It made no difference to him."
"But surely, purchase was not robbery! That was too strong a word!"
"Well, but if one paid with money one hadn't earned!"
"That was to say, earned by manual labour?"
"Yes!"
"But in that case the doctor was a robber too!"
"Quite so! Nevertheless he would not hold back with the truth! Didn't
the Baron remember the repenting thief who had spoken such true words?"
The conversation was interrupted; the Baron sent for a famous professor.
The latter called him a murderer straight out, because he had not
engaged a nurse long ago.
The Baron had to persuade his wife. He had to retract all his former
arguments and emphasize the one simple fact, namely, the love for his
child, (regulated by the law of entail).
But where was a foster mother to come from? It was no use thinking of
looking for one in town, for there all people were corrupt. No, it
would have to be a country girl. But the Baroness objected to a girl
because, she argued, a girl with a baby was an immoral person; and her
son might contract a hereditary tendency.
The doctor retorted that all foster mothers were unmarried women and
that if the young Baron inherited from her a preference for the other
sex, he would grow into a good fellow; tendencies of that sort ought
to be encouraged.
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