s upon
ourselves.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Sadly and slowly.] You are so very certain of your boy, then,
Gunhild?

MRS. BORKMAN.
[With veiled triumph.] Yes, that I am--thank Heaven. You may
be sure of that!

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Then I should think in reality you must be happy after all; in
spite of all the rest.

MRS. BORKMAN.
So I am--so far as that goes. But then, every moment, all the
rest comes rushing in upon me like a storm.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[With a change of tone.] Tell me--you may as well tell me at
once--for that is really what I have come for----

MRS. BORKMAN.
What?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Something I felt I must talk to you about.--Tell me--Erhart does
not live out here with--with you others?

MRS. BORKMAN.
[Harshly.] Erhart cannot live out here with me. He has to live
in town----

ELLA RENTHEIM.
So he wrote to me.

MRS. BORKMAN.
He must, for the sake of his studies. But he comes out to me
for a little while every evening.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Well, may I see him then? May I speak to him at once?

MRS. BORKMAN.
He has not come yet; but I expect him every moment.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Why, Gunhild, surely he must have come. I can hear his footsteps
overhead.

MRS. BORKMAN.
[With a rapid upward glance.] Up in the long gallery?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Yes. I have heard him walking up and down there ever since
I came.

MRS. BORKMAN.
[Looking away from her.] That is not Erhart, Ella.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Surprised.] Not Erhart? [Divining.] Who is it then?

MRS. BORKMAN.
It is he.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Softly, with suppressed pain.] Borkman? John Gabriel Borkman?

MRS. BORKMAN.
He walks up and down like that--backwards and forwards--from
morning to night--day out and day in.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
I have heard something of this----

MRS. BORKMAN.
I daresay. People find plenty to say about us, no doubt.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Erhart has spoken of it in his letters. He said that his father
generally remained by himself--up there--and you alone down here.

MRS. BORKMAN.
Yes; that is how it has been, Ella, ever since they let him out,
and sent him home to me. All these long eight years.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
I never believed it could really be so. It seemed impossible!

MRS. BORKMAN.
[Nods.] It is so; and it can never be otherwise.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Looking at her.] This must be a terrible life, Gunhild.

MRS. BORKMAN.
Worse than terrible--almost un