GERDA. You forget that he was too old.
CONSUL. No, he wasn't then, as you had a child at once. When he proposed, he asked if you wanted to have a child with him, and he vowed in the bargain to give you back your freedom when his promise had been kept and old age began to weigh him down.
GERDA. He deserted me, and that was an insult.
CONSUL. Not to you! Your youth prevented it from being a reflection on you.
GERDA. He should have let me leave him.
CONSUL. Why? Why did you want to heap dishonour on him?
GERDA. One of us had to bear it.
CONSUL. What strange paths your thoughts pursue! However, you have killed him, and fooled me into helping you. How can we rehabilitate him?
GERDA. If he is to be rehabilitated, it can only be at my expense.
CONSUL. I cannot follow your thoughts, which always turn to hatred. But suppose we leave the rehabilitation alone and think only of how his daughter is to be saved: what can we do then?