EKDAL. Good morning, gentlemen! Good sport to-day. Shot a big one. HIALMAR. And you’ve gone and skinned it without waiting for _me_——! EKDAL. Salted it too. It’s good tender meat, is rabbit; it’s sweet; it tastes like sugar. Good appetite to you, gentlemen! _Goes into his room._ MOLVIK. [_Rising._] Excuse me——; I can’t——; I must get downstairs immediately—— RELLING. Drink some soda water, man! MOLVIK. [_Hurrying away._] Ugh—ugh! [_Goes out by the passage door._ RELLING. [_To_ HIALMAR.] Let us drain a glass to the old hunter. HIALMAR. [_Clinks glasses with him._] To the undaunted sportsman who has looked death in the face! RELLING. To the grey-haired—— [_Drinks._] By-the-bye, is his hair grey or white? HIALMAR. Something between the two, I fancy; for that matter, he has very few hairs left of any colour. RELLING. Well well, one can get through the world with a wig. After all, you are a happy man, Ekdal; you have your noble mission to labour for—— HIALMAR. And I do labour, I can tell you. RELLING. And then you have your excellent wife, shuffling quietly in and out in her felt slippers, with that see-saw walk of hers, and making everything cosy and comfortable about you. HIALMAR. Yes, Gina—[_Nods to her_]—you are a good helpmate on the path of life. GINA. Oh, don’t sit there cricketizing me. RELLING. And your Hedvig too, Ekdal! HIALMAR. [_Affected._] The child, yes! The child before everything! Hedvig, come here to me. [_Strokes her hair._] What day is it to-morrow, eh? HEDVIG. [_Shaking him._] Oh no, you’re not to say anything, father. HIALMAR. It cuts me to the heart when I think what a poor affair it will be; only a little festivity in the garret—— HEDVIG. Oh, but that’s just what I like! RELLING. Just you wait till the wonderful invention sees the light, Hedvig! HIALMAR. Yes indeed—then you shall see——! Hedvig, I have resolved to make your future secure. You shall live in comfort all your days. I will demand—something or other—on your behalf. _That_ shall be the poor inventor’s sole reward. HEDVIG. [_Whispering, with her arms round his neck._] Oh you dear, kind father! RELLING.