Birling's connection

• Inspector stage directions

  The Inspector need not be a big man but he creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. 
• Birling-somewhat impatiently

  Birling: (somewhat impatiently) Look – there's nothing mysterious – or scandalous – about this business – at least not so far as I’m concerned. It's a perfectly straightforward case, and as it happened more than eighteen months ago – nearly two years ago – obviously it has nothing whatever to do with the wretched girl's suicide. 
• Inspector-a chain of events

  Inspector: Because what happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide. A chain of events. 
• Birling-awkward

  Birling: Still, I can't accept any responsibility. If we were all responsible for everything that happened to everybody we'd had anything to do with, it would be very awkward, wouldn't it?
• Eric first speaking up to Birling

  Inspector: It's my duty to ask questions. 

  Birling: Well it's my duty to keep labour costs down. … We were paying the usual rates and if they didn't like those rates, they could go and work somewhere else. It's a free country, I told them. 

  Eric: It isn't if you can't go and work somewhere else.
• Eric standing up to Gerald

  Gerald: (to Birling) You couldn't have done anything else. 

  Eric: He could. He could have kept her on instead of throwing her out. I call it tough luck. […] Why shouldn't they try for higher wages? We try for the highest possible prices.