. Thanks. I think I shall. (_Happens to look through window,
and jumps._) Ah, no, I shan't--never now. I have just seen--

[Illustration]

_Reb._ _Not_ the White Horse, dear? We must really not overdo that
White Horse!

_Rosmer_. No--the mill-race, where BEATA--(_Puts on his hat--takes it
off again._) I'm beginning to be haunted by--no, I _don't_ mean the
horse--by a terrible suspicion that BEATA may have been right after
all! Yes, I do believe, now I come to think of it, that I must really
have been in love with you from the first. Tell me _your_ opinion.

_Reb._ (_struggling with herself, and still crocheting._) Oh--I can't
exactly say--such an odd question to ask me!

_Rosmer_ (_shakes his head_). Perhaps; I have no sense of humour--no
respectable Norwegian _has_--and I _do_ want to know--because, you
see, if I _was_ in love with you, it was a _sin_, and if I once
convinced myself of that--

[_Wanders across the room._

_Reb._ (_breaking out_). Oh, these old ancestral prejudices! Here is
your hat, and your stick, too; go and take a walk.

[ROSMER takes hat and stick, first, then goes out and takes
a walk; presently Madam HELSETH appears, and tells REBECCA
something. REBECCA tells _her_ something. They whisper
together. Madam H. nods, and shows in Rector KROLL, who
keeps his hat in his hand, and sits on a chair._

_Kroll_. I merely called for the purpose of informing you that I
consider you an artful and designing person, but that, on the whole,
considering your birth and moral antecedents, you know--(_nods at
her_)--it is not surprising. (_REBECCA walks about, wringing her
hands_) Why, what _is_ the matter? Did you really not know that you
had no right to your father's name? I'd no _idea_ you would mind my
mentioning such a trifle!

_Reb._ (_breaking out_). I _do_ mind. I am an emancipated enigma,
but I retain a few little prejudices still. I _don't_ like owning
to my real age, and I _do_ prefer to be legitimate. And, after your
information--of which I was quite ignorant, as my mother, the late
Mrs. GAMVIK, never _once_ alluded to it--I feel I must confess
everything. Strong-minded advanced women are like that. Here is
ROSMER. (ROSMER _enters with his hat and stick._) ROSMER, I want to
tell you and Rector KROLL a little story. Let us sit down, dear,
all three of us. (_They sit down, mechanically, on chairs._) A long
time ago, before the play began--(_in a voice scarcely audible_)-