Norbert (greatly excited).
Herr Holtzmann--haven't you been at the Reichstag? (Holtzmann shakes his head without speaking.) Then you haven't heard? My father has had the most wonderful triumph--they say there has never been anything like it.
Holtzmann.
Ah?
Norbert.
I wish I could give you an idea of it! Look at me--I'm shaking all over! If you could have heard the way the words rushed out, the way the thoughts trod on each other's heels! He began by sketching the psychology of the modern man, and from that he developed a theory of marriage, with its outward obligations and inner ideals--the marriage of to-day in its highest, noblest sense--but you'll read what he said; you'll see if I'm exaggerating. Then he went on to the practical application of his theory. In this unsettled age, when parents are losing their control over their children, and the state its hold over the citizen, when even God and His priests see the soul of man slipping away from them--at such a time we must do all we can to strengthen the only tie that holds humanity together--the only tie that gives youth the shelter of the family life till habit becomes duty, and duty the law of being, and through obedience to that law a strong and enduring national soul is created. Isn't that beautiful, Herr Holtzmann? Isn't that a glorious idea?
Holtzmann.
Very fine, very fine. But doesn't such an argument lead back to the standpoint of the Church, which----
Norbert.