g of being an outcast; and that is what I am--an
outcast from all that I prized and reverenced--and that without my
having done the slightest thing to deserve it. Even so, it is not the
pain of it that I feel most deeply; it is the humiliation, the shame.
All that I have so often said must seem now to be nothing but empty
words--all that I have done myself must seem of no account--and this
without its being my fault! For it is your fault! I thought, too, that
I knew something about life; but there was more for me to learn! I see
that you wanted me to give way to such an extent that I should end
by acquiescing in it. I understand now, for the first time, what your
teaching meant--and the things that you invoked mother and heaven to
witness. But it is of no use! I can tell you that it is about as much
as one can stand, to have the thoughts I have had yesterday--last
night--to-day. However, it is once and for all; after this, nothing can
ever take me by surprise again. To think that any man could have the
heart to let his child have such an experience!

Mrs. Riis. Svava--look at your father!

Svava. Yes--but if you think what I am saying now is hard, remember what
I said to you before I knew this--no longer ago than yesterday morning.
That will give you some idea of how I believed in you, father--and some
idea of what I am feeling now! Oh--!

Riis. Svava!

Svava. You have ruined my home for me! Almost every other hour in it has
been corrupted--and I cannot face a future like that.

Riis and Mrs. Riis (together). But, Svava--!

Svava. No, I cannot! My faith in you is destroyed--so that I can never
think of this as a home again. It makes me feel as if I were merely
living with you as a lodger--from yesterday onwards, merely a lodger in
the house.

Riis. Don't say that! My child!

Svava. Yes, I am your child. It only needed you to say it like that, for
me to feel it deeply. To think of all the experiences we two have
had together--all the happy times we have had on our travels, in our
amusements--and then to think that I can never look back on them again,
never take them up again! That is why I cannot stay here.

Riis. You cannot stay here!

Svava. It would remind me of everything too painfully. I should see
everything in a distorted light.

Mrs. Riis. But you will see that you cannot bear to go away, either!

Riis. But--I can go!

Mrs Riis. You?

Riis. Yes, and your mother and you stay here?--Oh, Svava--!