"I have, Herman. I have!"
"Then, to go back to the first question, why did you wound me by saying, that though I had married you, you knew you never could be owned as my wife?"
"I spoke from a deep conviction! Oh, Herman, I know you will never willingly forsake me; but I feel you will never acknowledge me!"
"Then you must think me a villain!" said Herman bitterly.
"No, no, no; I think, if you must have my thoughts, you are the gentlest, truest, and noblest among men."
"You cannot get away from the point; if you think I could desert you, you must think I am a villain!"
"Oh, no, no! besides, I did not say you would desert me! I said you would never own me!"
"It is in effect the same thing."
"Herman, understand me: when I say, from the deep conviction I feel, that you will never own me, I also say that you will be blameless."
"Those two things are incompatible, Nora! But why do you persist in asserting that you will never be owned?"