[The same scene as in previous act. A lighted lamp is on the table;
it is night. The Doctor and Laura are discovered at rise of
curtain.]
DOCTOR. From what I gathered during my conversation with him the
case is not fully proved to me. In the first place you made a
mistake in saying that he had arrived at these astonishing results
about other heavenly bodies by means of a microscope. Now that I
have learned that it was a spectroscope, he is not only cleared of
any suspicion of insanity, but has rendered a great service to
science.
LAURA. Yes, but I never said that.
DOCTOR. Madam, I made careful notes of our conversation, and I
remember that I asked about this very point because I thought I had
misunderstood you. One must be very careful in making such
accusations when a certificate in lunacy is in question.
LAURA. A certificate in lunacy?
DOCTOR. Yes, you must surely know that an insane person loses both
civil and family rights.
LAURA. No, I did not know that.
DOCTOR. There was another matter that seemed to me suspicious. He
spoke of his communications to his booksellers not being answered.
Permit me to ask if you, through motives of mistaken kindness, have
intercepted them?
LAURA. Yes, I have. It was my duty to guard the interests of the
family, and I could not let him ruin us all without some
intervention.
DOCTOR. Pardon me, but I think you cannot have considered the
consequences of such an act. If he discovers your secret
interference in his affairs, he will have grounds for suspicions,
and they will grow like an avalanche.
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