So?  So?

[Laughs.]

Yes,

I have used up all the honesty in the family!  There, poor boy!  There was none left for him!  She too [points to the dead body] was much too virtuous!—­Who knows whether or not the daughter—­[Suddenly to CLARA]

What do you think, my innocent child?

CLARA.

Father!

SECOND BAILIFF (to ADAM).

Have you no pity?

ADAM.

Pity?  Am I prying into the old fellow’s pockets?  Am I forcing him to take off his stockings and turn his shoes inside out?  I meant to start out with doing that—­for I hate him like poison, ever since that time in the tavern when he—­you know what I refer to, and you would feel insulted too, if you had any self respect about you!

[To CLARA.]

Where is your brother’s room?

CLARA (points).

Back there!

[Both Bailiffs, exeunt.]

CLARA.

Father, he is innocent!  He must be innocent!  He is your son, my brother!

ANTONY.

Innocent, and a matricide?

[Laughs.]

A MAID (enters with a letter to CLARA).

From the cashier, Mr. Leonard.

ANTONY.

You need not read it!  He declares himself free of you!

[Claps his hands.]

Bravo, scoundrel

CLARA (reads it).

Yes!  Yes!  Oh, my God

ANTONY.

Let him go!

CLARA.

Father, father, I cannot—­

ANTONY.

You cannot?  Cannot?  What do you mean?  Are you?—­

Both BAILIFFS reenter.

ADAM (spitefully).

Seek and ye shall find!

SECOND BAILIFF (to ADAM).

What do you mean by that?  Did it turn out so today?

ADAM.

Hold your tongue!

[Exeunt both.]

ANTONY.

He is innocent—­and you—­you—­

CLARA.

Father, you are terrible!

ANTONY (grasps her hand very gently).

Dear daughter, Carl is only a bungler.  He has killed his mother, and what does it mean?  His father remains alive!  So, come to his aid—­you cannot ask him to do everything alone.  You must make an end of me!  The old trunk still looks rugged, doesn’t it?  But it has begun to totter already—­it will not cost you much trouble to fell it!  You need not reach for the ax.  You have a pretty face—­I have never praised you, but today I will tell you, so that you may acquire courage and confidence.  Your eyes, nose, mouth are surely admired!  Become—­You understand me?—­Or tell me, I have an idea that you are already—­

CLARA (almost crazy, throws herself with uplifted arms at the feet of her mother, and cries out like a child).

Mother!  Mother!

ANTONY.