This page needs to be proofread.
Borkman.
Go on—tell me what it is.
Ella Rentheim.
When I die—as I must soon—I shall have a fair amount to leave behind me.
Borkman.
Yes, I suppose so.
Ella Rentheim.
And I intend to leave it all to Erhart.
Borkman.
Well, you have really no one nearer to you than he.
Ella Rentheim.
[Warmly.] No indeed, I have no one nearer me than he.
Borkman.
No one of your own family. You are the last.
Ella Rentheim.
[Nodding slowly.] Yes, that is just it. When I die, the name of Rentheim dies with me. And that is such a torturing thought to me. To be wiped out of existence—even to your very name
Borkman.
[Firing up.] Ah, I see what you are driving at!