t Moller's company were acting in
the town that winter--

Mrs. Holt: And Dorf, the actor, and his wife were in the company. All
the young men in the town were infatuated with her.

Mrs. Rummel: Yes, goodness knows how they could think her pretty. Well,
Dorf came home late one evening--

Mrs. Holt: Quite unexpectedly.

Mrs. Rummel: And found his-- No, really it isn't a thing one can talk
about.

Mrs. Holt: After all, Mrs. Rummel, he didn't find anything, because the
door was locked on the inside.

Mrs. Rummel: Yes, that is just what I was going to say--he found the
door locked. And--just think of it--the man that was in the house had
to jump out of the window.

Mrs. Holt: Right down from an attic window.

Mrs. Lynge: And that was Mrs. Bernick's brother?

Mrs. Rummel: Yes, it was he.

Mrs. Lynge: And that was why he ran away to America?

Mrs. Holt: Yes, he had to run away, you may be sure.

Mrs. Rummel: Because something was discovered afterwards that was
nearly as bad; just think--he had been making free with the cash-box...

Mrs. Holt: But, you know, no one was certain of that, Mrs. Rummel;
perhaps there was no truth in the rumour.

Mrs. Rummel: Well, I must say--! Wasn't it known all over the town? Did
not old Mrs. Bernick nearly go bankrupt as the result of it? However,
God forbid I should be the one to spread such reports.

Mrs. Holt: Well, anyway, Mrs. Dorf didn't get the money, because she--

Mrs. Lynge: Yes, what happened to Dina's parents afterwards?

Mrs. Rummel: Well, Dorf deserted both his wife and his child. But
madam was impudent enough to stay here a whole year. Of course she had
not the face to appear at the theatre any more, but she kept herself by
taking in washing and sewing--

Mrs. Holt: And then she tried to set up a dancing school.

Mrs. Rummel: Naturally that was no good. What parents would trust their
children to such a woman? But it did not last very long. The fine madam
was not accustomed to work; she got something wrong with her lungs and
died of it.

Mrs. Lynge: What a horrible scandal!

Mrs. Rummel: Yes, you can imagine how hard it was upon the Bernicks.
It is the dark spot among the sunshine of their good fortune, as Rummel
once put it. So never speak about it in this house, Mrs. Lynge.

Mrs. Holt: And for heaven's sake never mention the stepsister, either!

Mrs. Lynge: Oh, so Mrs. Bernick has a step-sister, too?

Mrs. Rummel: Had, luckily-- for the rela