Stensgård.
But I will make the sacrifice. Yes, I will show you that I have the strength for it. Think of the longing multitude out there: they claim me with a sort of voiceless pathos. I cannot, I dare not, fail them!
Lundestad.
Yes, but the stake in the district?
Stensgård.
I shall take measures to fulfil the demands of my fellow citizens in that respect, Mr. Lundestad. I see a way, a new way; and I will follow it up. I renounce the happiness of toiling in obscurity for the woman I love. I say to my fellow countrymen: "Here I am—take me!"
Lundestad.
[Looks at him in quiet admiration and presses his hand.] You are indeed a man of rare gifts, Mr. Stensgård. [Goes out to the right.
[Stensgård paces the room several times, now stopping for a moment at the window, now running his fingers through his hair. Presently Bastian Monsen enters from the back.
Bastian.
Here I am, my dear friend.[1]
Stensgård.
Where have you come from?
Bastian.
From the Nation.
1 Bastian now says "thou" (du) to Stensgård—il le tutoie.
