I will not promise anything. I hate this promising. Things must come as they can. MARTHA. Yes, yes, you are right. You have only to remain as you are—true and faithful to yourself. DINA. That I will, Aunt Martha. LONA. [_Puts in her pocket some papers which Johan has given her._] Good, good, my dear boy. But now, away. JOHAN. Yes, now there’s no time to be lost. Good-bye, Lona; thanks, thanks for all you have been to me. Good-bye, Martha, and thanks to you too for your faithful friendship. MARTHA. Good-bye, Johan! Good-bye, Dina! And happiness be over all your days! [_She and_ LONA _hurry them towards the door in the background._ JOHAN TÖNNESEN _and_ DINA _go quickly out through the garden._ LONA _shuts the door and draws the curtain._ LONA. Now we are alone, Martha. You have lost her, and I him. MARTHA. You—him? LONA. Oh, I had half lost him already over there. The boy longed to stand on his own feet; so I made him imagine that _I_ was suffering from home-sickness. MARTHA. That was it? Now I understand why you came. But he will want you back again, Lona. LONA. An old step-sister—what can he want with her now? Men break many a tie when happiness beckons to them. MARTHA. That is true, sometimes. LONA. Now we two must hold together, Martha. MARTHA. Can I be anything to you? LONA. Who more? We two foster-mothers—have we not both lost our children? Now we are alone. MARTHA. Yes, alone. So now I will tell you this—I have loved him more than all the world. LONA. Martha? [_Seizes her arm._] Is this the truth? MARTHA. My whole life lies in the words. I have loved him, and waited for him. From summer to summer I have looked for his coming. And then he came—but he did not see me. LONA. Loved him! And it was you that gave his happiness into his hands. MARTHA. What else should I do, since I love him? Yes, I have loved him. I have lived my whole life for him, ever since he went away. What reason had I to hope, you ask? Oh, I think I had _some_ reason. But then, when he came again—it seemed as if everything were wiped out of his memory. He did not see me. LONA. It was Dina that overshadowed you, Martha. MARTHA.