It degenerated into a--
what shall I call, it?--a sort of desperate passion. Yes, that is
just the word for it.
Rebecca. Have the goodness to remember the condition your sister
was in. As far as I am concerned I do not think I can be said to
be particularly emotional in any way.
Kroll. No, you certainly are not. But that makes you all the more
dangerous to those whom you wish to get into your power.
It comes easy to you to act with deliberation and careful
calculation, just because you have a cold heart.
Rebecca. Cold? Are you so sure of that?
Kroll. I am certain of it now. Otherwise you could not have
pursued your object here so unswervingly, year after year. Yes,
yes--you have gained what you wanted. You have got him and
everything else here into your power. But, to carry out your
schemes, you have not scrupled to make him unhappy.
Rebecca. That is not true. It is not I; it is you yourself that
have made him unhappy.
Kroll. I!
Rebecca. Yes, by leading him to imagine that he was responsible
for the terrible end that overtook Beata.
Kroll. Did that affect him so deeply, then?
Rebecca. Of course. A man of such gentle disposition as he--
Kroll. I imagined that one of your so-called "emancipated" men
would know how to overcome any scruples. But there it is! Oh,
yes--as a matter of fact it turned out just as I expected. The
descendant of the men who are looking at us from these walls need
not think he can break loose from what has been handed down as an
inviolable inheritance from generation to generation.
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