THE FATHER. But not from cruelty. I did it so that he should grow up healthy and strong by living in the country. THE STEP-DAUGHTER (_pointing to him ironically_). As one can see. THE FATHER (_quickly_). Is it my fault if he has grown up like this? I sent him to a wet nurse in the country, a peasant, as _she_ did not seem to me strong enough, though she is of humble origin. That was, anyway, the reason I married her. Unpleasant all this maybe, but how can it be helped? My mistake possibly, but there we are! All my life I have had these confounded aspirations towards a certain moral sanity. (_At this point the Step-Daughter bursts out into a noisy laugh_). Oh, stop, it! Stop it! I can't stand it. THE MANAGER. Yes, please stop it, for Heaven's sake. THE STEP-DAUGHTER. But imagine moral sanity from him, if you please--the client of certain ateliers like that of Madame Pace! THE FATHER. Fool! That is the proof that I am a man! This seeming contradiction, gentlemen, is the strongest proof that I stand here a live man before you. Why, it is just for this very incongruity in my nature that I have had to suffer what I have. I could not live by the side of that woman (_indicating the Mother_) any longer; but not so much for the boredom she inspired me with as for the pity I felt for her. THE MOTHER. And so he turned me out--. THE FATHER. --well provided for! Yes, I sent her to that man, gentlemen ... to let her go free of me. THE MOTHER. And to free himself. THE FATHER. Yes, I admit it. It was also a liberation for me. But great evil has come of it. I meant well when I did it; and I did it more for her sake than mine. I swear it (_crosses his arms on his chest; then turns suddenly to the Mother_). Did I ever lose sight of you until that other man carried you off to another town, like the angry fool he was? And on account of my pure interest in you ... my pure interest, I repeat, that had no base motive in it ... I watched with the tenderest concern the new family that grew up around her. She can bear witness to this (_points to the Step-Daughter_). THE STEP-DAUGHTER. Oh yes, that's true enough. When I was a kiddie, so so high, you know, with plaits over my shoulders and knickers longer than my skirts, I used to see him waiting outside the school for me to come out. He came to see how I was growing up. THE FATHER. This is infamous, shameful! THE STEP-DAUGHTER. No, why?