Gregers.
You mustn't ask that till you are a big girl—quite grown-up.
Hedvig.
[Sobs.] But I can't go on being as miserable as this till I'm grown-up.—I think I know what it is.—Perhaps I'm not really father's child.
Gregers.
[Uneasily.] How could that be?
Hedvig.
Mother might have found me. And perhaps father has just got to know it; I've read of such things.
Gregers.
Well, but if it were so
Hedvig.
I think he might be just as fond of me for all that. Yes, fonder almost. We got the wild duck in a present, you know, and I love it so dearly all the same.
Gregers.
[Turning the conversation.] Ah, the wild duck, by-the-bye! Let us talk about the wild duck a little, Hedvig.
Hedvig.
The poor wild duck! He doesn't want to see it any more either. Only think, he wanted to wring its neck!
Gregers.
Oh, he won't do that.
