DOCTOR. I am not sure that she has the right to sell her own health, but I am sure that she has not the right to sell the health of her husband and of her children. If she contracts this disease, she will almost certainly communicate it to both of them; and, further, the life and health of any children she might afterwards have would be gravely endangered. You understand now that it is impossible for her to make a bargain of this kind. If the mischief is not already done, every effort must be made to prevent it.
MME. DUPONT. You say: ‘If the mischief is not done.’ Can you not be certain?
DOCTOR. Not as yet. There is a period of five or six weeks between the moment of contracting the disease and the appearance of its first symptoms.
MME. DUPONT. You think of nothing but the nurse. You do not think of our poor little baby. What can we do? We cannot let her die.
GEORGE. We can’t, we can’t!
DOCTOR. Neither can you endanger the life of this woman.
MME. DUPONT. You are not defending our interests!
DOCTOR. I am defending those of the weakest.
MME. DUPONT. If we had called in our own doctor, he would have taken our side.
DOCTOR. I doubt it. [Rising] But there is still time to send for him.