His eyes blurred suddenly. What did she mean? For a moment he faltered; then he buttoned his coat and straightened his shoulders. Had he, then, suffered in vain during all these weary days and nights? Hardly! He would prove it now. Hanka was sitting there, but evidently she was beside herself; he had excited her by calling on her so "unexpectedly". "Don't excite yourself, Hanka. Perhaps you are saying what you do not mean." A bright, irrepressible hope flamed up within her. "Yes," she exclaimed, "I mean every word! Oh, if you could forget what I have been, Andreas? If you would only have pity on me! Take me back; be merciful! I have wanted to come back for more than a month now, come back to you and to the children; I have stood here behind the curtains and watched you when you went out! The first time I really saw you was that night on the yacht--do you remember? I had never seen you until then. You stood by the tiller. I saw you against the sky; your hair was a little grey around the temples. I was so surprised when I saw you. I asked you if you were cold. I did it so you would speak to me! I know--time passed, but during all these weeks I have seen nobody but you--nobody! I am four and twenty years old, and have never felt like this before. Everything you do, everything you say--And everything the little ones do and say. We play and laugh, they cling to my neck.... I follow you with my eyes. See, I have cut a little hole in the curtain so that I can see you better. I can see you all the way to the end of the street. I can tell your steps whenever you walk down-stairs. Punish me, make me suffer, but do not cast me off! Simply to be here gives me a thousand joys, and I am altogether different now--" She could hardly stop; she continued to speak hysterically; at times her voice was choked with emotion. She rose from the chair. She smiled while the tears rained down her face. Her voice trailed off into inarticulate sounds. "For Heaven's sake, be calm!" he exclaimed abruptly, and his own tears were falling as he spoke. His face twitched. He was furious because he could not control himself better. He stood there and snapped out his words. He could not find the ones he sought. "You could always make me do whatever you wanted. I am not very clever when it comes to bandying words, no, indeed! The clique knows how to talk, but I haven't learned the art-- Forgive me, I did not mean to hurt you. But if you mean that you want me to take somebody else's place now--If you want me as a successor--Of course, I do not know, but I ask. You say you want to come back now. But _how_ do you come back? Oh, I don't want to know; go in God's name!" "No, you are right. I simply wanted to ask you--I had to. I have been unfaithful to you, yes. I have done everything I shouldn't do, everything--" "Well, let us end this scene. You need rest more than anything else." Tidemand walked to the door. She followed him with wide-open eyes.