MRS. HEYST. And if Lina would only return—[Pause.] Oh, I heard something about the dinner Peter gave last night. What do you think—the Governor himself was there.
ELIS. The Governor at Peter's—? I'm astonished. Peter has always avowed himself against the Governor's party.
MRS. HEYST. He must have changed then.
ELIS. He wasn't called Peter for nothing, it seems.
MRS. HEYST. But what have you got against the Governor?
ELIS. He is against progress—he wants to restrict the pleasures of the people, he tries to dictate to the boards of education—I've felt his interference in my school.
MRS. HEYST. I can't understand all that—but it doesn't matter. Anyhow the Governor made a speech, they say, and Peter thanked him heartily.
ELIS. And with great feeling, I can fancy, and denied his master, saying, "I know not this man," and again the cock crew. Wasn't the Governor's name Pontius and his surname Pilate?
[Eleonora starts as if to speak but Benjamin quiets her again.]
MRS. HEYST. You mustn't be so bitter, Elis. Human beings are weak and we must come in contact with them.