ng the door of his workshop
behind him at night! Well, that's a thing one might prevent! One might
take the law into one's own hands, and afterward present one's self
before the supreme Judge!

CLARA.

Calm yourself!

ANTONY.

Get well again you mean to say! Why am I sick? Yes, doctor, hand me the
drink that shall make me well! Your brother is the worst of sons; be you
the best of daughters! Like a worthless bankrupt I stand before the eyes
of the world! I owed it a fine man to take the place of this weak
invalid, and I cheated it with a scoundrel! Be you such a woman as your
mother was, and then people will say: It does not come from his parents
that the boy went wrong, for the daughter treads the path of
righteousness and excels all others.

[_With terrible coldness._]

And I will do my part in the matter; I will make it easier for you than
it is for others. The moment I see anybody point his fingers at you, I
shall [with a motion toward his neck_] shave myself, and then, I swear
to you, I shall shave off head and all. Then you may say I did it from
fright, because a horse ran away in the street, or because the cat
overturned a chair on the floor, or because a mouse ran up my legs.
Anybody that knows me, to be sure, will shake his head at that, for I
am not easily frightened--but what difference does that make? I could
not endure to live in a world where the people would refrain from
spitting at me simply out of pity.

CLARA.

Merciful God! What shall I do?

ANTONY.

Nothing, nothing, dear child! I am too severe with you--I realize it. Do
nothing--be just as you are, and it is all right. Oh, I have suffered
such rank injustice that I myself must do injustice in order not to
succumb to it when it grips me so hard! Listen! Not long ago I was going
across the street when I met that pock-marked thief, Fritz, whom I had
thrown into jail a few years ago because for the third time he had shown
himself light-fingered in my house. Formerly the scoundrel never even
dared to look at me; now he walked boldly up and offered me his hand. I
felt like boxing his ears, but I bethought myself and did not even spit.
We have been cousins for a week now, and it is proper for relatives to
greet each other! The minister, the sympathetic man who visited me
yesterday, said that no man had anybody to look out for but himself, and
that it was unchristian pride for me to hold myself responsible for the
sins of my son; otherwise Ad