Mr. X monologue (Act 3) — Plays by August Strindberg, Second series

You are a different man from what I took you to be--if stronger or weaker, I cannot tell--if more criminal or less, that's none of my concern--but decidedly more stupid; that much is quite plain. For stupid you were when you wrote another person's name instead of begging--as I have had to do. Stupid you were when you stole things out of my book--could you not guess that I might have read my own books? Stupid you were when you thought yourself cleverer than me, and when you thought that I could be lured into becoming a thief. Stupid you were when you thought balance could be restored by giving the world two thieves instead of one. But most stupid of all you were when you thought I had failed to provide a safe corner-stone for my happiness. Go ahead and write my wife as many anonymous letters as you please about her husband having killed a man--she knew that long before we were married!-- Have you had enough now?