MRS. SOLNESS: Because _she_ has come? SOLNESS _(checking himself_): I mean when once we've moved into our new house. It's for your sake I've built it. MRS. SOLNESS: You do far too much for me. SOLNESS: I can't bear to hear you say that. Stick to what I said. Things 'll be easier in the new place. MRS. SOLNESS _(lamenting)_: Oh heavens, easier! Halvard, you can never build up a real home again for _me. This_ is no home; It will be just as desolate, as empty there as here. [HILDA WANGEL _comes in_. HILDA: Good-morning, Mr. Solness! SOLNESS (_nods_): Slept well? HILDA: Deliciously! As if in a cradle. Oh, I lay and stretched myself like--like a princess. But I dreamed I was falling over a precipice. It's tremendously thrilling when you fall and fall---- MRS. SOLNESS (_ready to go out_): I must go into town now, Halvard. (_To_ HILDA) And I'll try to get one or two things that may be of use to you. HILDA: Oh, you dear, sweet Mrs. Solness. You're frightfully kind---- MRS. SOLNESS: It's only my duty. [MRS. SOLNESS _goes out_. HILDA: What made her say that about her duty? Doesn't it sting you? SOLNESS: H'm! Haven't thought much about it. HILDA: Yes it does. Why should she talk in that way? She might have said something really warm and cordial, you understand. SOLNESS: Is that how you'd like to have it? HILDA: Yes, precisely. (_She wanders over to the table and looks over_ RAGNAR'S _portfolio of drawings_.) Are all these drawings yours? SOLNESS: No; they're drawn by a young man I employ. HILDA (_sits down_): Then I suppose he's frightfully clever. SOLNESS: Oh, he's not bad, for my purpose. HILDA: I can't understand why you should be so stupid as to go about teaching people. No one but yourself should be allowed to build. SOLNESS: I keep brooding on that very thought. (_Calling her to the window_) Look over there; that's my new house. HILDA: It seems to have a tremendously high tower. Are there nurseries in _that_ house, too? SOLNESS: Three--as there are here. But there will never be any child in them. We have had children, Aline and I, but we didn't keep them long, our two little boys. The fright Aline got when our old house was burnt down affected her health, and she failed to rear them. Yet that fire made me. I built no more churches; but cosy, comfortable homes for human beings. But my position as an artist has been paid for in Aline's happiness. I could have prevented that fire by seeing to a flue. But I didn't. And yet the flue didn't actually cause the fire. Yet it was my fault in a certain sense. HILDA: I'm afraid you must be--ill. SOLNESS: I don't think I'll ever be quite of sound mind on that point.