PEER GYNT. [_Comes in heated and full of animation, stops right in front of the group, and claps his hands._] Which is the liveliest girl of the lot of you? A GIRL. [_As he approaches her._] I am not. ANOTHER. [_Similarly._] I am not. A THIRD. No; nor I either. PEER. [_To a fourth._] You come along, then, for want of a better. THE GIRL. Haven’t got time. PEER. [_To a fifth._] Well then, you! THE GIRL. [_Going._] I’m for home. PEER. To-night? are you utterly out of your senses?[35] THE SMITH. [_After a moment, in a low voice._] See, Peer, she’s taken a greybeard for partner. PEER. [_Turns sharply to an elderly man._] Where are the unbespoke girls? THE MAN. Find them out. [_Goes away from him._ _PEER GYNT has suddenly become subdued. He glances shyly and furtively at the group. All look at him, but no one speaks. He approaches other groups. Wherever he goes there is silence; when he moves away they look after him and smile._ PEER. [_To himself._] Mocking looks; needle-keen whispers[36] and smiles. They grate like a sawblade under the file! [_He slinks along close to the fence. SOLVEIG, leading little HELGA by the hand, comes into the yard, along with her PARENTS._ A MAN. [_To another, close to PEER GYNT._] Look, here are the new folk. THE OTHER. The ones from the west? THE FIRST MAN. Ay, the people from Hedal. THE OTHER. Ah yes, so they are. PEER. [_Places himself in the path of the new-comers, points to SOLVEIG, and asks the FATHER_:] May I dance with your daughter? THE FATHER. [_Quietly._]