MRS. ALVING. Yes, now you know it, both of you. OSWALD. Regina! REGINA. [_To herself._] So mother _was_ that kind of woman. MRS. ALVING. Your mother had many good qualities, Regina. REGINA. Yes, but she was one of that sort, all the same. Oh, I’ve often suspected it; but——And now, if you please, ma’am, may I be allowed to go away at once? MRS. ALVING. Do you really wish it, Regina? REGINA. Yes, indeed I do. MRS. ALVING. Of course you can do as you like; but—— OSWALD. [_Goes towards_ REGINA.] Go away now? Your place is here. REGINA. _Merci_, Mr. Alving!—or now, I suppose, I may say Oswald. But I can tell you _this_ wasn’t at all what I expected. MRS. ALVING. Regina, I have not been frank with you—— REGINA. No, that you haven’t indeed. If I’d known that Oswald was an invalid, why——And now, too, that it can never come to anything serious between us——I really can’t stop out here in the country and wear myself out nursing sick people. OSWALD. Not even one who is so near to you? REGINA. No, that I can’t. A poor girl must make the best of her young days, or she’ll be left out in the cold before she knows where she is. And I, too, have the joy of life in me, Mrs. Alving! MRS. ALVING. Unfortunately, you have. But don’t throw yourself away, Regina. REGINA. Oh, what must be, must be. If Oswald takes after his father, I take after my mother, I daresay.—May I ask, ma’am, if Pastor Manders knows all this about me? MRS. ALVING. Pastor Manders knows all about it. REGINA. [_Busied in putting on her shawl._] Well then, I’d better make haste and get away by this steamer. The Pastor is such a nice man to deal with; and I certainly think I’ve as much right to a little of that money as _he_ has—that brute of a carpenter. MRS. ALVING. You are heartily welcome to it, Regina. REGINA. [_Looks hard at her._] I think you might have brought me up as a gentleman’s daughter, ma’am; it would have suited me better. [_Tosses her head._] But pooh—what does it matter! [_With a bitter side glance at the corked bottle._] I may come to drink champagne with gentlefolks yet. MRS. ALVING. And if you ever need a home, Regina, come to me. REGINA.