"I don't want to go into definitions. There are times in life when words become as dangerous as explosives. Let us do what we see to be our obvious duty, without saying too much about it."
"Isn't it your first duty to protect your child?"
"My first duty, as I see it now, is to protect you."
"I don't see much to be gained by shielding one person when you expose another. What happens to me is a small matter compared with the consequences to her."
"Your influence hasn't hurt her in the past; why should it do so now?"
"You forget that there are other things besides my influence. Her whole position, her whole life, would be changed, if she had for a mother—if you had for a wife—a notorious woman like me."
"There are situations where the child must follow the parent."
"But there are none, as far as I know, in which the parent must sacrifice the child."
"I don't agree with you. There are moments in which we must act in a certain definite manner, no matter what may be the outcome. Don't let us talk of it any more, Diane. You must know as well as I that there is but one thing for us to do."
"You mean, of course, that I must marry you."