It's nothing but over-work. Trust me, I am right.
Oswald.
[Sadly.] I thought so too, at first; but it isn't so.
Mrs. Alving.
Tell me everything, from beginning to end.
Oswald.
Yes, I will.
Mrs. Alving.
When did you first notice it?
Oswald.
It was directly after I had been home last time, and had got back to Paris again. I began to feel the most violent pains in my head—chiefly in the back of my head, they seemed to come. It was as though a tight iron ring was being screwed round my neck and upwards.
Mrs. Alving.
Well, and then?
Oswald.
At first I thought it was nothing but the ordinary headache I had been so plagued with while I was growing up
Mrs. Alving.
Yes, yes
Oswald.
But it wasn't that. I soon found that out. I couldn't work any more. I wanted to begin upon a big new picture, but my powers seemed to fail me; all my strength was crippled; I could form