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Well, my dear--I should say, when he sends you after him all the way
to town--- [Smiling almost imperceptibly.] And besides, you said so
yourself, to Tesman.
MRS. ELVSTED.
[With a little nervous twitch.] Did I? Yes, I suppose I did.
[Vehemently, but not loudly.] No--I may just as well make a clean
breast of it at once! For it must all come out in any case.
HEDDA.
Why, my dear Thea---?
MRS. ELVSTED.
Well, to make a long story short: My husband did not know that I was
coming.
HEDDA.
What! Your husband didn't know it!
MRS. ELVSTED.
No, of course not. For that matter, he was away from home himself--
he was travelling. Oh, I could bear it no longer, Hedda! I couldn't
indeed--so utterly alone as I should have been in future.
HEDDA.
Well? And then?
MRS. ELVSTED.
So I put together some of my things--what I needed most--as quietly
as possible. And then I left the house.
HEDDA.
Without a word?
MRS. ELVSTED.
Yes--and took the train to town.
HEDDA.
Why, my dear, good Thea--to think of you daring to do it!
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Rises and moves about the room.] What else could I possibly do?
HEDDA.
But what do you think your husband will say when you go home again?
MRS. ELVSTED.
[At the table, looks at her.] Back to him?
HEDDA.
Of course.
MRS. ELVSTED.
I shall never go back to him again.
HEDDA.
[Rising and going towards her.] Then you have left your home--for
good and all?
MRS. ELVSTED.
Yes. There was nothing else to be done.
HEDDA.
But then--to take flight so openly.
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh, it's impossible to keep things of that sort secret.
HEDDA.
But what do you think people will say of you, Thea?
MRS. ELVSTED.
They may say what they like, for aught _I_ care. [Seats herself
wearily and sadly on the sofa.] I have done nothing but what I
had to do.
HEDDA.
[After a short silence.] And what are your plans now? What do you
think of doing.
MRS. ELVSTED.
I don't know yet. I only know this, that I must live here, where
Eilert Lovborg is--if I am to live at all.
HEDDA.
[Takes a chair from the table, seats herself beside her, and strokes
her hands.] My dear Thea--how did this--this friendship--between you
and Eilert Lovborg come about?
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh it grew up gradually. I gained a sort of influence over him.
HEDDA.
Indeed?
MRS. ELVSTED.
He gave up his old habits. Not because I asked him to, for I never
dared do that. But of course he saw how repulsive they were to me;
and so he dropped them.
HEDDA.
[Concealing an involuntary smile of scorn.] Then you have reclaimed
him--as the saying goes--my little Thea.
MRS. ELVSTED.
So he says himself, at any rate. And he, on his side, has made a
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