MRS. HOLT. Ah, how nice your coffee smells, my dear Dina. Such a cup of coffee in the forenoon—— MRS. BERNICK. [_In the verandah._] The coffee is ready, ladies. [MARTHA _and_ DINA _have meanwhile helped the servant to bring in the coffee things. All the ladies go out and sit down; they vie with each other in talking kindly to_ DINA. _After a time she comes into the room and looks for her sewing._ MRS. BERNICK. [_Out at the coffee-table._] Dina, don’t you want——? DINA. No, thanks; I don’t care for any. [_She sits down to sew._ MRS. BERNICK _and_ RÖRLUND _exchange a few words; a moment after, he comes into the room._ RÖRLUND. [_Goes up to the table, as if looking for something, and says in a low voice._] Dina. DINA. Yes. RÖRLUND. Why will you not come out? DINA. When I came with the coffee I could see by the strange lady’s looks that they had been talking about me. RÖRLUND. And did you not notice, too, how kindly she spoke to you? DINA. But that is what I can’t bear. RÖRLUND. Yours is a rebellious nature, Dina. DINA. Yes. RÖRLUND. What makes it so? DINA. It has never been otherwise. RÖRLUND. But could you not try to change? DINA. No. RÖRLUND. Why not? DINA. [_Looks up at him._] Because I belong to the “Lapsed and Lost.” RÖRLUND. Fie, Dina! DINA. And so did my mother before me. RÖRLUND. Who has spoken to you of such things? DINA. No one; they never speak. Why don’t they? They all handle me as gingerly as though I would fall to pieces, if——Oh, how I hate all this good-heartedness! RÖRLUND. My dear Dina, I can very well understand that you must feel oppressed here, but—— DINA. Oh, if I could only go far away! I could get on well enough by myself, if only I lived among people that weren’t so—so—— RÖRLUND. So what? DINA. So proper and moral. RÖRLUND. Come, Dina, you do not mean that. DINA.