nhappy!

OSWALD. Of course I can pity him, as I would anybody else; but--

MRS. ALVING. Nothing more! Your own father!

OSWALD. [Impatiently.]Oh, "father,"--"father"! I never knew anything of
father. I remember nothing about him, except that he once made me sick.

MRS. ALVING. This is terrible to think of! Ought not a son to love his
father, whatever happens?

OSWALD. When a son has nothing to thank his father for? has never known
him? Do you really cling to that old superstition?--you who are so
enlightened in other ways?

MRS. ALVING. Can it be only a superstition--?

OSWALD. Yes; surely you can see that, mother. It's one of those notions
that are current in the world, and so--

MRS. ALVING. [Deeply moved.] Ghosts!

OSWALD. [Crossing the room.] Yes; you may call them ghosts.

MRS. ALVING. [Wildly.] Oswald--then you don't love me, either!

OSWALD. You I know, at any rate--

MRS. ALVING. Yes, you know me; but is that all!

OSWALD. And, of course, I know how fond you are of me, and I can't but
be grateful to you. And then you can be so useful to me, now that I am
ill.

MRS. ALVING. Yes, cannot I, Oswald? Oh, I could almost bless the illness
that has driven you home to me. For I see very plainly that you are not
mine: I have to win you.

OSWALD. [Impatiently.] Yes yes yes; all these are just so many phrases.
You must remember that I am a sick man, mother. I can't be much taken up
with other people; I have enough to do thinking about myself.

MRS. ALVING. [In a low voice.] I shall be patient and easily satisfied.

OSWALD. And cheerful too, mother!

MRS. ALVING. Yes, my dear boy, you are quite right. [Goes towards him.]
Have I relieved you of all remorse and self-reproach now?

OSWALD. Yes, you have. But now who will relieve me of the dread?

MRS. ALVING. The dread?

OSWALD. [Walks across the room.] Regina could have been got to do it.

MRS. ALVING. I don't understand you. What is this about dread--and
Regina?

OSWALD. Is it very late, mother?

MRS. ALVING. It is early morning. [She looks out through the
conservatory.] The day is dawning over the mountains. And the weather is
clearing, Oswald. In a little while you shall see the sun.

OSWALD. I'm glad of that. Oh, I may still have much to rejoice in and
live for--

MRS. ALVING. I should think so, indeed!

OSWALD. Even if I can't work--

MRS. ALVING. Oh, you'll soon be able to work again, my dear boy--now
that you haven't got all those gna