I do. But that need not mean for very long.

BORKMAN.
[Taken aback.] What do you mean by that?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
I suppose you know I have been in bad health for many years past?

BORKMAN.
Have you?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Do you not know that?

BORKMAN.
No, I cannot say I did----

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Looking at him in surprise.] Has Erhart not told you so?

BORKMAN.
I really don't remember at the moment.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Perhaps he has not spoken of me at all?

BORKMAN.
Oh, yes, I believe he has spoken of you. But the fact is, I
so seldom see anything of him--scarcely ever. There is a certain
person below that keeps him away from me. Keeps him away, you
understand?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Are you quite sure of that, Borkman?

BORKMAN.
Yes, absolutely sure. [Changing his tone.] And so you have
been in bad health, Ella?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Yes, I have. And this autumn I grew so much worse that I had
to come to town and take better medical advice.

BORKMAN.
And you have seen the doctors already?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
Yes, this morning.

BORKMAN.
And what did they say to you?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
They gave me full assurance of what I had long suspected.

BORKMAN.
Well?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Calmly and quietly.] My illness will never be cured, Borkman.

BORKMAN.
Oh, you must not believe that, Ella.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
It is a disease that there is no help or cure for. The doctors
can do nothing with it. They must just let it take its course.
They cannot possibly check it; at most, they can allay the
suffering. And that is always something.

BORKMAN.
Oh, but it will take a long time to run its course. I am sure
it will.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
I may perhaps last out the winter, they told me.

BORKMAN.
[Without thinking.] Oh, well, the winter is long.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Quietly.] Long enough for me, at any rate.

BORKMAN.
[Eagerly, changing the subject.] But what in all the world can
have brought on this illness? You, who have always lived such a
healthy and regular life? What can have brought it on?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Looking at him.] The doctors thought that perhaps at one time
in my life I had had to go through some great stress of emotion.

BORKMAN.
[Firing up.] Emotion! Aha, I understand! You mean that it is
my fault?

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[With increasing inward agitation.] It is too late to go into
that matter now! But I must have my heart's