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No, of course Engstrand isn't--. But, great
heavens, Mrs. Alving, how is such a thing possible? You surely
may have been mistaken, in spite of everything.

Mrs. Alving. There was no chance of mistake, more's the pity.
Joanna was obliged to confess it to me--and my husband couldn't
deny it. So there was nothing else to do but to hush it up.

Manders. No, that was the only thing to do.

Mrs. Alving. The girl was sent away at once, and was given a
tolerably liberal sum to hold her tongue. She looked after the
rest herself when she got to town. She renewed an old
acquaintance with the carpenter Engstrand; gave him a hint, I
suppose, of how much money she had got, and told him some fairy
tale about a foreigner who had been here in his yacht in the
summer. So she and Engstrand were married in a great hurry. Why,
you married them yourself!

Manders. I can't understand it--, I remember clearly Engstrand's
coming to arrange about the marriage. He was full of contrition,
and accused himself bitterly for the light conduct he and his
fiancee had been guilty of.

Mrs. Alving. Of course he had to take the blame on himself.

Manders. But the deceitfulness of it! And with me, too! I
positively would not have believed it of Jacob Engstrand. I shall
most certainly give him a serious talking to. And the immorality
of such a marriage! Simply for the sake of the money--! What sum
was it that the girl had?

Mrs. Alving. It was seventy pounds.

Manders. Just think of it--for a paltry seventy pounds to let
yourself be bound in marriage to a fallen woman!

Mrs. Alving. What about myself, then?--I let myself be bound in
marriage to a fallen man.

Manders. Heaven forgive you! What are you saying? A fallen man?

Mrs. Alving. Do you suppose my husband was any purer, when I went
with him to the altar, than Joanna was when Engstrand agreed to
marry her?

Manders. The two cases are as different as day from night.

Mrs. Alving. Not so very different, after all. It is true there
was a great difference in the price paid, between a paltry
seventy pounds and a whole fortune.

Manders. How can you compare such totally different things! I
presume you consulted your own heart--and your relations.

Mrs. Alving (looking away from him). I thought you understood
where what you call my heart had strayed to at that time.

Manders (in a constrained voice). If I had understood anything of
the kind, I would not have been a daily guest in your husband's
house.

Mrs. Alving. Well, at any rate this much is certain-- I
didn't consult myself in the matter at all.

Manders. Still you consulted those nearest to you, as was only
right--your mother, your two aunts.

Mrs. Alving. Yes, that is true. The three of them settled the
whole matter for me. It seems incredible to me now, how clearly
they made out that it would be sheer folly to reject such an
offer. If my mother could only see what all that fine prospect
has led to!

Manders. No one can be responsible for the result of it. Anyway
there is this to be said, that the match was made in complete

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