been mistaken in you, and I must get accustomed to that idea. I must be
alone!--Oh, don't look so unhappy, dear!

Mrs. Riis. And this is the end of it all--this is the end of it!

Svava. I cannot act otherwise, dear. I must go away now to my
Kindergartens and give up my life entirely to that work. I must, I must!
If I cannot be alone there, I must go farther afield.

Mrs. Riis. This is the cruellest part of it all--the cruellest part!
Listen, is that--? Yes, it is he. Do not say anything now! For my sake
say nothing now; I cannot bear anything more on the top of this!--Try
to be friendly to him! Svava--do you hear me! (RIIS comes back, still
humming a tune; this time he has his overcoat over his arm. SVAVA comes
hurriedly forward, and after a moment's hesitation sits down with her
back half turned to him, and tries to busy herself with something. RIIS
puts down his overcoat. He is in court dress and wears the Order of St.
Olaf.)

Riis. Good morning, ladies! Good morning!

Mrs. Riis. Good morning!

Riis. Here is the latest great piece of news for you: Who do you think
drove me from the palace? Christensen!

Mrs. Riis. Really?

Riis. Yes! Our wrathful friend of yesterday! Yes! He and one of my
fellow-directors. I was one of the first persons he greeted when he got
to the palace. He introduced me to people, chatted with me--paid me the
most marked attention!

Mrs. Riis. You don't mean it?

Riis. Consequently nothing really happened here yesterday! No gloves
were thrown about at all, least of all in his eldest son's face!
Christensen, the worthy knight of to-day's making, feels the necessity
for peace! We ended by drinking a bottle of champagne at my brother's.

Mrs. Riis. How amusing!

Riis. Therefore, ladies--smiles, if you please! Nothing has happened
here, absolutely nothing! We begin again with an absolutely clean slate,
without a smear upon it!

Mrs. Riis. What a piece of luck!

Riis. Yes, isn't it! That rather violent outburst of our daughter's has
unburdened her mind and cleared the ideas in other people's heads. The
general atmosphere is agreeably clear, not to say favourable.

Mrs. Riis. And what was it like at the palace?

Riis. Well, I can tell you this--when I looked round at our batch of
new-fledged knights, it did not exactly impress me that it is virtue
that is rewarded in this world of ours. However, we were all confronted
with an alarmingly solemn document. It was about something we sw