Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 11).djvu/285



Then it is to take him back with you that you have come here?

Yes, if only it were possible!

It is possible enough, if you have set your heart upon it. For you have the first and strongest claims upon him.

Oh, claims, claims! What is the use of claims? If he is not mine of his own free will, he is not mine at all. And have him I must! I must have my boy's heart, whole and undivided—now!

You must remember that Erhart is well into his twenties. You could scarcely reckon on keeping his heart very long undivided, as you express it.

[With a melancholy smile.] It would not need to be for so very long.

Indeed? I should have thought that when you want a thing, you want it to the end of your days.

So I do. But that need not mean for very long.