These two will not make a mess of life, Mr. Relling. Of course I won’t speak of Hialmar—him we know. But she, too, in her innermost heart, has certainly something loyal and sincere—— GINA. [_Almost crying._] You might have let me alone for what I was, then. RELLING. [_To GREGERS._] Is it rude to ask what you really want in this house? GREGERS. To lay the foundations of a true marriage. RELLING. So you don’t think Ekdal’s marriage is good enough as it is? GREGERS. No doubt it is as good a marriage as most others, worse luck. But a _true_ marriage it has yet to become. HIALMAR. You have never had eyes for the claims of the ideal, Relling. RELLING. Rubbish, my boy!—But excuse me, Mr. Werle: how many—in round numbers—how many true marriages have you seen in the course of your life? GREGERS. Scarcely a single one. RELLING. Nor I either. GREGERS. But I have seen innumerable marriages of the opposite kind. And it has been my fate to see at close quarters what ruin such a marriage can work in two human souls. HIALMAR. A man’s whole moral basis may give away beneath his feet; _that_ is the terrible part of it. RELLING. Well, I can’t say I've ever been exactly married, so I don’t pretend to speak with authority. But this I know, that the _child_ enters into the marriage problem. And you must leave the child in peace. HIALMAR. Oh—Hedvig! my poor Hedvig! RELLING. Yes, you must be good enough to keep Hedvig outside of all this. You two are grown-up people; you are free, in God’s name, to make what mess and muddle you please of your life. But you must deal cautiously with Hedvig, I tell you; else you may do her a great injury. HIALMAR. An injury! RELLING. Yes, or she may do herself an injury—and perhaps others too. GINA. How can you know that, Relling? HIALMAR. Her sight is in no immediate danger, is it? RELLING. I am not talking about her sight. Hedvig is at a critical age. She may be getting all sorts of mischief into her head. GINA. That’s true—I've noticed it already! She’s taken to carrying on with the fire, out in the kitchen. She calls it playing at house-on-fire. I'm often scared for fear she really sets fire to the house. RELLING. You see; I thought as much. GREGERS.