looking
at him. He steps back again.)

Nordan. Good morning, my boy!

Alfred. Perhaps I have come at an inconvenient moment.

Riis. Not a bit of it! Quite the contrary!

Alfred. At the same time, it seems evident to me that my presence is not
welcome to Miss Riis. (No one answers him.)

Mrs. Christensen. But it is a family council we are holding--isn't it,
my dear girl?

Riis. I assure you, you _are_ welcome! And we are all particularly
anxious to hear what you have to say!

Christensen. That is so.

Alfred. I have not succeeded in getting a hearing yet, you know. I have
been refused admittance repeatedly--both in person and when I wrote. So
I thought that if I came now, perhaps I should get a hearing.

Riis. Of course. Who can object to that?

Nordan. You shall have your hearing.

Alfred. Perhaps I may take Miss Riis's silence to mean permission? In
that case--well--it is nothing so very much that I have to say, either.
It is merely to remind you that, when I asked for Miss Riis's hand, it
was because I loved her with all my heart--her and no one else. I could
not imagine any greater happiness, and any greater honour, than to
be loved by her in return. And so I think still. (He pauses, as if he
expected an answer. They all look at SVAVA.) What explanation I could
have given of my own free will--indeed what explanation, under other
circumstances, I should have felt impelled to give--I shall say nothing
about now. But I _owe_ no explanation! My honour demands that I should
make point of that. It is my future that I owe to her. And with regard
to that I must confess I have been hurt--deeply hurt--by the fact that
Miss Riis could doubt me for a moment. Never in my life has any one
doubted me before. With all respect, I must insist that my word shall be
taken. (They are all silent.) That is all I have to say.

Mrs. Riis (getting up unwillingly). But, Alfred, suppose a woman, under
the same circumstances, had come and said the same thing--who would
believe her? (They are all silent. SVAVA bursts into tears.)

Mrs. Christensen. Poor child!

Riis. Believe her?

Mrs. Riis. Yes, believe her. Believe her if, after past like that, she
came and assured us that she would make an honest wife?

Christensen. After a past like that?

Mrs. Riis. Perhaps that is putting it too harshly. But why should you
require her to believe a man any more readily than a man would believe
her? Because he would not believe her for a