Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 9).djvu/152

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Rebecca. I do not understand this. You must explain.

Kroll.

I really did not suppose you could require an explanation. Otherwise it would have been very odd that you should have let Dr. West adopt you——

Rebecca.

[Rises.] Ah! Now I understand.

Kroll.

——and that you should have taken his name. Your mother's name was Gamvik.

Rebecca.

[Walks across the room.] My father's name was Gamvik, Rector Kroll.

Kroll.

Your mother's business must have brought her very frequently into contact with the parish doctor.

Rebecca. Yes, it did.

Kroll.

And then he takes you into his house—as soon as your mother dies. He treats you harshly; and yet you stay with him. You know that he won't leave you a halfpenny—as a matter of fact, you only got a case full of books—and yet you stay on; you bear with him; you nurse him to the last.

Rebecca.

[Stands by the table, looking scornfully at him.] And you account for all this by assuming that