Bravely done, Elina! Ha-ha, Sir Knight, now is it my turn! ELINA. My mother—you are so strange. Ah, yes—I know—’tis my unloving ways that have angered you. LADY INGER. Not so, dear Elina! You are an obedient child. You have opened your door to him; you have hearkened to his soft words. I know full well what it must have cost you; for I know your hatred—— ELINA. But, my mother—— LADY INGER. Hush! We have played into each other’s hands. What wiles did you use, my subtle daughter? I saw the love shine out of his eyes. Hold him fast now! Draw the net closer and closer about him; and then—Ah, Elina, if we could but rend asunder his perjured heart within his breast! ELINA. Woe is me—what is it you say? LADY INGER. Let not your courage fail you. Hearken to me. I know a word that will keep you firm. Know then— [_Listening._] They are fighting before the gate. Courage! Now comes the pinch! [_Turns again to_ ELINA.] Know then: Nils Lykke was the man that brought your sister to her grave. ELINA. [_With a shriek._] Lucia! LADY INGER. He it was, as truly as there is an Avenger above us! ELINA. Then Heaven be with me! LADY INGER. [_Appalled._] Elina——?! ELINA. I am his bride in the sight of God. LADY INGER. Unhappy child,—what have you done? ELINA. [_In a toneless voice._] Made shipwreck of my soul.—Good-night, my mother! [_She goes out to the left._ LADY INGER. Ha-ha-ha! It goes down-hill apace with Inger Gyldenlöve’s house. _There_ went the last of my daughters. Why could I not keep silence? Had she known nought, it may be she had been happy—after a kind. It _was_ to be so. It is written up yonder in the stars that I am to break off one green branch after another till the trunk stand leafless at last. ’Tis well, ’tis well! I shall have my son again. Of the others, of my daughters, I will not think. My reckoning? To face my reckoning?—It falls not due till the last great day of wrath.—_That_ comes not yet awhile. NILS STENSSON. [_Calling from outside on the right._] Ho—shut the gate! LADY INGER. Count Sture’s voice——!