ad you to believe in. For my pride is my life; and well had
it become me, if you had remained what once you were.

LADY INGER. And what proves to you I have not? Elina, how can
you know so surely that you are not doing your mother wrong?

ELINA (vehemently). Oh, that I were!

LADY INGER. Peace! You have no right to call your mother to
account---- With a single word I could---- ----; but it would be
an ill word for you to hear; you must await what time shall bring;
may be that----

ELINA (turns to go). Sleep well, my mother!

LADY INGER (hesitates). Nay, stay with me; I have still somewhat--
Come nearer;--you must hear me, Elina!

(Sits down by the table in front of the window.)

ELINA. I am listening.

LADY INGER. For as silent as you are, I know well that you often
long to be gone from here. Ostrat is too lonely and lifeless for
you.

ELINA. Do you wonder at that, my mother?

LADY INGER. It rests with you whether all this shall henceforth
be changed.

ELINA. How so?

LADY INGER. Listen.--I look for a guest to-night.

ELINA (comes nearer). A guest?

LADY INGER. A stranger, who must remain a stranger to all. None
must know whence he comes or whither he goes.

ELINA (throws herself, with a cry of joy, at her mother's feet
and seizes her hands). My mother! My mother! Forgive me, if you
can, all the wrong I have done you!

LADY INGER. What do you mean? Elina, I do not understand you.

ELINA. Then they were all deceived! You are still true at heart!

LADY INGER. Rise, rise and tell me----

ELINA. Do you think I do not know who the stranger is?

LADY INGER. You know? And yet----?

ELINA. Do you think the gates of Ostrat shut so close that never
a whisper of evil tidings can slip through? Do you think I do not
know that the heir of many a noble line wanders outlawed, without
rest or shelter, while Danish masters lord it in the home of their
fathers?

LADY INGER. And what then?

ELINA. I know well that many a high-born knight is hunted through
the woods like a hungry wolf. No hearth has he to rest by, no bread
to eat----

LADY INGER (coldly). Enough! Now I understand you.

ELINA (continuing). And that is why the gates of Ostrat must
stand open by night! That is why he must remain a stranger to all,
this guest of whom none must know whence he comes or whither he
goes! You are setting at naught the harsh