Why should that give me any feeling against you? Who can have put that into your head? HIALMAR. I know it did, Gregers; your father told me so himself. GREGERS. [_Starts._] My father! Oh indeed. H'm.—Was that why you never let me hear from you?—not a single word. HIALMAR. Yes. GREGERS. Not even when you made up your mind to become a photographer? HIALMAR. Your father said I had better not write to you at all, about anything. GREGERS. [_Looking straight before him._] Well well, perhaps he was right.—But tell me now, Hialmar: are you pretty well satisfied with your present position? HIALMAR. [_With a little sigh._] Oh yes, I am; I have really no cause to complain. At first, as you may guess, I felt it a little strange. It was such a totally new state of things for me. But of course my whole circumstances were totally changed. Father’s utter, irretrievable ruin,—the shame and disgrace of it, Gregers—— GREGERS. [_Affected._] Yes, yes; I understand. HIALMAR. I couldn’t think of remaining at college; there wasn’t a shilling to spare; on the contrary, there were debts—mainly to your father I believe—— GREGERS. H'm——— HIALMAR. In short, I thought it best to break, once for all, with my old surroundings and associations. It was your father that specially urged me to it; and since he interested himself so much in me——— GREGERS. My father did? HIALMAR. Yes, you surely knew that, didn’t you? Where do you suppose I found the money to learn photography, and to furnish a studio and make a start? All that costs a pretty penny, I can tell you. GREGERS. And my _father_ provided the money? HIALMAR. Yes, my dear fellow, didn’t you know? I understood him to say he had written to you about it. GREGERS. Not a word about _his_ part in the business. He must have forgotten it. Our correspondence has always been purely a business one. So it was my father that——! HIALMAR. Yes, certainly. He didn’t wish it to be generally known; but he it was. And of course it was he, too, that put me in a position to marry. Don’t you—don’t you know about that either? GREGERS. No, I haven’t heard a word of it. [_Shakes him by the arm._] But, my dear Hialmar, I can’t tell you what pleasure all this gives me—pleasure, and self-reproach. I have perhaps done my father injustice after all—in some things. This proves that he has a heart. It shows a sort of compunction——