.] Ay, but it can though. For here stands
old Jacob Engstrand.

MANDERS. Well well, but--?

ENGSTRAND. [More softy.] And Jacob Engstrand isn't the man to desert a
noble benefactor in the hour of need, as the saying goes.

MANDERS. Yes, but my good fellow--how--?

ENGSTRAND. Jacob Engstrand may be likened to a sort of a guardian angel,
he may, your Reverence.

MANDERS. No, no; I really cannot accept that.

ENGSTRAND. Oh, that'll be the way of it, all the same. I know a man as
has taken others' sins upon himself before now, I do.

MANDERS. Jacob! [Wrings his hand.] Yours is a rare nature. Well,
you shall be helped with your Sailors' Home. That you may rely upon.
[ENGSTRAND tries to thank him, but cannot for emotion.]

MANDERS. [Hangs his travelling-bag over his shoulder.] And now let us
set out. We two will go together.

ENGSTRAND. [At the dining-room door, softly to REGINA.] You come along
too, my lass. You shall live as snug as the yolk in an egg.

REGINA. [Tosses her head.] _Merci_! [She goes out into the hall and
fetches MANDERS' overcoat.]

MANDERS. Good-bye, Mrs. Alving! and may the spirit of Law and Order
descend upon this house, and that quickly.

MRS. ALVING. Good-bye, Pastor Manders. [She goes up towards the
conservatory, as she sees OSWALD coming in through the garden door.]

ENGSTRAND. [While he and REGINA help MANGERS to get his coat on.]
Good-bye, my child. And if any trouble should come to you, you know
where Jacob Engstrand is to be found. [Softly.] Little Harbour Street,
h'm--! [To MRS. ALVING and OSWALD.] And the refuge for wandering
mariners shall be called "Chamberlain Alving's Home," that it shall! And
if so be as I'm spared to carry on that house in my own way, I make so
bold as to promise that it shall be worthy of the Chamberlain's memory.

MANDERS. [In the doorway.] H'm--h'm!--Come along, my dear Enstrand.
Good-bye! Good-bye! [He and ENGSTRAND go out through the hall.]

OSWALD. [Goes towards the table.] What house was he talking about?

MRS. ALVING. Oh, a kind of Home that he and Pastor Manders want to set
up.

OSWALD. It will burn down like the other.

MRS. ALVING. What makes you think so?

OSWALD. Everything will burn. All that recalls father's memory is
doomed. Here am I, too, burning down. [REGINA starts and looks at him.]

MRS. ALVING. Oswald! You oughtn't to have remained so long down there,
my poor boy.

OSWALD. [Sits down by the table.] I almost think you are righ