GEORGE [tonelessly] He probably did not know himself.

MME. DUPONT [after a silence] Probably.

During what follows they avoid looking at one another.

GEORGE. But our own doctor, didn’t he say—?

MME. DUPONT. It was not to him that I went.

GEORGE. Ah! [A very long silence. Then lower] Why?

MME. DUPONT. The nurse’s doctor had so terrified me.

GEORGE. Seriously?

MME. DUPONT. Yes: it is a disease—[Silence]

GEORGE [in anguish] Well?