Good morning, dear. [_A moment after_--_crocheting._] Have you seen Rector Kroll's paper this morning? There's something about _you_ in it. ROSMER. Oh, indeed? [_Puts down hat and stick, and takes up paper._] H'm! [_Reads_--_then walks about the room._] Kroll _has_ made it hot for me. [_Reads some more._] Oh, this is _too_ bad! Rebecca, they _do_ say such nasty spiteful things! they actually call me a renegade--and I can't _think_ why! They _mustn't_ go on like this. All that is good in human nature will go to ruin if they're allowed to attack an excellent man like me! Only think, if I can make them see how unkind they have been! REBECCA. Yes, dear, in that you have a great and glorious object to attain--and I wish you may get it! ROSMER. Thanks. I think I shall. [_Happens to look through window and jumps._] Ah, no, I shan't--never now, I have just seen---- REBECCA. _Not_ the White Horse, dear? We must really not overdo that White Horse! ROSMER. No--the mill-race, where Beata----[_Puts on his hat_--_takes it off again._] I'm beginning to be haunted by--no, I _don't_ mean the Horse--by a terrible suspicion that Beata may have been right after all! Yes, I do believe, now I come to think of it, that I must really have been in love with you from the first. Tell me _your_ opinion. REBECCA. [_Struggling with herself, and still crocheting._] Oh--I can't exactly say--such an odd question to ask me! ROSMER. [_Shakes his head._] Perhaps; I have no sense of humour--no respectable Norwegian _has_--and I _do_ want to know--because, you see, if I _was_ in love with you, it was a _sin_, and if I once convinced myself of that---- [_Wanders across the room._ REBECCA. [_Breaking out._] Oh, these old ancestral prejudices! Here is your hat, and your stick, too; go and take a walk. [ROSMER _takes hat and stick, first, then goes out and takes a walk; presently_ MADAM HELSETH _appears, and tells_ REBECCA _something._ REBECCA _tells her something. They whisper together._ MADAM HELSETH _nods, and shows in_ RECTOR KROLL, _who keeps his hat in his hand, and sits on a chair._ KROLL. I merely called for the purpose of informing you that I consider you an artful and designing person, but that, on the whole, considering your birth and moral antecedents, you know--[_nods at her_]--it is not surprising. [REBECCA _walks about wringing her hands._] Why, what _is_ the matter? Did you really not know that you had no right to your father's name? I'd no _idea_ you would mind my mentioning such a trifle! REBECCA.