[HIALMAR _and_ GREGERS _lay_ HEDVIG _down on the sofa._ EKDAL. [_Quietly._] The woods avenge themselves. HIALMAR. [_On his knees beside HEDVIG._] She’ll soon come to now. She’s coming to——; yes, yes, yes. GINA. [_Who has come in again._] Where has she hurt herself? I can’t see anything—— [RELLING _comes hurriedly, and immediately after him_ MOLVIK; _the latter without his waistcoat and necktie, and with his coat open._ RELLING. What’s the matter here? GINA. They say Hedvig has shot herself. HIALMAR. Come and help us! RELLING. Shot herself! [_He pushes the table aside and begins to examine her._ HIALMAR. [_Kneeling and looking anxiously up at him._] It can’t be dangerous? Speak, Relling! She is scarcely bleeding at all. It can’t be dangerous? RELLING. How did it happen? HIALMAR. Oh, we don’t know——! GINA. She wanted to shoot the wild duck. RELLING. The wild duck? HIALMAR. The pistol must have gone off. RELLING. H'm. Indeed. EKDAL. The woods avenge themselves. But I'm not afraid, all the same. [_Goes into the garret and closes the door after him._ HIALMAR. Well, Relling,—why don’t you say something? RELLING. The ball has entered the breast. HIALMAR. Yes, but she’s coming to! RELLING. Surely you can see that Hedvig is dead. GINA. [_Bursts into tears._] Oh my child, my child! GREGERS. [_Huskily._] In the depths of the sea—— HIALMAR. [_Jumps up._] No, no, she _must_ live! Oh, for God’s sake, Relling—only a moment—only just till I can tell her how unspeakably I loved her all the time! RELLING. The bullet has gone through her heart. Internal hemorrhage. Death must have been instantaneous. HIALMAR. And I! I hunted her from me like an animal! And she crept terrified into the garret and died for love of me! [_Sobbing._] I can never atone to her! I can never tell her——! [_Clenches his hands and cries, upwards._] O thou above——! If thou be indeed! Why hast thou done this thing to me? GINA. Hush, hush, you mustn’t go on that awful way. We had no right to keep her, I suppose. MOLVIK. The child is not dead, but sleepeth.