Not at home! There, you see, Lona; no support either in joy or sorrow. RUMMEL. Back with the curtains! Come and help me, Mr. Krap! You too, Sandstad! What a terrible pity that the family should be scattered just at this moment! Quite against the programme. _The curtains over the door and windows are drawn back. The whole street is seen to be illuminated. On the house opposite is a large transparency with the inscription,_ “Long live Karsten Bernick, the Pillar of our Society!” BERNICK. [_Shrinking back._] Away with all this! I will not look at it! Out with it, out with it! RUMMEL. Are you in your senses, may I ask? MARTHA. What is the matter with him, Lona? LONA. Hush! [_Whispers to her._ BERNICK. Away with the mocking words, I say! Can you not see, all these lights are gibing at us? RUMMEL. Well, I must say—— BERNICK. Oh, you know nothing——! But I, I——! They are the lights in a dead-room! KRAP. H’m——! RUMMEL. Come now, really—you make far too much of it. SANDSTAD. The boy will have a trip over the Atlantic, and then you’ll have him back again. VIGELAND. Only put your trust in the Almighty, Consul. RUMMEL. And in the ship, Bernick; she’s seaworthy enough, I’m sure. KRAP. H’m—— RUMMEL. Now, if it were one of those floating coffins we hear of in the great nations—— BERNICK. I can feel my very hair growing grey. MRS. BERNICK, _with a large shawl over her head, comes through the garden door._ MRS. BERNICK. Karsten, Karsten, do you know——? BERNICK. Yes, I know——; but you—you who can see nothing—you who have not a mother’s care for him——! MRS. BERNICK. Oh, listen to me——! BERNICK. Why did you not watch over him? Now I have lost him. Give him back to me, if you can! MRS. BERNICK. I can, I can; I have him! BERNICK. You have him! THE MEN. Ah! HILMAR. Ah, I thought so. MARTHA. Now you have him again, Karsten. LONA. Yes; now win him as well. BERNICK. You have him! Can this be true? Where is he?