.] Oh, don't call him a stranger!

RITA. [Sadly shaking her head.] We never won the boy, Alfred. Not I--nor
you either.

ALLMERS. [Wringing his hands.] And now it is too late! Too late!

RITA. And no consolation anywhere--in anything.

ALLMERS. [With sudden passion.] You are the guilty one in this!

RITA. [Rising.] I!

ALLMERS. Yes, you! It was your fault that he became--what he was! It was
your fault that he could not save himself when he fell into the water.

RITA. [With a gesture of repulsion.] Alfred--you shall not throw the
blame upon me!

ALLMERS. [More and more beside himself.] Yes, yes, I do! It was you that
left the helpless child unwatched upon the table.

RITA. He was lying so comfortably among the cushions, and sleeping so
soundly. And you had promised to look after him.

ALLMERS. Yes, I had. [Lowering his voice.] But then you came--you, you,
you--and lured me to you.

RITA. [Looking defiantly at him.] Oh, better own at once that you forgot
the child and everything else.

ALLMERS. [In suppressed desperation.] Yes, that is true. [Lower.] I
forgot the child--in your arms!

RITA. [Exasperated.] Alfred! Alfred--this is intolerable of you!

ALLMERS. [In a low voice, clenching his fists before her face.] In that
hour you condemned little Eyolf to death.

RITA. [Wildly.] You, too! You, too--if it is as you say!

ALLMERS. Oh yes--call me to account, too--if you will. We have sinned,
both of us. And so, after all, there was retribution in Eyolf's death.

RITA. Retribution?

ALLMERS. [With more self-control.] Yes. Judgment upon you and me. Now,
as we stand here, we have our deserts. While he lived, we let ourselves
shrink away from him in secret, abject remorse. We could not bear to see
it--the thing he had to drag with him--

RITA. [Whispers.] The crutch.

ALLMERS. Yes, that. And now, what we now call sorrow and heartache--is
really the gnawing of conscience, Rita. Nothing else.

RITA. [Gazing helplessly at him.] I feel as if all this must end in
despair--in madness for both of us. For we can never--never make it good
again.

ALLMERS. [Passing into a calmer mood.] I dreamed about Eyolf last night.
I thought I saw him coming up from the pier. He could run like other
boys. So nothing had happened to him--neither the one thing nor the
other. And the torturing reality was nothing but a dream, I thought. Oh,
how I thanked and blessed--[Checking himself.] H'm!

RITA. [Looking at him.] Whom?