GUSTAV. Not at all! Whatever happens is to a certain extent necessary,
for if it didn't happen, something else would--but now it did happen,
and so it had to happen.
TEKLA. YOU are a man of discernment. And I have never met anybody with
whom I liked so much to exchange ideas. You are so utterly free from
all morality and preaching, and you ask so little of people, that it is
possible to be oneself in your presence. Do you know, I am jealous of
your intended wife!
GUSTAV. And do you realise that I am jealous of your husband?
TEKLA. [Rising] And now we must part! Forever!
GUSTAV. Yes, we must part! But not without a farewell--or what do you
say?
TEKLA. [Agitated] No!
GUSTAV. [Following after her] Yes!--Let us have a farewell! Let us drown
our memories--you know, there are intoxications so deep that when you
wake up all memories are gone. [Putting his arm around her waist] You
have been dragged down by a diseased spirit, who is infecting you with
his own anaemia. I'll breathe new life into you. I'll make your talent
blossom again in your autumn days, like a remontant rose. I'll----
(Two LADIES in travelling dress are seen in the doorway leading to the
veranda. They look surprised. Then they point at those within, laugh,
and disappear.)
TEKLA. [Freeing herself] Who was that?
GUSTAV. [Indifferently] Some tourists.
TEKLA. Leave me alone! I am afraid of you!
GUSTAV. Why?
TEKLA. You take my soul away from me!
GUSTAV. And give you my own in its place! And you have no soul for that
matter--it's nothing but a delusion.
TEKLA. You have a way of saying impolite things so that nobody can be
angry with you.
GUSTAV. It's because you feel that I hold the first mortgage on
you--Tell me now, when--and--where?
TEKLA. No, it wouldn't be right to him. I think he is still in love with
me, and I don't want to do any more harm.
GUSTAV. He does not love you! Do you want proofs?
TEKLA, Where can you get them?
GUSTAV. [Picking up the pieces of the photograph from the floor] Here!
See for yourself!
TEKLA. Oh, that's an outrage!
GUSTAV. Do you see? Now then, when? And where?
TEKLA. The false-hearted wretch!
GUSTAV. When?
TEKLA. He leaves to-night, with the eight-o'clock boat.