"Very much like you: tall and slender and blond and blue-eyed."
"Poor Lena (and now the laugh was on his side), you have missed it this time. My mother is a little woman with bright black eyes and a long nose."
"I don't believe it. It isn't possible."
"And yet it is true. You must remember that I have a father too. But that never occurs to you. You always think that you women are the principal thing. And now tell me something about my mother's character. But make a better guess."
"I think of her as very much concerned for the welfare of her children."
"Correct."
"... And that all her children must make wealthy, yes very wealthy marriages. And I know too, whom she has ready for you."
"An unfortunate woman, whom you ..."
"How you do mistake me. Believe me, that I have you now, for this very hour, is my joy. What follows does not trouble me. One of these days you will have flown away...."
He shook his head.