Arnholm. I don't think it would fare very well with them if they
could get out there.

Bolette. Oh! it would be much the same, I expect.

Arnholm. Moreover, you can't say that one is so completely out of the
world here--not in the summer anyhow. Why, nowadays this is quite
a rendezvous for the busy world--almost a terminus for the time
being.

Bolette. Ah, yes! you who yourself are only here for the time
being--it is easy for you to make fun of us.

Arnholm. I make fun? How can you think that?

Bolette. Well, all that about this being a rendezvous, and a
terminus for the busy world--that's something you've heard the
townsfolk here saying. Yes--they're in the habit of saying that
sort of thing.

Arnholm. Well, frankly, I've noticed that, too.

Bolette. But really there's not an atom of truth in it. Not for
us who always live here. What good is it to us that the great
strange world comes hither for a time on its way North to see the
midnight sun? We ourselves have no part in that; we see nothing
of the midnight sun. No! We've got to be good, and live our lives
here in our carp pond.