--In the first place, I do not need your confidence, because in
our camp we have sufficient perspicacity. There is the matter of the
prince's daughter--that is all. But I am always afraid that for her
sake you will abandon public affairs. As I am working for you, I am
responsible for you, therefore we must be frank.
Doctor.--Let us be frank.
Anton.--Therefore you have said to yourself: I shall get rid of that
nobleman. Do it then. It is your business--but I ask you once more: Do
you wish to become a member of parliament for us, or for the princess?
That is my business.
Doctor.--I throw my cards on the table. I, you, we are all new people,
and all of us have this quality--we are not dolls, painted with the
same color. There is room in us for convictions, love, hatred--in a
word, as I told you, for everything of which a man of complex nature
is composed. Nature has given me a heart and the right to live,
therefore I desire for happiness; it gave me a mind, therefore I serve
my chosen idea. One does not exclude the other. Why should you mix the
princess with our public affairs--you, an intelligent man? Why do you
wish to replace life by a phrase? I have the right to be happy, and I
shall achieve it. And I shall know how to harmonize the idea with the
life, like a sail with a boat. I shall sail more surely then. You must
understand me; in that is our strength--that we know how to harmonize.
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