GHEIM. Have you?

ASTA. Yes, all the time that my brother--that Alfred and I lived
together.

BORGHEIM. Oh, with your brother, yes. But that is altogether different.
That ought rather to be called peace than happiness, I should say.

ASTA. It was delightful, all the same.

BORGHEIM. There now--you see even that seemed to you delightful. But
just think now--if he had not been your brother!

ASTA. [Makes a movement to rise, but remains sitting.] Then we should
never have been together. For I was a child then--and he wasn't much
more.

BORGHEIM. [After a pause.] Was it so delightful--that time?

ASTA. Oh yes, indeed it was.

BORGHEIM. Was there much that was really bright and happy in your life
then?

ASTA. Oh yes, so much. You cannot think how much.

BORGHEIM. Tell me a little about it, Miss Asta.

ASTA. Oh, there are only trifles to tell.

BORGHEIM. Such as--? Well?

ASTA. Such as the time when Alfred had passed his examination--and had
distinguished himself. And then, from time, to time, when he got a post
in some school or other. Or when he would sit at home working at an
article--and would read it aloud to me. And then when it would appear in
some magazine.

BORGHEIM. Yes, I can quite see that it must have been a peaceful,
delightful life--a brother and sister sharing all their joys. [Shaking
his head.] What I cannot understand is that your brother could ever give
you up, Asta.

ASTA. [With suppressed emotion.] Alfred married, you know.

BORGHEIM. Was not that very hard for you?

ASTA. Yes, at first. It seemed as though I had utterly lost him all at
once.

BORGHEIM. Well, luckily it was not so bad as that.

ASTA. No.

BORGHEIM. But, all the same--how could he! Go and marry, I mean--when he
could have kept you with him, alone!

ASTA. [Looking straight in front of her.] He was subject to the law of
change, I suppose.

BORGHEIM. The law of change?

ASTA. So Alfred calls it.

BORGHEIM. Pooh--what a stupid law that must be! I don't believe a bit in
that law.

ASTA. [Rising.] You may come to believe in it, in time.

BORGHEIM. Never in all my life! [Insistently.] But listen now, Miss
Asta! Do be reasonable for once in a way--in this matter, I mean--

ASTA. [Interrupting him.] Oh, no, no--don't let us begin upon that
again!

BORGHEIM. [Continuing as before.] Yes, Asta--I can't possibly give you
up so easily. Now your brother has everything as he wishes it. He can
live his life quite con