'For you, Hamilton? Is that the way?' The Dictator asked the question with a tone of infinite sympathy, and he stood up as if he were about to give some important order. Hamilton, on the other hand, collapsed into a chair.
'That is the way, Excellency.'
'You are in love with this child?'
'I am madly in love with this child, if you call her so.'
Ericson made some strides up and down the room with his hands behind him. Then he suddenly stopped.
'Is this quite a serious business?' he asked, in a low, soft voice.
'Terribly serious for me, Excellency, if things don't turn out right. I have been hit very hard.'
The Dictator smiled.
'We get over such things,' he said.
'But I don't want to get over this; I don't mean to get over it.'