(SCENE.-TJAELDE'S private office. On the left, a desk strewn with ledgers and papers. On the right, a stove. An easy chair by the stove. A table in the foreground to the right; on it an inkstand and pens. Two armchairs; one at the table facing the audience, the other at the side of the table. Windows on either side of the desk; a door beyond the stove. A door in the background, leading to other offices. A bell-pull hangs down the wall. A chair on either side of the door. Quite at the back, on the left, a staircase leading direct to TJAELDE'S bedroom. BERENT and TJAELDE come in from the back.) Tjaelde. You must excuse my receiving you here. But the other rooms are all upside down; we have had some people to dinner. Berent. I heard you had guests. Tjaelde. Yes, Mr. Lind from Christiana. Berent. Quite so. Tjaelde. Won't you sit down? (BERENT lays down his hat and coat on a chair by the door. He comes slowly forward, sits down at the side of the table, and takes some papers from his breast-pocket. TJAELDE sits down at the other chair by the table and watches him indifferently.) Berent. What we now want is some fixed standard by which to make our valuations, especially of real estate. Have you any objection to our making your business a basis for arriving at that? Tjaelde. None at all. Berent. Then may I make my comments on your own figures, and ask you a few questions about them? Tjaelde. By all means. Berent. Well, to begin with, let us take your properties immediately round here; they will give us the best idea of local values. For instance, take the Mjolstad forest; you have put that down, I see, at L16,500. Tjaelde (indifferently). Have I? Berent. You bought it for L10,000. Tjaelde. Yes, four years ago. Timber prices ruled low then. Berent. And since then you have cut down more than L20,000 worth of timber there. Tjaelde. Who told you so? Berent. Mr. Holst. Tjaelde. Holst knows nothing about it. Berent. We must try to be very accurate, you know. Tjaelde. Well, of course, the whole valuation is not my concern; but those whom it does concern will protest. Berent (taking no notice of his objection). So I think we will reduce the L16,500 to L10,000. Tjaelde. To L10,000! (Laughs.) As you please. Berent. Calculating by the same standard, we can scarcely put down the Stav forest at more than L4000. Tjaelde. Allow me to say that, if that is the way you are going to make your valuation, everybody in the place will have to go bankrupt! Berent (with a smile). We will risk that. You have put down your wharf and its contents at L12,000. Tjaelde. Including two ships in course of construction-- Berent.--for which it would be difficult to find a purchaser, as they are so far from completion. Tjaelde. Indeed? Berent. So I think we cannot put down the wharf and its contents at a higher figure than L8,000--and I believe even that will turn out to be too high.