ng.) Are you the Johnston who
once...

The Stranger. You may call me Johnston for aught I care! However, that's
not my name.

Wangel. It is not?

The Stranger. It is--no longer. No!

Wangel. And what may you want with my wife? For I suppose you know the
lighthouse-keeper's daughter has been married this long time, and whom
she married, you of course also know.

The Stranger. I've known it over three years.

Ellida (eagerly). How did you come to know it?

The Stranger. I was on my way home to you, Ellida. I came across an old
newspaper. It was a paper from these parts, and in it there was that
about the marriage.

Ellida (looking straight in front of her). The marriage! So it was that!

The Stranger. It seemed so wonderful to me. For the rings--why that,
too, was a marriage, Ellida.

Ellida (covering her face with her hands). Oh!--Wangel. How dare you?

The Stranger. Have you forgotten that?

Ellida (feeling his look, suddenly cries out). Don't stand there and
look at me like that!

Wangel (goes up to him). You must deal with me, and not with her. In
short--now that you know the circumstances--what is it you really want
here? Why do you seek my wife?

The Stranger. I promised Ellida to come to her as soon as I could.

Wangel. Ellida, again--!

The Stranger. And Ellida promised faithfully she would wait for me until
I came.

Wangel. I notice you call my wife by her first name. This kind of
familiarity is not customary with us here.

The Stranger. I know that perfectly. But as she first, and above all,
belongs to me--

Wangel. To you, still--

Ellida (draws back behind WANGEL). Oh! he will never release me!

Wangel. To you? You say she belongs to you?

The Stranger. Has she told you anything about the two rings--my ring and
Ellida's?

Wangel. Certainly. And what then? She put an end to that long ago. You
have had her letters, so you know this yourself.

The Stranger. Both Ellida and I agreed that what we did should have all
the strength and authority of a real and full marriage.

Ellida. But you hear, I will not! Never on earth do I wish to know
anything more of you. Do not look at me like that. I will not, I tell
you!

Wangel. You must be mad to think you can come here, and base any claim
upon such childish nonsense.

The Stranger. That's true. A claim, in your sense, I certainly have not.

Wangel. What do you mean to do, then? You surely do not imagine you can
take her from me by fo