Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 11).djvu/399

.

[Sadly and earnestly.] There is something hidden behind everything you say.

.

How can I help that? Every word I say is whispered into my ear.

.

I believe I am the only one that can divine your meaning.

.

Surely you ought to be the only one.

.

[''Rests his hands on the table and looks intently at her''.] Some of the strings of your nature have broken.

.

[Gently.] Does not that always happen when a young warm-blooded woman dies?

.

Oh Irene, have done with these wild imaginings—! You are living! Living—living!

.

[Rises slowly from her chair and says, quivering.] I was dead for many years. They came and bound me—laced my arms together behind my back—. Then they lowered me into a grave