Helmer.

Forgery, that’s all. Don’t you know what that means?

Nora.

Mayn’t he have been driven to it by need?

Helmer.

Yes; or, like so many others, he may have done it in pure heedlessness. I am not so hard-hearted as to condemn a man absolutely for a single fault.

Nora.

No, surely not, Torvald!

Helmer.

Many a man can retrieve his character, if he owns his crime and takes the punishment.