I think it's hard that I should have to
ask your permission to buy a piano out of my own money."
"It's no longer your money."
"But yours?"
"No, not mine either, but the family's. And you are wrong when you say
that you 'have to ask for my permission'; it's merely wise that you
should consult with the administrator as to whether the position of
affairs warrants your spending such a large sum on a luxury."
"Do you call a piano a luxury?"
"A new piano, when there is an old one, must be termed a luxury. The
position of our affairs is anything but satisfactory, and therefore it
doesn't permit you to buy a new piano at present, but _I_, personally,
can or will have nothing to say against it."
"An expenditure of a thousand crowns doesn't mean ruin."
"To incur a debt of a thousand crowns at the wrong time may be the
first step towards ruin."
"All this means that you refuse to buy me a new piano?"
"No, I won't say that. The uncertain position of affairs...."
"When, oh! when will the day dawn on which the wife will manage her
own affairs and have no need to go begging to her husband?"
"When she works herself. A man, your father, has earned your money.
The men have gained all the wealth there is in the world; therefore it
is but just that a sister should inherit less than her brother,
especially as the brother is born with the duty to provide for a
woman, while the sister need not provide for a man.
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