No help, it is the pleasure of my dearest one. [_He goes in:_ SVANHILD _has remained standing on the verandah steps._ FALK. So, now I’ve made a clearance, have free course In all directions! SVANHILD. Falk, one word with you! FALK [_pointing politely to the house_]. That way, Miss Halm;—that way, with all the force Of aunts and inmates, Mrs. Halm withdrew. SVANHILD [_nearer to him_]. Let them withdraw; their ways and mine divide; I will not swell the number of their band. FALK. You’ll stay? SVANHILD. If you make war on lies, I stand A trusty armour-bearer by your side. FALK. You, Svanhild, you who— SVANHILD. Were you yourself, Falk, yesterday the same? You bade me be a sallow, for your play. FALK. And a sweet sallow sang me into shame. No, you are right: I was a child to ask; But you have fired me to a nobler task. Eight in the midst of men the Church is founded Where Truth’s appealing clarion must be sounded We are not called, like demigods, to gaze on The battle from the far-off mountain’s crest, But in our hearts to bear our fiery blazon, An Olaf’s cross upon a mailed breast,— To look afar across the fields of flight, Tho’ pent within the mazes of its might,— Beyond the mirk descry one glimmer still Of glory—that’s the Call we must fulfil. SVANHILD. And you’ll fulfil it when you break from men, Stand free, alone,— FALK. Did I frequent them _then_? And there lies duty. No, that time’s gone by,— My solitary compact with the sky. My four-wall-chamber poetry is done; My verse shall live in forest and in field, I’ll fight under the splendour of the sun;— I or the Lie—one of us two must yield! SVANHILD. Then forth with God from Verse to Derringdoe! I did you wrong: you have a feeling heart; Forgive me,—and as good friends let us part— FALK. Nay, in my future there is room for two! We part not. Svanhild, if you dare decide, We’ll battle on together side by side. SVANHILD. _We_ battle? FALK.