Borkman.
It remained a dream, yes. [Listening.] And hark, down by the river, dear! The factories are working! My factories! All those that I would have created! Listen! Do you hear them humming? The night shift is on—so they are working night and day. Hark! hark! the wheels are whirling and the bands are flashing—round and round and round. Can't you hear, Ella?
Ella Rentheim.
No.
Borkman.
I can hear it.
Ella Rentheim.
[Anxiously.] I think you are mistaken, John.
Borkman.
[More and more fired.] Oh, but all these—they are only like the outworks around the kingdom, I tell you!
Ella Rentheim.
The kingdom, you say? What kingdom?
Borkman.
My kingdom, of course! The kingdom I was on the point of conquering when I—when I died.
Ella Rentheim.
[Shaken, in a low voice.] Oh, John, John!
