Question

Maria's mother had worked for Bruno's grandmother when he was just a little boy. When she became sick, Bruno's father arranged for her care, and later, he offered Maria a job. Bruno's father did these things because Maria's mother was a friend to his own mother.

And after your grandmother retired, of course my mother stayed friendly with her and received a small pension, but times were
hard then and your father offered me a job, the first I had ever had. A few months later my mother became very sick and she needed a lot of hospital care and your father arranged it all, even though he was not obliged to. He paid for it out of his own pocket
because she had been a friend to his mother.