[_Continues for some time in silence; then he lays down his brush and goes over to the door._] Are _you_ busy, father? EKDAL. [_In a grumbling tone, within._] If you’re busy, I'm busy too. H'm! HIALMAR. Oh, very well, then. _Goes to his work again._ EKDAL. [_Presently, coming to the door again._] H'm; I say, Hialmar, I'm not so _very_ busy, you know. HIALMAR. I thought you were writing. EKDAL. Oh, devil take it! can’t Gråberg wait a day or two? After all, it’s not a matter of life and death. HIALMAR. No; and you’re not his slave either. EKDAL. And about that other business in there—— HIALMAR. Just what I was thinking of. Do you want to go in. Shall I open the door for you? EKDAL. Well, it wouldn’t be a bad notion. HIALMAR. [_Rises._] Then we’d have _that_ off our hands. EKDAL. Yes, exactly. It’s got to be ready first thing to-morrow. It is to-morrow, isn’t it? H'm? HIALMAR. Yes, of course it’s to-morrow. [HIALMAR _and_ EKDAL _push aside each his half of the sliding door. The morning sun is shining in through the skylights; some doves are flying about; others sit cooing, upon the perches; the hens are heard clucking now and then, further back in the garret._ HIALMAR. There; now you can get to work, father. EKDAL. [_Goes in._] Aren’t you coming too? HIALMAR. Well really, do you know——; I almost think——[_Sees GINA at the kitchen door._] I? No; I haven’t time; I must work.—But now for our new contrivance—— [_He pulls a cord, a curtain slips down inside, the lower part consisting of a piece of old sailcloth, the upper part of a stretched fishing net. The floor of the garret is thus no longer visible._ HIALMAR. [_Goes to the table._] So! Now, perhaps I can sit in peace for a little while. GINA. Is he rampaging in there again? HIALMAR. Would you rather have had him slip down to Madam Eriksen’s. [_Seats himself._] Do you want anything? You know you said—— GINA. I only wanted to ask if you think we can lay the table for lunch here? HIALMAR. Yes; we have no early appointment, I suppose? GINA. No, I expect no one to day except those two sweethearts that are to be taken together. HIALMAR.