SHEFFIELD--You have plenty of time to listen to what I--I should rather say we--have to ask you, Curt. I promise to be brief. But first let me again impress upon you that I am talking in a spirit of the deepest friendliness and sympathy with you--as a fellow-member of the same family, I may say--and with the highest ideals and the honor of that family always in view. [CURT makes no comment. SHEFFIELD unconsciously begins to adopt the alert keenness of the cross-examiner.] First, let me ask you, is it your intention to take that five o'clock train to-day? CURTIS--[Harshly.] I've told you that. SHEFFIELD--And then you'll join this expedition to Asia? CURTIS--You know that. SHEFFIELD--To be gone five years? CURTIS--[Shrugging his shoulders.] More or less. SHEFFIELD--Is it your intention to return here at any time before you leave for Asia? CURTIS--No! SHEFFIELD--And your determination on these plans is irrevocable? CURTIS--Irrevocable! Exactly. Please remember that. SHEFFIELD--[Sharply.] That being your attitude, I will come bluntly to the core of the whole matter--the child whose coming into the world cost Martha her life. CURTIS--[Savagely.] Her murderer! You are right! [They all look shocked, suspicious.] SHEFFIELD--[Remonstratingly but suspiciously.] You can hardly hold the child responsible for the terrible outcome. Women die every day from the same cause. [Keenly.] Why do you attribute guilt to the child in this case, Curt? CURTIS--It lives and Martha is gone--But, enough! I've said I never wanted it mentioned to me. Will you please remember that? SHEFFIELD--[Sharply.] Its name is Jayson. Curt--in the eyes of the law. Will YOU please remember that? CURTIS--[Distractedly.] I don't want to remember anything! [Wildly.] Please, for God's sake, leave me alone! SHEFFIELD--[Coldly.] I am sorry, Curt, but you cannot act as if you were alone in this affair. CURTIS--Why not? Am I not alone--more alone this minute than any creature on God's earth? SHEFFIELD--[Soothingly.] In your great grief. Yes, yes, of course. We all appreciate--and we hate to--[Persuasively.] Yes, it would be much wiser to postpone these practical considerations until you are in a calmer mood. And if you will only give us the chance--why not put off this precipitate departure--for a month, say--and in the meantime-- CURTIS--[Harshly.] I am going when I said I was. I must get away from this horrible hole--as far away as I can. I must get back to my work for only in it will I find Martha again. But you--you can't understand that. What is the good of all this talking which leads nowhere? SHEFFIELD--[Coldly.] You're mistaken. It leads to this: Do you understand that your running away from this child--on the very day of its mother's funeral!--will have a very queer appearance in the eyes of the world? EMILY--And what are you going to do with the baby, Curt? Do you think you can run off regardless and leave it here--on our hands?