Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 7).djvu/58

 [Throws herself back on the sofa.] I may have got it from some admirer. When one is so—attractive as I am

Mrs. Linden.

You're too silly, Nora.

Nora.

Now I'm sure you're dying of curiosity, Christina

Mrs. Linden.

Listen to me, Nora dear: haven't you been a little rash?

Nora.

[Sitting upright again.] Is it rash to save one's husband's life?

Mrs. Linden.

I think it was rash of you, without his knowledge

Nora.

But it would have been fatal for him to know! Can't you understand that? He wasn't even to suspect how ill he was. The doctors came to me privately and told me his life was in danger—that nothing could save him but a winter in the South. Do you think I didn't try diplomacy first? I told him how I longed to have a trip abroad, like other young wives; I wept and prayed; I said he ought to think of my condition, and not to thwart me; and then I hinted that he could borrow the money. But then, Christina, he got almost angry. He said I was frivolous, and that it was his duty as a husband not to yield to my whims and fancies—so he called them. Very well, thought I, but saved you must be; and then I found the way to do it.