Do you think they’d forget their mother if she went away from them – for ever?
But we – well, we were school friends. It was one of those friendships that one enters into over-hastily and so often comes to regret later in life. I might as well confess the truth. We – well, we’re on Christian name terms. And the tactless idiot makes no attempt to conceal it when other people are present. On the contrary, he thinks it gives him the right to be familiar with me.
I want to get on my feet again, Mrs. Helmer. I want to get to the top. And your husband’s going to help me. For eighteen months now my record’s been clean. I’ve been in hard straits all that time: I was content to fight my way back inch by inch. Now I’ve been chucked back into the mud, and I’m not going to be satisfied with just getting back my job. I’m going to get to the top, I tell you.