Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 11).djvu/404

 world ever saw. Then I found you. You were what I required in every respect. And you consented so willingly—so gladly. You renounced home and kindred—and went with me.

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To go with you meant for me the resurrection of my childhood.

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That was just why I found in you all that I required—in you and in no one else. I came to look on you as a thing hallowed, not to be touched save in adoring thoughts. In those days I was still young, Irene. And the superstition took hold of me that if I touched you, if I desired you with my senses, my soul would be profaned, so that I should be unable to accomplish what I was striving for.—And I still think there was some truth in that.

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[Nods with a touch of scorn.] The work of art first—then the human being.

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You must judge me as you will; but at that time I was utterly dominated by my great task—and exultantly happy in it.

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And you achieved your great task, Arnold.