Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 9).djvu/343

 Ellida.

Most of all when it fascinates me—I think.

Wangel.

[Slowly.] You are akin to the sea.

Ellida.

There is terror in that too.

Wangel.

And in yourself no less. You both frighten and fascinate.[1]

Ellida.

Do you think so, Wangel?

Wangel.

I see that I have never really known you; never thoroughly. I am beginning to understand that now.

Ellida.

And therefore you must set me free! Loose me from every tie to you and yours! I am not the woman you took me for; you see that now yourself. Now we can part in mutual understanding—and of our own free will.

Wangel.

[Gloomily.] It would perhaps be best for us both—to part. But for all that, I cannot! To me it

1 For another rendering of the foregoing very difficult passage—especially difficult because of the frequent occurrence of "det grufulde" "the terrible" in other contexts—the reader who is curious in such matters may consult the five-volume edition of Ibsen's Prose Dramas (vol. v. p. 210), where he will find it discussed in a footnote.