GEORGE [going to the door and coming back much moved] There is one thing I should like to ask you. Could you contrive that no one—my wife—should know what has happened? If my poor wife knew that it was I who was the cause—it is for her sake that I beg you. She is not to blame.
DOCTOR. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to save her from learning the real nature of the child’s illness.
GEORGE. Oh, thank you, thank you.
DOCTOR. You need not. If I tell lies, it will be for her sake and not for yours.
GEORGE. And my mother?
DOCTOR. Your mother knows the truth.
GEORGE. But—
DOCTOR. Please, please. We have many very serious matters to discuss.
George goes to the door and brings in his mother. She bows to the doctor, makes a sign to him to be seated in the armchair near the fireplace, and sits down herself on the chair near the little table. George takes a seat to the left in front of the desk.