_Helmer_. Yes; or, as in so many cases, by imprudence. I am not so
heartless as to condemn a man altogether because of a single false step
of that kind.

_Nora_. No you wouldn't, would you, Torvald?

_Helmer_. Many a man has been able to retrieve his character, if he has
openly confessed his fault and taken his punishment.

_Nora_. Punishment--?

_Helmer_. But Krogstad did nothing of that sort; he got himself out of
it by a cunning trick, and that is why he has gone under altogether.

_Nora_. But do you think it would--?

_Helmer_. Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the
hypocrite with everyone, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of
those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. And
about the children--that is the most terrible part of it all, Nora.

_Nora_. How?

_Helmer_. Because such an atmosphere of lies infects and poisons the
whole life of a home. Each breath the children take in such a house is
full of the germs of evil.

_Nora_ (_coming nearer him_). Are you sure of that?

_Helmer_. My dear, I have often seen it in the course of my life as a