[_Goes out by the back._ THE CHAMBERLAIN. So it has come to this! This is how they dare to treat me in my own house! FIELDBO. Stensgård dares; no one else would. THE CHAMBERLAIN. _He_ to-day; others to-morrow. FIELDBO. Let them come; I shall keep them off; I would go through fire and water for you——! THE CHAMBERLAIN. Yes, you who have caused all the mischief!—H’m; that Stensgård is the most impudent scoundrel I have ever known! And yet, after all—deuce take me if there isn’t something I like about him. FIELDBO. He has possibilities—— THE CHAMBERLAIN. He has openness, Dr Fieldbo! He doesn’t go playing his own game behind one’s back, like so many other people; he—he——! FIELDBO. It’s not worth disputing about. Only be firm, Chamberlain; no, and no again, to Stensgård——! THE CHAMBERLAIN. Oh, keep your advice to yourself! You may rely upon it that neither he nor any one else—— RINGDAL. [_Enters by the door on the right._] Excuse me, Chamberlain; one word—— [_Whispers._ THE CHAMBERLAIN. What? In your room? RINGDAL. He came in by the back way, and begs you to see him. THE CHAMBERLAIN. H’m.—Oh, Doctor, just go into the drawing-room for a moment; there’s some one here who——But don’t say a word to Selma of Mr. Stensgård and his visit. She must be kept outside all this business. As for my daughter, I should prefer that you should say nothing to her either; but——Oh, what’s the use——? Please go now. [FIELDBO _goes into the drawing-room._ RINGDAL _has, in the meantime, gone back to his office, whence_ MONSEN _presently enters._ MONSEN. [_At the door._] I beg ten thousand pardons, sir—— THE CHAMBERLAIN. Oh, come in, come in! MONSEN. I trust your family is in good health? THE CHAMBERLAIN. Thank you. Is there anything you want? MONSEN. I can’t quite put it that way. Thank heaven, I’m one of those that have got pretty nearly all they can want. THE CHAMBERLAIN. Oh, indeed? That is a good deal to say. MONSEN. But I’ve had to work for it, Chamberlain. Oh, I know you regard my work with no very friendly eye. THE CHAMBERLAIN. I cannot suppose that your work is in any way affected by my way of regarding it. MONSEN.