But
listen to me, Karsten--I am going to speak the plain truth now.
Tell me, are you really happy?
Bernick: In my family life, do you mean?
Lona: Yes.
Bernick: I am, Lona. You have not been a self-sacrificing friend
to me in vain. I can honestly say that I have grown happier every
year. Betty is good and willing; and if I were to tell you how,
in the course of years, she has learned to model her character on
the lines of my own--
Lona: Hm!
Bernick: At first, of course, she had a whole lot of romantic
notions about love; she could not reconcile herself to the idea
that, little by little, it must change into a quiet comradeship.
Lona: But now she is quite reconciled to that?
Bernick: Absolutely. As you can imagine, daily intercourse with
me has had no small share in developing her character. Every one,
in their degree, has to learn to lower their own pretensions, if
they are to live worthily of the community to which they belong.
And Betty, in her turn, has gradually learned to understand this;
and that is why our home is now a model to our fellow citizens.
Lona: But your fellow citizens know nothing about the lie?
Bernick: The lie?
Lona: Yes--the lie you have persisted in for these fifteen years.
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