Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 10).djvu/368

 Hilda.

[Sits and looks at him awhile.] What will you build next?

Solness.

[Shakes his head.] I don't believe I shall build much more.

Hilda.

Not those cosy, happy homes for mother and father, and for the troop of children?

Solness.

I wonder whether there will be any use for such homes in the coming time.

Hilda.

Poor Mr. Solness! And you have gone all these ten years—and staked your whole life—on that alone.

Solness.

Yes, you may well say so, Hilda.

Hilda.

[With an outburst.] Oh, it all seems to me so foolish—so foolish!

Solness.

All what?

Hilda.

Not to be able to grasp at your own happiness—at your own life! Merely because some one you know happens to stand in the way!

Solness.

One whom you have no right to set aside.