Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 10).djvu/287

 Solness.

Did I really?

Hilda.

But then you said "little Hilda"; and I didn't like that.

Solness.

Oh, you didn't like that, Miss Hilda?

Hilda.

No, not at such a time as that. But—"Princess Hilda"—that will sound very well, I think.

Solness.

Very well indeed. Princess Hilda of—of—what was to be the name of the kingdom?

Hilda.

Pooh! I won't have anything to do with that stupid kingdom. I have set my heart upon quite a different one!

Solness.

[Has leaned back in the chair, still gazing at her.] Isn't it strange? The more I think of it now, the more it seems to me as though I had gone about all these years torturing myself with—h'm

Hilda.

With what?

Solness.

With the effort to recover something—some experience, which I seemed to have forgotten. But I never had the least inkling of what it could be.