Oh, have pity on me! I must do whatever you demand. I don't know how you have gained such power over me. Oh, man, if the slightest memory of what you once felt, if the least pity for your own youth, still lives within you, you cannot sacrifice me so!
HEFFTERDINGT.
I do not sacrifice you alone, Miss Magda.
MAGDA.
[With awakening perception.] Good God!
HEFFTERDINGT.
There's no other way. I see none. You know yourself that the old man would not survive it. And what would become of your mother, and what would become of your poor sister? Miss Magda, it is as if with your own hand you set fire to the house and let everything burn that is within. And this house is still your home--
MAGDA.
[In growing agony.] I will not, I will not. This house is not my home. My home is with my child!