MRS. ALVING. No. I will only tell you a story.
MANDERS. Well--?
MRS. ALVING. All that you have just said about my husband and me, and
our life after you had brought me back to the path of duty--as you
called it--about all that you know nothing from personal observation.
From that moment you, who had been our intimate friend, never set foot
in our house gain.
MANDERS. You and your husband left the town immediately after.
MRS. ALVING. Yes; and in my husband's lifetime you never came to see
us. It was business that forced you to visit me when you undertook the
affairs of the Orphanage.
MANDERS. [Softly and hesitatingly.] Helen--if that is meant as a
reproach, I would beg you to bear in mind--
MRS. ALVING.--the regard you owed to your position, yes; and that I was
a runaway wife. One can never be too cautious with such unprincipled
creatures.