nds!

Ellida. Didn't I give my life into your hands, and without any ado?

Wangel. Maybe. But he! He! an absolute stranger! A man of whom you know
so little!

Ellida. Ah! but after all I knew you even less; and yet I went with you.

Wangel. Then you knew to some extent what life lay before you. But now?
Think! What do you know? You know absolutely nothing. Not even who or
what he is.

Ellida (looking in front of her). That is true; but that is the terror.

Wangel. Yes, indeed, it is terrible!

Ellida. That is why I feel I must plunge into it.

Wangel (looking at her). Because it seems terrible?

Ellida. Yes; because of that.

Wangel (coming closer). Listen, Ellida. What do you really mean by
terrible?

Ellida (reflectively). The terrible is that which repels and attracts.

Wangel. Attracts, you say?

Ellida. Attracts most of all, I think.

Wangel (slowly). You are one with the sea.

Ellida. That, too, is a terror.

Wangel. And that terror is in you. You both repel and attract.

Ellida. Do you think so, Wangel?

Wangel. After all, I have never really known you--never really. Now I am
beginning to understand.

Ellida. And that is why you must set me free! Free me from every bond to
you--and yours. I am not what you took me for. Now you see it yourself.
Now we can part as friends--and freely.

Wangel (sadly). Perhaps it would be better for us both if we parted--And
yet, I cannot! You are the terror to me, Ellida; the attraction is what
is strongest in you.

Ellida. Do you say that?

Wangel. Let us try and live through this day wisely--in perfect quiet
of mind. I dare not set you free, and release you today. I have no right
to. No right for your own sake, Ellida. I exercise my right and my duty
to protect you.

Ellida. Protect? What is there to protect me from? I am not threatened
by any outward power. The terror lies deeper, Wangel. The terror is--the
attraction in my own mind. And what can you do against that?

Wangel. I can strengthen and urge you to fight against it.

Ellida. Yes; if I wished to fight against it.

Wangel. Then you do not wish to?

Ellida. Oh! I don't know myself.

Wangel. Tonight all will be decided, dear Ellida--Ellida (bursting out).
Yes, think! The decision so near--the decision for one's whole life!

Wangel. And then tomorrow--Ellida. Tomorrow! Perhaps my real future will
have been ruined.

Wangel. Your real--Ellida. The whole, full life of freedom lost--lost