[The same room. The mist still lies heavy over the landscape.]
[MANDERS and MRS. ALVING enter from the dining-room.]
MRS. ALVING. [Still in the doorway.] _Velbekomme_ [Note: A phrase
equivalent to the German _Prosit die Mahlzeit_--May good digestion wait
on appetite.], Mr. Manders. [Turns back towards the dining-room.] Aren't
you coming too, Oswald?
OSWALD. [From within.] No, thank you. I think I shall go out a little.
MRS. ALVING. Yes, do. The weather seems a little brighter now. [She
shuts the dining-room door, goes to the hall door, and calls:] Regina!
REGINA. [Outside.] Yes, Mrs. Alving?
MRS. ALVING. Go down to the laundry, and help with the garlands.
REGINA. Yes, Mrs. Alving.
[MRS. ALVING assures herself that REGINA goes; then shuts the door.]
MANDERS. I suppose he cannot overhear us in there?
MRS. ALVING. Not when the door is shut. Besides, he's just going out.
MANDERS. I am still quite upset. I don't know how I could swallow a
morsel of dinner.
MRS. ALVING. [Controlling her nervousness, walks up and down.] Nor I.
But what is to be done now?
MANDERS. Yes; what is to be done? I am really quite at a loss. I am so
utterly without experience in matters of this sort.
MRS. ALVING. I feel sure that, so far, no mischief has been done.
MANDERS. No; heaven forbid! But it is an unseemly state of things,
nevertheless.
MRS. ALVING. It is only an idle fancy on Oswald's part; you may be sure
of that.
MANDERS. Well, as I say, I am not accustomed to affairs of the kind. But
I should certainly think--
MRS. ALVING. Out of the house she must go, and that immediately. That is
as clear as daylight--
MANDERS. Yes, of course she must.