Tjaelde (when he has controlled himself). So you came into my house with the hidden design of ruining me? Berent. I must repeat that it is not I that am responsible for your bankruptcy; it is yourself. Tjaelde. And I must repeat that my bankruptcy only exists in your imagination! Much may happen in a month; and I have shown that I can find a way out of difficulties before now! Berent. That is to say, by involving yourself deeper and deeper in falsehood. Tjaelde. Only a man of business can understand such things. But, if you really understand them, I would say to you: "Give me L20,000 and I will save the situation entirely." That would be doing something worthy of your great powers; that would give you a reputation for penetration in discerning the real state of affairs; because by so doing you would safeguard the welfare of more than a thousand people, and ensure a prosperous future for the whole district! Berent. I don't rise to that bait. Tjaelde (after a moment's reflection). Do you want me to explain to you how L20,000 would be sufficient to set the whole complicated situation straight? Within three months remittances would be coming in. I can make it its clear as daylight to you-- Berent.--that you would be falling from one disillusionment to another! That is what you have been doing for the last three years, from month to month. Tjaelde. Because the last three years have been bad years--horrible years! But we have reached the crisis; things must begin to improve now! Berent. That is what every defaulter thinks. Tjaelde. Do not drive me to despair! Have you any idea what I have gone through in these three years? Have you any idea what I am capable of? Berent. Of still further falsehood. Tjaelde. Take care!--It is quite true that I am standing on the edge of a precipice. It is true that for three years I have done everything in mortal power to save the situation! I maintain that there has been something heroic in the fight I have made. And that deserves some reward. You have unrestricted powers; every one trusts you. Realise for yourself what your mission is; do not let it be necessary for me to teach it you! Let me tell you this, emphatically: it will be a dreadful thing for _you_ if hundreds of people are to be ruined unnecessarily now! Berent. Let us make an end of this. Tjaelde. No, devil take me if I give up a fight like this with a senseless surrender! Berent. How do you propose to end it, then? Tjaelde. There is no issue to it that I have not turned over in my thoughts--thousands of times. _I_ know what I shall do! I won't be a mark for the jeers of this wretched little town, nor triumphed over by those who have envied me all round the countryside! Berent. What will you do, then? Tjaelde. You shall see! (Speaking more and more excitedly.) You won't help me under any conditions? Berent. No. Tjaelde. You insist that I shall surrender my estate, here and now? Berent. Yes.