and gave our refined and well-bred Karsten Bernick such a box on
the ear that his head swam.

Mrs.Lynge: Well, I am sure I never--

Mrs.Holt: It is absolutely true.

Mrs.Rummel: And then she packed her box and went away to
America.

Mrs.Lynge: I suppose she had had her eye on him for herself.

Mrs.Rummel: Of course she had. She imagined that he and she
would make a match of it when he came back from Paris.

Mrs.Holt: The idea of her thinking such a thing! Karsten
Bernick--a man of the world and the pink of courtesy, a perfect
gentleman, the darling of all the ladies...

Mrs.Rummel: And, with it all, such an excellent young man, Mrs.
Holt--so moral.

Mrs.Lynge: But what has this Miss Hessel made of herself in
America?

Mrs.Rummel: Well, you see, over that (as my husband once put it)
has been drawn a veil which one should hesitate to lift.

Mrs.Lynge: What do you mean?