[Looking at Petra.] Aha! We have opinions of our own already, eh? To be sure, to be sure! [To Mrs. Stockmann.] Sister-in-law, you are presumably the most rational member of this household. Use all your influence with your husband; try to make him realise what all this will involve both for his family——
Dr. Stockmann.
My family concerns myself alone!
Burgomaster.
——both for his family, I say, and for the town he lives in.
Dr. Stockmann.
It is I that have the real good of the town at heart! I want to lay bare the evils that, sooner or later, must come to light. Ah! You shall see whether I love my native town.
Burgomaster.
You, who, in your blind obstinacy, want to cut off the town’s chief source of prosperity!
Dr. Stockmann.