Oh, you can talk all night, but this is a practical world. How long could you keep your job in the institute? Then how'll you live! Private practice? No respectable home will let you inside the door.
Ernest
I've seen the inside of respectable homes. I want no more. [Taking from his pocket a piece of paper.] This morning I came to ask for your sister's hand in marriage. Your manners did not please me. So I cabled over to Metchnikoff. [Hands cablegram to John.] His answer. Positions await us both at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. That luxurious suite on to-morrow's steamer still waits in my name.
Theodore
Ernest! Stop! Think! This woman's soul is in your hands.
[Ernest seems to hesitate. Helen crosses to him. Judge seizes John, whispers, and shoves him across.
John
Doctor Hamilton! I apologize!... You're a man of the world. You know what this means—she doesn't. She is in your power—for God's sake go to Paris without her.
[John tries to lead Helen away from Ernest. She shudders at John's masterful touch and clings to her lover.
Ernest