Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 10).djvu/77

 Mrs. Elvsted.

My marriage?

Hedda.

Yes.

Mrs. Elvsted.

Five years ago.

Hedda.

To be sure; it must be that.

Mrs. Elvsted.

Oh those five years! Or at all events the last two or three of them! Oh, if you[1] could only imagine

Hedda.

[Giving her a little slap on the hand.] De? Fie, Thea!

Mrs. Elvsted.

Yes, yes, I will try Well, if—you could only imagine and understand

Hedda.

[Lightly.] Eilert Lövborg has been in your neighbourhood about three years, hasn't he?

Mrs. Elvsted.

[Looks at her doubtfully.] Eilert Lövborg? Yes—he has.

Hedda.

Had you known him before, in town here?

Mrs. Elvsted.

Scarcely at all. I mean—I knew him by name of course.

1 Mrs. Elvsted here uses the formal pronoun De, whereupon Hedda rebukes her. In her next speech Mrs. Elvsted says du.