Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 7).djvu/83

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Nora.

What remarkable point? I don't know——

Krogstad.

The remarkable point, madam, that your father signed this paper three days after his death!

Nora.

What! I don't understand——

Krogstad.

Your father died on the 29th of September. But look here: he has dated his signature October 2nd! Is not that remarkable, Mrs. Helmer? [Nora is silent.] Can you explain it?

[Nora continues silent.] It is noteworthy, too, that the words "October 2nd " and the year are not in your father's handwriting, but in one which I believe I know. Well, this may be explained; your father may have forgotten to date his signature, and somebody may have added the date at random, before the fact of your father's death was known. There is nothing wrong in that. Everything depends on the signature. Of course it is genuine, Mrs. Helmer? It was really your father himself who wrote his name here?

Nora.

[After a short silence, throws her head back and looks defiantly at him.] No, it was not. I wrote father's name.

Krogstad.

Ah!—Are you aware, madam, that that is a dangerous admission?