Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 2).djvu/127



That will I do!

Then must I know thee ill; high-souled have I ever deemed thee.

Evil days breed evil thoughts; too great has been thy trust in me. I will, I must, go forth by thy side—forth to face life and strife; Gunnar's roof-tree is too low for me.

[With emphasis.] But honour between man and man hast thou highly prized. There lack not grounds for strife between me and Gunnar; say, now, that he fell by my hand—wouldst thou still make all known and follow me?

[Starting.] Wherefore askest thou?

Answer me first: what wouldst thou do, were I to give thy husband his bane.

[Looks hard at him.] Then must I keep silence and never rest until I had seen thee dead.

[With a smile.] It is well, Hiördis—I knew it.

[Hastily.] But it can never come to pass!