BORGHEIM. [With a suppressed outburst of joy.] Will I? Yes, yes!

ASTA. Then come!

RITA. [Slowly.] Ah! That is how it is. Well, then, you cannot stay with us.

ASTA. [Throwing her arms round her neck.] Thanks for everything, Rita!

(Goes up to ALLMERS and grasps his hand.) Alfred-good-bye! A thousand times, good-bye!

ALLMERS. [Softly and eagerly.] What is this, Asta? It seems as though you were taking flight.

ASTA. [In subdued anguish.] Yes, Alfred--I am taking flight.

ALLMERS. Flight--from me!

ASTA. [Whispering.] From you--and from myself.

ALLMERS. [Shrinking back.] Ah--!

[ASTA rushes down the steps at the back. BORGHEIM waves his hat and follows her. RITA leans against the entrance to the summer-house.

ALLMERS goes, in strong inward emotion, up to the railing, and stands there gazing downwards. A pause.]

ALLMERS. [Turns, and says with hard-won composure.] There comes the steamer. Look, Rita.

RITA. I dare not look at it.

ALLMERS. You dare not?

RITA. No. For it has a red eye--and a green one, too. Great, glowing eyes.

ALLMERS. Oh, those are only the lights, you know.

RITA. Henceforth they are eyes--for me. They stare and stare out of the darkness--and into the darkness.

ALLMERS. Now she is putting in to sh.o.r.e.

RITA. Where are they mooring her this evening, then?

ALLMERS. [Coming forward.] At the pier, as usual--

RITA. [Drawing herself up.] How can they moor her there!

ALLMERS. They must.

RITA. But it was there that Eyolf--! How can they moor her there!

ALLMERS. Yes, life is pitiless, Rita.

RITA. Men are heartless. They take no thought--whether for the living or for the dead.

ALLMERS. There you are right. Life goes its own way--just as if nothing in the world had happened.

RITA. [Gazing straight before her.] And nothing has happened, either.

Not to others. Only to us two.

ALLMERS. [The pain re-awakening.] Yes, Rita--so it was to no purpose that you bore him in sorrow and anguish. For now he is gone again--and has left no trace behind him.

RITA. Only the crutch was saved.

ALLMERS. [Angrily.] Be silent! Do not let me hear that word!

RITA. [Plaintively.] Oh, I cannot bear the thought that he is gone from us.

ALLMERS. [Coldly and bitterly.] You could very well do without him while he was with us. Half the day would often pa.s.s without your setting eyes on him.

RITA. Yes, for I knew that I could see him whenever I wanted to.

ALLMERS. Yes, that is how we have gone and squandered the short time we had with Little Eyolf.

RITA. [Listening, in dread.] Do you hear, Alfred! Now it is ringing again!

ALLMERS. [Looking over the fiord.] It is the steamer's bell that is ringing. She is just starting.

RITA. Oh, it's not that bell I mean. All day I have heard it ringing in my ears.--Now it is ringing again!

ALLMERS. [Going up to her.] You are mistaken, Rita.

RITA. No, I hear it so plainly. It sounds like a knell. Slow. Slow. And always the same words.

ALLMERS. Words? What words?

RITA. [Nodding her head in the rhythm.] "The crutch is--floating. The crutch is--floating." Oh, surely you must hear it, too!

ALLMERS. [Shaking his head.] I hear nothing. And there is nothing to hear.

RITA. Oh, you may say what you will--I hear it so plainly.

ALLMERS. [Looking out over the railing.] Now they are on board, Rita.

Now the steamer is on her way to the town.

RITA. Is it possible you do not hear it? "The crutch is--floating. The crutch is ------"

ALLMERS. [Coming forward.] You shall not stand there listening to a sound that does not exist. I tell You, Asta and Borgheim are on board.

They have started already. Asta is gone.

RITA. [Looks timidly at him.] Then I suppose you will soon be gone, too, Alfred?

ALLMERS. [Quickly.] What do you mean by that?

RITA. That you will follow your sister.