what you say.

Axel. I am in deadly earnest, and no one can shake my resolution.

Mother. Then Heaven have mercy on us! (A pause.)

Father. You know, Axel, that God gave us five children; and you know,
too, that He took four away from us again. Laura is now our only child,
our only joy.

Mother. We can't bear to lose her, Axel! She has never been away from us
a single day since she was born. She is the spoilt child of our sorrow;
if death itself claimed her, we should have to hold fast on to her.

Father. Axel, you are not a wicked man; you have not come amongst us to
make us all unhappy?

Axel. If I were to give in now, this state of things would occur again
every week or so, and none of us could stand that. For that reason, my
dear parents, prove yourselves capable of a sacrifice. Let us put an end
to it once for all--and let Laura move into town with me next week.

Father. Good heavens--it is impossible!

Mother. You won't have the heart to do that. Look at her, and then
say that again! (AXEL turns away.) No, I knew you could not. (To the
FATHER.) You talk to him! Tell him the truth, set him right, since he
has broken in upon a good and loving family only to bring misfortune to
it.

Father. In this house, as far back as I can remember, no hard words
have ever been used. It seems to me like some evil dream, that I am
struggling to wake out of and cannot! (A pause.) Mr. Hargaut, when we
gave our daughter to you, we made no conditions. We admitted you into
a happy family, to a position of wealth, to a promising future; and we
expected, in return, some little affection, some little appreciation--at
least some little respect. But you behave like--like a stranger, who is
admitted to one's intimacy and good offices, and then one morning goes
off with the most valuable possessions in the house--like an ungrateful,
cruel--! We have confided our child, the dearest, sweetest child, our
only child, to--a man without a heart! We were two happy parents, rich
in her love--parents whom every one envied and we now are two poor
bereaved wretches, who must creep away together into a corner in their
unhappy disillusionment. (Sits down.)

Mother. And this is the way you can treat the man who has given you
everything! What answer have you to give him?

Axel. It makes my heart bleed. If I had thought it would be as hard as
this, indeed I would never have begun it; but if we leave the matter
unsettled, now that it has been broa