Then they were all deceived! You are still true at heart! LADY INGER. Rise, rise and tell me—— ELINA. Think you I do not know who the stranger is? LADY INGER. You know? And yet——? ELINA. Think you the gates of Östråt shut so close, that never a whisper of the country’s woe can slip through them? Think you I do not know that the heir of many a noble line wanders outlawed, without rest or shelter, while Danish masters lord it in the home of his fathers? LADY INGER. And what then? ELINA. I know well that many a high-born knight is hunted through the woods like a hungry wolf. No hearth has he to rest by, no bread to eat—— LADY INGER. [_Coldly._] Enough! Now I understand you. ELINA. [_Continuing._] And that is why the gates of Östråt must stand open by night! That is why he must remain a stranger to all, this guest of whom none must know whence he comes or whither he goes! You are setting at naught the harsh decree that forbids you to harbour or succour the outlaw—— LADY INGER. Enough, I say! [_After a short silence, adds with an effort:_ You mistake, Elina—’tis no outlaw I look for. ELINA. [_Rises._] Then I have understood you ill indeed. LADY INGER. Listen to me, my child; but think as you listen; if indeed you can tame that wild spirit of yours. ELINA. I am tame, till you have spoken. LADY INGER. Attend, then, to what I have to tell you.—I have sought, so far as lay in my power, to keep you in ignorance of all our griefs and miseries. What could it avail to fill your young heart with wrath and care? ’Tis not women’s weeping and wailing that can deliver us; we need the courage and strength of men. ELINA. Who has told you that, when courage and strength are needed, I shall be found wanting? LADY INGER. Hush, child;—I might take you at your word. ELINA. How mean you, my mother? LADY INGER. I might call on you for both; I might——; but let me say my say out first.