Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 7).djvu/184

 Helmer.

Oh, you think and talk like a silly child.

Nora.

Very likely. But you neither think nor talk like the man I can share my life with. When your terror was over—not for what threatened me, but for yourself—when there was nothing more to fear—then it seemed to you as though nothing had happened. I was your lark again, your doll, just as before—whom you would take twice as much care of in future, because she was so weak and fragile. [Stands up.] Torvald—in that moment it burst upon me that I had been living here these eight years with a strange man, and had borne him three children.—Oh, I can't bear to think of it! I could tear myself to pieces!

Helmer.

[Sadly.] I see it, I see it; an abyss has opened between us.—But, Nora, can it never be filled up?

Nora.

As I now am, I am no wife for you.

Helmer.

I have strength to become another man.

Nora.

Perhaps—when your doll is taken away from you.

Helmer.

To part—to part from you! No, Nora, no; I can't grasp the thought.