THE PRIME MINISTER
43
Doctor.
Sir Robert Temple!
Hoffmann.
Yes, that hypocrite, that tyrant. It was he who
made this accursed war.
Doctor.
It was he who made these military regulations,
anyway, and sent so many of our people to their
death.
Margaret.
[With emotion.] My father—my poor dear father—among them.
Hoffmann.
The man has no bowels of compassion for anybody.
Margaret.
[Quivering.] Oh, is there no way to punish him?
Fritz.
Punish him? A Minister of State? What way
can there be? He has the whole machinery of
government to protect him.
Margaret.
But if it's impossible to reach him in his own
person, has he no friends, no relations, no wife, no
child . . .
Mrs. Schiller.
Margaret, what are you saying? Surely you
wouldn't make the innocent suffer for the guilty?