Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 6).djvu/299

 Rörlund.

This is a meeting, Miss Hessel, of the Society for the Moral Regeneration of the Lapsed and Lost.

Lona.

[Half to herself.] What? These nice-looking, well-behaved ladies, can they be?

Mrs. Rummel.

Oh, this is too much!

Lona.

Ah, I see, I see! Why, good gracious, that's Mrs. Rummel I And there sits Mrs. Holt too! Well, we three haven't grown younger since last we met. But listen now, good people: let the Lapsed and Lost wait for one day; they'll be none the worse for it. On a joyful occasion like this

Rörlund.

A return home is not always a joyful occasion.

Lona.

Indeed? Then how do you read your Bible, Pastor?

Rörlund.

I am not a clergyman.

Lona.

Oh; then you will be one, for certain.—But, pah!—this moral linen here has a tainted smell—just like a shroud. I'm accustomed to the air of the prairies now, I can tell you.