lf have inserted the date on which he signed the paper. Do you
remember that?

_Nora_. Yes, I think I remember--

_Krogstad_. Then I gave you the bond to send by post to your father. Is
that not so?

_Nora_. Yes.

_Krogstad_. And you naturally did so at once, because five or six days
afterwards you brought me the bond with your father's signature. And
then I gave you the money.

_Nora_. Well, haven't I been paying it off regularly?

_Krogstad_. Fairly so, yes. But--to come back to the matter in
hand--that must have been a very trying time for you, Mrs. Helmer?

_Nora_. It was, indeed.

_Krogstad_. Your father was very ill, wasn't he?

_Nora_. He was very near his end.

_Krogstad_. And died soon afterwards?

_Nora_. Yes.

_Krogstad_. Tell me, Mrs. Helmer, can you by any chance remember what
day your father died?--on what day of the month, I mean.

_Nora_. Papa died on the 29th of September.

_Krogstad_. That is correct; I have ascertained it for myself. And, as
that is so, there is a discrepancy (_taking a paper from his pocket_)
which I cannot account for.

_Nora_. What discrepancy? I don't know--

_Krogstad_. The discrepancy consists, Mrs. Helmer, in the fact that your
father signed this bond three days after his death.

_Nora_. What do you mean? I don't understand--

_Krogstad_. Your father died on the 29th of September. But, look here;
your father dated his signature the 2nd of October. It is a discrepancy,
isn't it? (NORA _is silent_.) Can you explain it to me? (NORA _is still
silent_.) It is a remarkable thing, too, that the words "2nd of
October," as well as the year, are not written in your father's
handwriting but in one that I think I know. Well, of course it can be
explained; your father may have forgotten to date his signature, and
someone else may have dated it haphazard before they knew of his death.
There is no harm in that. It all depends on the signature of the name;
and _that_ is genuine, I suppose, Mrs. Helmer? It was your father
himself who signed his name here?

_Nora_ (_after a short pause, throws her head up and looks defiantly at
him_). No, it was not. It was I that wrote papa's name.

_Krogstad_. Are you aware that is a dangerous confession?

_Nora_. In what way? You shall have your money soon.

_Krogstad_. Let me ask you a question; why did you not send the paper to
your father?

_Nora_. It was impossible; papa was so ill. If I had asked him for his
signature, I sh