.. Heaven knows it. And he, I tell you, would be
prepared, in a given case, to do the same thing to-day.
HELEN
And how many parents, do you suppose, walk year in and out over the
bodies of their children without anybody's ...
HOFFMANN
[_Interrupting her._] That is _nonsense_! Why, that's the end of all....
I tell you to take care, in every ... I tell you emphatically, in _every_
respect. You won't find a trace of moral scrupulousness in that quarter.
HELEN
Oh, dear, how absurd that sounds again. I tell you, when once you begin
to take notice of things like that ... it's awfully interesting.
HOFFMANN
You may say what you please. I have warned you. Only I will tell you
quite in confidence: at the time of that incident I very nearly got into
the same damnable mess myself.
HELEN
But if he's such a dangerous man, why were you sincerely delighted
yesterday when he ...
HOFFMANN
Good Lord, I knew him when I was young. And how do you know that I didn't
have very definite reasons for ...
HELEN
Reasons? Of what kind?
HOFFMANN
Never mind.--Though, if he came; to-day, and if I knew what I do know
to-day--
HELEN
What is it that you know? I've told you already that he didn't utter one
word about you.
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