Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 8).djvu/255

 Gregers.

[Looking at him coldly.] There is something behind all this.

Werle. How so?

Gregers. You want to make use of me in some way.

Werle.

In such a close relationship as ours, the one can always be useful to the other.

Gregers.

Yes, so people say.

Werle.

I want very much to have you at home with me for a time. I am a lonely man Gregers; I have always felt lonely, all my life through; but most of all now that I am getting up in years. I feel the need of some one about me

Gregers.

You have Mrs. Sörby.

Werle.

Yes, I have her; and she has become, I may say, almost indispensable to me. She is lively and even-tempered; she brightens up the house; and that is a very great thing for me.

Gregers.

Well then, you have everything just as you wish it.