Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 10).djvu/80

 Mrs. Elvsted.

[With a little nervous twitch.] Did I? Yes, I suppose I did. [Vehemently, but not loudly.] No—I may just as well make a clean breast of it at once! For it must all come out in any case.

Hedda.

Why, my dear Thea?

Mrs. Elvsted.

Well, to make a long story short: My husband did not know that I was coming.

Hedda.

What! Your husband didn't know it!

Mrs. Elvsted.

No, of course not. For that matter, he was away from home himself—he was travelling. Oh, I could bear it no longer, Hedda! I couldn't indeed—so utterly alone as I should have been in future.

Hedda.

Well? And then?

Mrs. Elvsted.

So I put together some of my things—what I needed most—as quietly as possible. And then I left the house.

Hedda.

Without a word?

Mrs. Elvsted.

Yes—and took the train straight to town.