STENSGÅRD _enters._ THE CHAMBERLAIN. [_Recoiling a step._] What is this? STENSGÅRD. Yes, here I am again, Chamberlain! THE CHAMBERLAIN. So I see. FIELDBO. Are you mad, Stensgård? STENSGÅRD. You retired early yesterday evening. When Fieldbo had explained to me how matters stood, you had already—— THE CHAMBERLAIN. Excuse me—all explanations are superfluous—— STENSGÅRD. I understand that; therefore I have not come to make any. THE CHAMBERLAIN. Oh, indeed? STENSGÅRD. I know I have insulted you. THE CHAMBERLAIN. I know that too; and before I have you turned out, perhaps you will be good enough to tell me why you are here. STENSGÅRD. Because I love your daughter, Chamberlain! FIELDBO. What——! THE CHAMBERLAIN. What does he say, Doctor? STENSGÅRD. Ah, you can’t grasp the idea, Chamberlain. _You_ are an old man; you have nothing to fight for—— THE CHAMBERLAIN. And you presume to——? STENSGÅRD. I am here to ask for your daughter’s hand, Chamberlain. THE CHAMBERLAIN. You——you——? Won’t you sit down? STENSGÅRD. Thanks, I prefer to stand. THE CHAMBERLAIN. What do you say to this. Doctor? STENSGÅRD. Oh, Fieldbo is on my side; he is my friend; the only true friend I have. FIELDBO. No, no, man! Never in this world, if you—— THE CHAMBERLAIN. Perhaps it was with this view that Doctor Fieldbo secured his friend’s introduction into my house? STENSGÅRD. You know me only by my exploits of yesterday and the day before. That is not enough. Besides, I am not the same man to-day that I was then. My intercourse with you and yours has fallen like spring showers upon my spirit, making it put forth new blossoms in a single night! You must not hurl me back into my sordid past. Till now, I have never been at home with the beautiful in life; it has always been beyond my reach—— THE CHAMBERLAIN. But my daughter——? STENSGÅRD. Oh, I shall win her. THE CHAMBERLAIN. Indeed? H’m! STENSGÅRD. Yes, for I have will on my side. Remember what you told me yesterday. You were opposed to your son’s marriage—and see how it has turned out! You must put on the glasses of experience, as Fieldbo said——