Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 10).djvu/377

 Hilda.

[Looks after him, then turns to Ragnar.] I think you might at least have thanked him.

Ragnar.

Thanked him? Ought I to have thanked him?

Hilda.

Yes, of course you ought!

Ragnar.

I think it is rather you I ought to thank.

Hilda.

How can you say such a thing?

Ragnar.

[Without answering her.] But I advise you to take care, Miss Wangel! For you don't know him rightly yet.

Hilda.

[Ardently.] Oh, no one knows him as I do!

Ragnar.

[Laughs in exasperation.] Thank him, when he has held me down year after year! When he made father disbelieve in me—made me disbelieve in myself! And all merely that he might!

Hilda.

[As if divining something.] That he might? Tell me at once!

Ragnar.

That he might keep her with him.