CAPTAIN. Laura certainly has her faults, but with her it isn't so
serious.
PASTOR. Oh, speak out--I know her.
CAPTAIN. She was brought up with romantic ideas, and it has been
hard for her to find herself, but she is my wife--
PASTOR And because she is your wife she is the best of wives? No,
my dear fellow, it is she who really wears on you most.
CAPTAIN. Well, anyway, the whole house is topsy-turvy. Laura won't
let Bertha leave her, and I can't allow her to remain in this
bedlam.
PASTOR. Oh, so Laura won't? Well, then, I'm afraid you are in for
trouble. When she was a child if she set her mind on anything she
used to play dead dog till she got it, and then likely as not she
would give it back, explaining that it wasn't the thing she wanted,
but having her own way.
CAPTAIN. So she was like that even then? H'm--she really gets into
such a passion sometimes that I am anxious about her and afraid she
is ill.
PASTOR. But what do you want to do with Bertha that is so
unpardonable? Can't you compromise?
CAPTAIN. You mustn't think I want to make a prodigy of her or an
image of myself. I don't want to be it procurer for my daughter and
educate her exclusively for matrimony, for then if she were left
unmarried she might have bitter days. On the other hand, I don't
want to influence her toward a career that requires a long course
of training which would be entirely thrown away if she should
marry.
PASTOR. What do you want, then?
CAPTAIN.
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