I thank you as I would thank a serpent which had wound itself around me and unwound itself and sprung away again, because another prey enticed it. I know that I have been bitten, I know that it deserts me only because it does not seem worth the trouble to suck out what little marrow there is left in my bones. But still I thank the snake, for now I shall have a quiet death. Yes, man, I am not mocking; to me it is as if I had seen through your breast down into the abyss of hell, and whatever may be my lot in the awful eternity to come, I shall never have anything more to do with you, and that is a consolation! And just as the unfortunate person whom a viper has stung cannot be blamed for opening his veins in terror and disgust, in order that his poisoned blood may stream swiftly forth, so perhaps God in His everlasting mercy will take pity on me when He looks down upon you and me and sees what you have made of me! For how _could_ I do it, when I never, never _should_ have done it?--One thing more: My father knows nothing, he does not even suspect anything! And that he may never find out I shall quit the world this very day! If I thought for one moment that you [_she takes a step, wildly, toward him_]--oh, but that is foolishness! You would be only all the better pleased to see them all stand and shake their heads and inquire in vain of one another why it happened! LEONARD. Things will happen--what is one to do, Clara? CLARA. Away from here! The man can talk! [_She starts to go._] LEONARD. Do you think that I believe you? CLARA. No! LEONARD. Thank God, you cannot be a suicide without being an infanticide as well! CLARA. Better both than a parricide! Oh, I know that one cannot atone for one sin with another! But what I now do affects me alone! If I hand the knife to my father the blow strikes him as well as me! It strikes me in any case! That gives me courage and strength in all my distress! Things will go well with you on earth! [_Exit._] SCENE V LEONARD (_alone_). "I must, I must marry her!" And why must I? She is going to do a crazy thing in order to keep her father from doing one. Where lies the necessity of my doing a still crazier thing in order to ward off hers? I cannot admit the necessity--at least not until I see before me the man who wants to get ahead of me with the most insane act of all! And if he thinks as I do about it there will be no end! That sounds quite sensible, and yet--I must follow her! Here comes somebody! Thank God!--Nothing is more ignominious than to have to be at variance with one's own thoughts! A rebellion in the head, in which one brings forth viper after viper and each one tries to eat the other or bite his tail, is the worst of all! SCENE VI _Enter the SECRETARY._ SECRETARY. Good evening! LEONARD. Mr. Secretary? To what do I owe the honor-- SECRETARY. Leonard, you will see at once! LEONARD. You say Leonard to me?--To be sure, we used to be schoolmates! SECRETARY.