"What difference does that make? Cousins are free to marry."
"Yes, but it's not advisable.... It's not advisable because of the children that may come, because of the blood and because ... because of everything."
"Of what, Ottilie?"
"They inherit our past. They inherit that terror. They inherit our sin. They inherit the punishment for our offence."
"You exaggerate, Ottilie. No, they don't inherit as much as that."
"They inherit everything. One day perhaps they will see him standing, perhaps they will hear him, in the new houses where they will live.... It would have been better if Elly and Lot had found their happiness apart from each other ... in other blood, in other souls.... They will never be able to find the ordinary happiness. Who knows, perhaps their children will be ..."
"Hush, Ottilie, hush!"
"Criminals...."
"Ottilie, please be quiet! Oh, be quiet! Why do you speak like that? For years, it has been so peaceful. You see, Ottilie, we are too old. We have been allowed to grow so old. We have had our punishment. Oh, don't let us speak about it again, never again! Let us wait calmly, calmly, and suffer the things that come after us, for we cannot alter them."
"Yes, let us wait calmly."