BENJAMIN [Slyly]. And who else did you meet in your sleep?
ELEONORA. Why do you ask that? You mustn't try to tease me, Benjamin. You would like to know my secrets—but you mustn't.
BENJAMIN. Well, then you can't know my secrets either.
ELEONORA [Listening]. Can you hear the telephone wires humming? Now the paper is out, and now they are 'phoning each other, "Have you read about it?"—"Yes, indeed I have!"—"Isn't it terrible?"
BENJAMIN. What is terrible?
ELEONORA. Everything. Life is terrible, but we must be satisfied. Think of Elis and Christine. They love each other, and yet hate has come between them, so that when they walk thro' the room the thermometer drops several degrees. She went to the recital last night and today they won't speak to each other. And why,—why?
BENJAMIN. Because your brother is jealous.
ELEONORA. Don't mention that word. What do we know about it, for that matter,—more than that it is disease and punishment? One must never touch evil, for then one will surely catch it. Look at Elis, haven't you noticed how changed he is since he started to read those papers?
BENJAMIN. About the law-suit?
ELEONORA. Yes. It is as if evil had crept into his soul; it is reflected in his face and eyes. Christine feels this, and not to be contaminated by it, she encases herself in an armor of ice. And those papers—if I could only burn them! They are filled with meanness, falsehood and revenge. Therefore, my child, you must keep away from evil and unclean things, both with your lips and heart.