Master: And if I wanted to moralise upon every possible occasion I should say at once that you contemporary young people, whose men are full of effeminacy and women of masculinity, might all be called hermaphrodites.
Friend: You say, “You contemporary young people,” but what are you?
Master: I? My costume, my toilet, all my appearance, don’t they tell you in what epoch I’m living? And this furniture, this illumination, these people!
Friend: If I’m not mistaken—it’s as they used to live a hundred years ago.
Master: You’re not mistaken.
Friend: Then—why are you—you—I don’t know why, but I’m afraid somehow, though it makes me seem a coward. I don’t understand, you prefer this—obsolete way of life to our modern
Master: That's all.
Friend: But what's the reason?
Companion (smiles): It's a curious one.
Master: There are several.
Friend: Tell me just one!
Master (takes out an old book): These old notebooks!
