For I have the welfare of the country in my hands. It is in my power to make them rise as one man. They look to _me_ for the signal; and if I give it not now—it may never be given. To delay? To sacrifice the many for the sake of one?—Were it not better if I could——? No, no, no—I _will_ not! I _cannot_! [_Steals a glance towards the Banquet Hall, but turns away again as if in dread, and whispers:_ I can see them in there now. Pale spectres—dead ancestors—fallen kinsfolk.—Ah, those eyes that pierce me from every corner! [_Makes a gesture of repulsion, and cries:_ Sten Sture! Knut Alfson! Olaf Skaktavl! Back—back!—I _cannot_ do this! [_A_ STRANGER, _strongly built, and with grizzled hair and beard, has entered from the Banquet Hall. He is dressed in a torn lambskin tunic; his weapons are rusty._ THE STRANGER. [_Stops in the doorway, and says in a low voice._] Hail to you, Inger Gyldenlöve! LADY INGER. [_Turns with a scream._] Ah, Christ in heaven save me! [_Falls back into a chair. The_ STRANGER _stands gazing at her, motionless, leaning on his sword._ ----- ACT SECOND _The room at Östråt, as in the first Act._ LADY INGER GYLDENLÖVE _is seated at the table on the right, by the window._ OLAF SKAKTAVL _is standing a little way from her. Their faces show that they have been engaged in a heated discussion._ OLAF SKAKTAVL. For the last time, Inger Gyldenlöve—you are not to be moved from your purpose? LADY INGER. I can do nought else. And my counsel to you is: do as I do. If it be Heaven’s will that Norway perish utterly, perish it must, for all we may do to save it. OLAF SKAKTAVL. And think you I can content my heart with that belief? Shall I sit and look idly on, now that the hour is come? Do you forget the reckoning I have against them? They have robbed me of my lands, and parcelled them out among themselves. My son, my only child, the last of my race, they have slaughtered like a dog. Myself they have outlawed and hunted through forest and fell these twenty years.—Once and again have folk whispered of my death; but this I believe, that they shall not lay me beneath the sod before I have seen my vengeance. LADY INGER. There is there a long life before you. What have you in mind to do?