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Allmers.
Yes, it is true. He did not love you—not as he ought to have.
Asta.
[Evasively.] No, perhaps not as he loved you. That was only natural.
Allmers.
[Continuing.] And he was often hard to your mother, too—at least in the last years.
Asta.
[Softly.] Mother was so much, much younger than he—remember that.
Allmers.
Do you think they were not quite suited to each other?
Asta.
Perhaps not.
Allmers.
Yes, but still. Father, who in other ways was so gentle and warm-hearted—so kindly towards every one
Asta.
[Quietly.] Mother, too, was not always as she ought to have been.
Allmers.
Your mother was not!
