[_He puts hat on chair close to table._ AUNT JULIE. [_Giggling._] It was for Hedda's sake--to go out walking with her in. [HEDDA _approaches from the back-room; she is pallid, with cold, open, steel-grey eyes; her hair is not very thick, but what there is of it is an agreeable medium brown._] Ah, dear Hedda! [_She attempts to cuddle her._ HEDDA. [_Shrinking back._] Ugh, let me go, do! [_Looking at_ AUNT JULIE'S _hat._] Tesman, you must really tell the housemaid not to leave her old hat about on the drawing-room chairs. Oh, is it _your_ hat? Sorry I spoke, I'm sure! AUNT JULIE. [_Annoyed._] Good gracious, little Mrs. Hedda; my nice new hat that I bought to go out walking with _you_ in! GEORGE. [_Patting her on the back._] Yes, Hedda, she did, and the parasol too! Fancy, Aunt Julie always positively thinks of everything, eh? HEDDA. [_Coldly._] You hold _your_ tongue. Catch me going out walking with your aunt! One doesn't _do_ such things. GEORGE. [_Beaming._] Isn't she a charming woman? Such fascinating manners! My goodness, eh? Fancy that! AUNT JULIE. Ah, dear George, you ought indeed to be happy--but [_brings out a flat package wrapped in newspaper_] look _here_, my dear boy! GEORGE. [_Opens it._] What? my dear old morning shoes! my slippers! [_Breaks down._] This is positively too touching, Hedda, eh? Do you remember how badly I wanted them all the honeymoon? Come and just have a look at them--you _may_! HEDDA. Bother your old slippers and your old aunt too! [AUNT JULIE _goes out annoyed, followed by_ GEORGE, _still thanking her warmly for the slippers;_ HEDDA _yawns;_ GEORGE _comes back and places his old slippers reverently on the table._] Why, here comes Mrs. Elvsted--_another_ early caller! She had irritating hair, and went about making a sensation with it--an old flame of yours, I've heard. [_Enter_ MRS. ELVSTED; _she is pretty and gentle, with copious wavy white-gold hair and round prominent eyes, and the manner of a frightened rabbit._ MRS. ELVSTED. [_Nervous._] Oh, please, I'm so perfectly in despair. Ejlert Lövborg, you know, who was our tutor; he's written such a large new book. I inspired him. Oh, I know I don't look like it--but I did--he told me so. And, good gracious! now he's in this dangerous wicked town all alone, and he's a reformed character, and I'm _so_ frightened about him; so, as the wife of a sheriff twenty years older than me, I came up to look after Mr. Lövborg. Do ask him here--then I can meet him. You will? How perfectly lovely of you! My husband's _so_ fond of him! HEDDA. George, go and write an invitation at once; do you hear? [GEORGE _looks around for his slippers, takes them up and goes out._] Now we can talk, my little Thea. Do you remember how I used to pull your hair when we met on the stairs, and say I would scorch it off? Seeing people with copious hair always _does_ irritate me. MRS. ELVSTED.