man I now am.

Lona: That is to say, a lie has made you the man you now are.

Bernick: Whom did it injure at the time? It was Johan's intention
never to come back.

Lona: You ask whom it injured. Look into your own heart, and tell
me if it has not injured you.

Bernick: Look into any man's heart you please, and you will
always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has
to keep concealed.

Lona: And you call yourselves pillars of society!

Bernick: Society has none better.

Lona: And of what consequence is it whether such a society be
propped up or not? What does it all consist of? Show and lies--
and nothing else. Here are you, the first man in the town, living
in grandeur and luxury, powerful and respected--you, who have
branded an innocent man as a criminal.

Bernick: Do you suppose I am not deeply conscious of the wrong I
have done him? And do you suppose I am not ready to make amends
to him for it?

Lona: How? By speaking out?