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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 oneAsta.
[Quietly.] Mother, too, was not always as she ought to have been.
Allmers.
Your mother was not!