——and he is too closely akin to you, Lady Inger, to be far from your thoughts at this moment. [_Looks fixedly at her._ The last Count Sture left a son—— LADY INGER. [_With a cry._] Holy Saviour, how know you——? NILS LYKKE. [_Surprised._] Be calm, Madam, and let me finish.—This young man has till now lived quietly with his mother, Sten Sture’s widow. LADY INGER. [_Breathes more freely._] With—? Ah, yes—true, true! NILS LYKKE. But now he has come forward openly. He has shown himself in the Dales as leader of the peasants; their numbers are growing day by day; and—as mayhap you know—they are finding friends among the peasants on this side of the border-hills. LADY INGER. [_Who has in the meantime regained her composure._] Sir Councillor,—you speak of all these matters as though they must of necessity be known to me. What ground have I given you to believe so? I know, and wish to know, nothing. All my care is to live quietly within my own domain; I give no countenance to disturbers of the peace; but neither must you reckon on me if it be your purpose to suppress them. NILS LYKKE. [_In a low voice._] Would you still be inactive, were it my purpose to come to their aid? LADY INGER. How am I to understand you? NILS LYKKE. Have you not seen, then, whither I have been aiming all this time?—Well, I will tell you all, frankly and openly. Know, then, that the King and his Council see clearly that we can have no sure footing in Norway so long as the nobles and the people continue, as now, to think themselves wronged and oppressed. We understand to the full that willing allies are better than sullen subjects; and we have therefore no heartier wish than to loosen the bonds that hamper us, in effect, even as straitly as you. But you will scarce deny that the temper of Norway towards us makes such a step too dangerous—so long as we have no sure support behind us. LADY INGER. And this support——? NILS LYKKE.