GINA. But what’s he doing then? RELLING. He’s lying on the sofa, snoring. GINA. Oh is he? Yes, Ekdal’s a rare one to snore. HEDVIG. Asleep? Can he sleep? RELLING. Well, it certainly looks like it. GREGERS. No wonder, after the spiritual conflict that has rent him—— GINA. And then he’s never been used to gadding about out of doors at night. HEDVIG. Perhaps it’s a good thing that he’s getting some sleep, mother. GINA. Of course it is; and we must take care we don’t wake him up too early. Thank you, RELLING. I must get the house cleaned up a bit now, and then—— Come and help me, Hedvig. [GINA _and_ HEDVIG _go into the sitting-room._ GREGERS. [_Turning to RELLING._] What is your explanation of the spiritual tumult that is now going on in Hialmar Ekdal? RELLING. Devil a bit of a spiritual tumult have _I_ noticed in him. GREGERS. What! Not at such a crisis, when his whole life has been placed on a new foundation——? How can you think that such an individuality as Hialmar’s——? RELLING. Oh, individuality—he! If he ever had any tendency to the abnormal developments you call individuality, I can assure you it was rooted out of him while he was still in his teens. GREGERS. That would be strange indeed,—considering the loving care with which he was brought up. RELLING. By those two high-flown, hysterical maiden aunts, you mean? GREGERS. Let me tell you that they were women who never forgot the claim of the ideal—but of course you will only jeer at me again. RELLING. No, I'm in no humour for that. I know all about those ladies; for he has ladled out no end of rhetoric on the subject of his “two soul-mothers.” But I don’t think he has much to thank them for. Ekdal’s misfortune is that in his own circle he has always been looked upon as a shining light—— GREGERS. Not without reason, surely. Look at the depth of his mind! RELLING. _I_ have never discovered it. That his father believed in it I don’t so much wonder; the old lieutenant has been an ass all his days. GREGERS. He has had a child-like mind all his days; that is what you cannot understand. RELLING.