But there is not only your wife,- there are her children, your children, whom you may contaminate, too. It is in the name of those innocent little ones that I appeal to You; it is the future of the race that I am defending.
But George Dupont will not postpone the marriage for several years. He would have to give an explanation, break his word, and lose his inheritance,- things infinitely more important than any consideration for the girl he "adores "or for their children, should they have any. In short, he is actuated by the morality of the bourgeoisie: the silly conception of honor, the dread of public opinion and, above all, the greed for property.
The second act is laid at the home of George Dupont. George and his wife Henriette are childishly happy, except for the regret that their marriage could not have taken place six months earlier because poor George had been declared consumptive. How stupid of doctors to suspect the healthy strong George Dupont of consumption I But, then, "all doctors are stupid." But now that they are together, nothing shall part them in their great happiness, and especially in their great love for their baby. True, a little cloud obscures their sunny horizon. The baby is not very strong; but with the care and devotion of the grandmother, out in the country air, it is sure to recover.
