Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 10).djvu/302

 Mrs. Solness.

[Rises slowly.] What is behind all this? You may just as well tell me at once.

Solness.

But there is nothing behind it! I have never done you any wrong—not wittingly and wilfully, at any rate. And yet—and yet it seems as though a crushing debt rested upon me and weighed me down.

Mrs. Solness.

A debt to me?

Solness.

Chiefly to you.

Mrs. Solness.

Then you are—ill after all, Halvard.

Solness.

[Gloomily.] I suppose I must be—or not far from it. [Looks towards the door to the right, which is opened at this moment.] Ah! now it grows lighter.

Hilda Wangel comes in. She has made some alteration in her dress, and let down her skirt.

Hilda.

Good morning, Mr. Solness!

Solness.

[Nods.] Slept well?

Hilda.

Quite deliciously! Like a child in a cradle. Oh—I lay and stretched myself like—like a princess!