Oh, I _got_ it right enough. Unfortunately, it was dated three days after his decease--now, how do you account for _that_? NORA. How? Why, as poor Papa was dead, and couldn't sign, I signed _for_ him, that's all! Only somehow I forgot to put the date back. _That's_ how. Didn't I _tell_ you I was a silly, unbusiness like little thing? It's very simple. KROGSTAD. Very--but what you did amounts to forgery, notwithstanding. I happen to know, because I'm a lawyer, and have done a little in the forging way myself. So, to come to the point--if _I_ get kicked out, I shall not go alone! [_He bows, and goes out._ NORA. It _can't_ be wrong! Why, no one but Krogstad would have been taken in by it! If the Law says it's wrong, the Law's a goose--a bigger goose than poor little me even! [_To_ HELMER, _who enters._] Oh, Torvald, how you made me jump! HELMER. Has anybody called? [NORA _shakes her head._] Oh, my little squirrel mustn't tell naughty whoppers. Why, I just met that fellow Krogstad in the hall. He's been asking you to get me to take him back--now, hasn't he? NORA. [_Walking about._] Do just see how pretty the Christmas-tree looks! HELMER. Never mind the tree--I want to have this out about Krogstad. I can't take him back, because many years ago he forged a name. As a lawyer, a close observer of human nature, and a Bank Manager, I have remarked that people who forge names seldom or never confide the fact to their children--which inevitably brings moral contagion into the entire family. From which it follows, logically, that Krogstad has been poisoning his children for years by acting a part, and is morally lost. [_Stretches out his hands to her._] I can't bear a morally lost Bank-cashier about me! NORA. But you never thought of dismissing him till Christina came! HELMER. H'm! I've got some business to attend to--so good-bye, little lark! [_Goes into office and shuts door._ NORA. [_Pale with terror._] If Krogstad poisons his children because he once forged a name, I must be poisoning Emmy, and Bob, and Ivar, because _I_ forged papa's signature! [_Short pause; she raises her head proudly._] After all, if I am a doll, I can still draw a logical inference! I mustn't play with the children any more--[_hotly_]--I don't care--I _shall_, though! Who cares for Krogstad? [_She makes a face, choking with suppressed tears, as Curtain falls._ * * * * * ACT SECOND _The room, with the cheap Art-furniture as before--except that the candles on the Christmas tree have guttered down and appear to have been lately blown out. The cotton-wool frogs and the chenille monkeys are disarranged, and there are walking things on the sofa._ NORA _alone_. NORA.