ERHART.

I have found it, already!

MRS. BORKMAN.

[Shrieks.] Erhart! [ERHART goes quickly to the hall door and throws it open.]

ERHART.

[Calls out.] f.a.n.n.y, you can come in now!

[MRS. WILTON, in outdoor wraps, appears on the threshold.

MRS. BORKMAN.

[With uplifted hands.] Mrs. Wilton!

MRS. WILTON.

[Hesitating a little, with an enquiring glance at ERHART.] Do you want me to----?

ERHART.

Yes, now you can come in. I have told them everything.

[MRS. WILTON comes forward into the room. ERHART closes the door behind her. She bows formally to BORKMAN, who returns her bow in silence. A short pause.

MRS. WILTON.

[In a subdued but firm voice.] So the word has been spoken-- and I suppose you all think I have brought a great calamity upon this house?

MRS. BORKMAN.

[Slowly, looking hard at her.] You have crushed the last remnant of interest in life for me. [With an outburst.] But all of this--all this is utterly impossible!

MRS. WILTON.

I can quite understand that it must appear impossible to you, Mrs. Borkman.

MRS. BORKMAN.

Yes, you can surely see for yourself that it is impossible.

Or what----?

MRS. WILTON.

I should rather say that it seems highly improbable. But it's so, none the less.

MRS. BORKMAN.

[Turning.] Are you really in earnest about this, Erhart?

ERHART.

This means happiness for me, mother--all the beauty and happiness of life. That is all I can say to you.

MRS. BORKMAN.

[Clenching her hands together; to MRS. WILTON.] Oh, how you have cajoled and deluded my unhappy son!

MRS. WILTON.

[Raising her head proudly.] I have done nothing of the sort.

MRS. BORKMAN.

You have not, say you!

MRS. WILTON.

No. I have neither cajoled nor deluded him. Erhart came to me of his own free will. And of my own free will I went out half-way to meet him.

MRS. BORKMAN.

[Measuring her scornfully with her eye.] Yes, indeed! That I can easily believe.

MRS. WILTON.

[With self-control.] Mrs. Borkman, there are forces in human life that you seem to know very little about.

MRS. BORKMAN.

What forces, may I ask?

MRS. WILTON.

The forces which ordain that two people shall join their lives together, indissolubly--and fearlessly.

MRS. BORKMAN.

[With a smile.] I thought you were already indissolubly bound-- to another.

MRS. WILTON.

[Shortly.] That other has deserted me.

MRS. BORKMAN.

But he is still living, they say.

MRS. WILTON.

He is dead to me.

ERHART.

[Insistently.] Yes, mother, he is dead to f.a.n.n.y. And besides, this other makes no difference to me!

MRS. BORKMAN.

[Looking sternly at him.] So you know all this--about the other.

ERHART.

Yes, mother, I know quite well--all about it!

MRS. BORKMAN.

And yet you can say that it makes no difference to you?

ERHART.

[With defiant petulance.] I can only tell you that it is happiness I must have! I am young! I want to live, live, live!

MRS. BORKMAN.

Yes, you are young, Erhart. Too young for this.

MRS. WILTON.

[Firmly and earnestly.] You must not think, Mrs. Borkman, that I haven't said the same to him. I have laid my whole life before him. Again and again I have reminded him that I am seven years older than he----