MANDERS. Then you do not wish the Orphanage to be insured?

MRS. ALVING. No. We will let it alone.

MANDERS. [Leaning hack in his chair.] But if, now, a disaster were
to happen? One can never tell--Should you be able to make good the
damage?

MRS. ALVING. No; I tell you plainly I should do nothing of the
kind.

MANDERS. Then I must tell you, Mrs. Alving--we are taking no small
responsibility upon ourselves.

MRS. ALVING. Do you think we can do otherwise?

MANDERS. No, that is just the point; we really cannot do otherwise.
We ought not to expose ourselves to misinterpretation; and we have
no right whatever to give offence to the weaker brethren.

MRS. ALVING. You, as a clergyman, certainly should not.

MANDERS. I really think, too, we may trust that such an institution
has fortune on its side; in fact, that it stands under a special
providence.

MRS. ALVING. Let us hope so, Pastor Manders.

MANDERS. Then we will let it take its chance?