HAUSER. Suppose then that we skip the prologue and the few opening chapters and start at once with the affair of Madame Hauteville.
BEERMANN. How do you know ...?
HAUSER. I suspected. You probably are not the first one who has come to confess to me. Since last night many consciences have been jolted. So you, too, belong to that crowd?
BEERMANN. You ask yourself how such things are possible?
HAUSER. No, sir, I never ask myself such stupid questions.
BEERMANN. You have always believed that an undisturbed happiness prevailed in my family.
HAUSER [quickly]. Beermann, I resent that! Do not try to make yourself interesting.
BEERMANN. Don't take it the wrong way. I am not blaming anybody. I just want to ...
HAUSER. You even want to find moral justification for your immorality.
BEERMANN. I know well enough that it is unjustifiable. I have been saying that to myself a hundred thousand times. Do not think that I overcame my principles so easily.