DINA. Yes, Johan, you are more to me than any one else in the world. JOHAN. Oh, Dina——! DINA. They all tell me that I must hate and detest you; that it is my duty. But I don’t understand all this about duty; I never could understand it. LONA. And you never shall, my child! MARTHA. No, you shall not; and that is why you must go with him, as his wife. JOHAN. Yes, yes! LONA. What? I must kiss you for that, Martha! I didn’t expect this of _you_. MARTHA. No, I daresay not; I didn’t expect it myself. But sooner or later the crisis was bound to come. Oh, how we suffer here, under this tyranny of custom and convention! Rebel against it, Dina! Marry him. Show that it is possible to set this use-and-wont at defiance! JOHAN. What is your answer, Dina? DINA. Yes, I will be your wife. JOHAN. Dina! DINA. But first I will work, and become something for myself, just as you are. I will give myself; I will not be simply taken. LONA. Right, right! So it should be. JOHAN. Good; I shall wait and hope—— LONA. ——and win too, boy. But now, on board. JOHAN. Yes, on board! Ah, Lona, my dear, a word with you; come here—— [_He leads her up towards the back and talks rapidly to her._ MARTHA. Dina—happy girl! Let me look at you and kiss you once more—for the last time. DINA. Not the last time; no, my dear, dear aunt—we shall meet again. MARTHA. Never! Promise me, Dina, never to come back again. [_Seizes both her hands and looks into her face._] Now go to your happiness, my dear child—over the sea. Oh, how often have I sat in the schoolroom and longed to be over there! It must be beautiful there; the heaven is wider; the clouds sail higher than here; a larger, freer air sweeps over the heads of the people—— DINA. Oh, Aunt Martha, you will follow us some day. MARTHA. I? Never, never. My little life-work lies here; and now I think I can give myself to it wholly and unreservedly. DINA. I cannot imagine being parted from you. MARTHA. Ah, one can part from so much, Dina. [_Kisses her._] But you will not have to learn that lesson, my dear child. Promise me to make him happy. DINA.