All _I_ can see is that you are again seeking an outlet for your pugnacity. You want to make an onslaught on your superiors—that is an old habit of yours. You cannot endure any authority over you; you look askance at any one who holds a higher post than your own; you regard him as a personal enemy—and then you care nothing what kind of weapon you use against him. But now I have shown you how much is at stake for the town, and consequently for me too. And therefore I warn you, Thomas, that I am inexorable in the demand I am about to make of you! DR. STOCKMANN. What demand? BURGOMASTER. As you have not had the sense to refrain from chattering to outsiders about this delicate business, which should have been kept an official secret, of course it cannot now be hushed up. All sorts of rumours will get abroad, and evil-disposed persons will invent all sorts of additions to them. It will therefore be necessary for you publicly to contradict these rumours. DR. STOCKMANN. I! How? I don’t understand you? BURGOMASTER. We expect that, after further investigation, you will come to the conclusion that the affair is not nearly so serious or pressing as you had at first imagined. DR. STOCKMANN. Aha! So you expect that? BURGOMASTER. Furthermore, we expect you to express your confidence that the Board of Directors will thoroughly and conscientiously carry out all measures for the remedying of any possible defects. DR. STOCKMANN. Yes, but that you’ll never be able to do, so long as you go on tinkering and patching. I tell you that, Peter; and it’s my deepest, sincerest conviction—— BURGOMASTER. As an official, you have no right to hold any individual conviction. DR. STOCKMANN. [_Starting._] No right to——? BURGOMASTER. As an official, I say. In your private capacity, of course, it is another matter. But as a subordinate official of the Baths, you have no right to express any conviction at issue with that of your superiors. DR. STOCKMANN. This is too much! I, a doctor, a man of science, have no right to——! BURGOMASTER. The matter in question is not a purely scientific one; it is a complex affair; it has both a technical and an economic side. DR. STOCKMANN. What the devil do I care what it is! I will be free to speak my mind upon any subject under the sun! BURGOMASTER. As you please—so long as it does not concern the Baths. With them we forbid you to meddle. DR. STOCKMANN. [_Shouts._] You forbid——! You! A set of—— BURGOMASTER.