Don’t mention those wretches' names to me! The very thought of them almost takes away my appetite.—Oh no, I must go out into the storm and the snow-drift,—go from house to house and seek shelter for my father and myself. GINA. But you’ve got no hat, Ekdal! You’ve been and lost your hat, you know. HIALMAR. Oh those two brutes, those slaves of all the vices! A hat must be procured. [_Takes another piece of bread and butter._] Some arrangement must be made. For I have no mind to throw away my life, either. [_Looks for something on the tray._ GINA. What are you looking for? HIALMAR. Butter. GINA. I'll get some at once. _Goes out into the kitchen._ HIALMAR. [_Calls after her._] Oh it doesn’t matter; dry bread is good enough for me. GINA. [_Brings a dish of butter._] Look here; this is fresh churned. [_She pours out another cup of coffee for him; he seats himself on the sofa, spreads more butter on the already buttered bread, and eats and drinks awhile in silence._ HIALMAR. Could I, without being subject to intrusion—intrusion of _any_ sort—could I live in the sitting-room there for a day or two? GINA. Yes, to be sure you could, if you only would. HIALMAR. For I see no possibility of getting all father’s things out in such a hurry. GINA. And besides, you’ve surely got to tell him first as you don’t mean to live with us others no more. HIALMAR. [_Pushes away his coffee cup._] Yes, there is that too; I shall have to lay bare the whole tangled story to him——. I must turn matters over; I must have breathing-time; I cannot take all these burdens on my shoulders in a single day. GINA. No, especially in such horrible weather as it is outside. HIALMAR. [_Touching_ WERLE’S _letter._] I see that paper is still lying about here. GINA. Yes, _I_ haven’t touched it. HIALMAR. So far as I am concerned it is mere waste paper—— GINA. Well, _I_ have certainly no notion of making any use of it. HIALMAR. ——but we had better not let it get lost all the same;—in all the upset when I move, it might easily—— GINA. I'll take good care of it, Ekdal. HIALMAR. The donation is in the first instance made to father, and it rests with him to accept or decline it. GINA.