DOCTOR. Not at all, my dear fellow. Good-bye.
STUDENT. Good-bye, sir.
DOCTOR [calling to the other as he goes out] Would you mind telling them to show in M. Loches? Thanks very much. Good-bye.
The student goes out.
Loches enters and bows. The doctor motions him to be seated.
LOCHES. I must thank you for being so kind as to receive me out of your regular hours. The business that brings me here is peculiarly distressing. I am the father-in-law of M. George Dupont. After the terrible revelation of yesterday, my daughter has returned to me with her child and I have come to ask you to be so good as to continue attending on the infant, but at my house.
DOCTOR. Very good.
LOCHES. Thank you. Now, as to the scoundrel who is the cause of all these misfortunes.
DOCTOR [very gently] You must excuse me, but that is a subject on which I cannot enter. My functions are only those of a physician.
LOCHES [in a thick voice] I ask your pardon, but I think when you have heard me for a moment, you will agree with me. I shall not trouble you with the plans of vengeance I formed yesterday, when my poor daughter fled to me with her child in her arms after the revelation that you know. You will excuse me if I speak to you in this state—oh, I can scarcely contain my indignation! I had intended to talk of this calmly: but when I think of that man and of his infamous conduct—the brutal, cowardly blow he has struck at me and mine—I cannot control myself—I, I—. It is abominable! My daughter! A girl of twenty-two! Twenty-two!