Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 9).djvu/362

 Arnholm. Is it so utterly impossible for you to?

Boletta.

You surely cannot mean what you are saying, Mr. Arnholm? [Looks at him.] Or Perhaps Was this what you had in mind when—when you proposed to do so much for me?

Arnholm.

Now you must listen to me a little, Boletta. It appears I have taken you quite by surprise.

Boletta.

Oh, how could such an offer—from you,—how could it fail to—to surprise me?

Arnholm.

No doubt you are right. You did not know, of course,—you could not know, that it was for your sake I came here just now.

Boletta. Did you come here for—for my sake?

Arnholm.

Yes, I did, Boletta. I got a letter from your father this spring—and in it was a phrase which led me to believe—h'm—that you had kept your former tutor in—in a little more than friendly remembrance.

Boletta.

How could father say such a thing?

Arnholm.

It appears that was not what he meant at all.