[_They go up to the back conversing, and so out into the garden. At the same time_ SELMA _and_ STENSGÅRD _enter by the foremost door on the right._ SELMA. Yes, just look—over the tops of the trees you can see the church tower and all the upper part of the town. STENSGÅRD. So you can; I shouldn’t have thought so. SELMA. Don’t you think it’s a beautiful view? STENSGÅRD. Everything is beautiful here: the garden, and the view, and the sunshine, and the people! Great heaven, how beautiful it all is! And you live here all the summer? SELMA. No, not my husband and I; we come and go. We have a big, showy house in town, much finer than this; you’ll see it soon. STENSGÅRD. Perhaps your family live in town? SELMA. My family? Who are my family? STENSGÅRD. Oh, I didn’t know—— SELMA. We fairy princesses have no family. STENSGÅRD. Fairy princesses? SELMA. At most we have a wicked stepmother—— STENSGÅRD. A witch, yes! So you are a princess! SELMA. Princess of all the sunken palaces, whence you hear the soft music on midsummer nights. Doctor Fieldbo thinks it must be pleasant to be a princess; but I must tell you—— ERIK BRATSBERG. [_Coming from the garden._] Ah, at last I find the little lady! SELMA. The little lady is telling Mr. Stensgård the story of her life. ERIK. Oh, indeed. And what part does the husband play in the little lady’s story? SELMA. The Prince, of course. [_To_ STENSGÅRD.] You know the prince always comes and breaks the spell, and then all ends happily, and every one calls and congratulates, and the fairy-tale is over. STENSGÅRD. Oh, it’s too short. SELMA. Perhaps—in a way. ERIK. [_Putting his arm round her waist._] But a new fairy-tale grows out of the old one, and in it the Princess becomes a Queen! SELMA. On the same condition as real Princesses? ERIK. What condition? SELMA. They must go into exile—to a foreign kingdom. ERIK. A cigar, Mr. Stensgård? STENSGÅRD. Thank you, not just now. DOCTOR FIELDBO _and_ THORA _enter from the garden._ SELMA. [_Going towards them._] Is that you, Thora dear? I hope you’re not ill?