There are
many among us who need thorough and conscientious repairs, Aune. Well,
good night.
Aune: Good-night, sir--and thank you, thank you. (Goes out.)
Mrs. Bernick: Now they are all gone.
Bernick: And we are alone. My name is not shining in letters of fire
any longer; all the lights in the windows are out.
Lona: Would you wish them lit again?
Bernick: Not for anything in the world. Where have I been! You would be
horrified if you knew. I feel now as if I had come back to my right
senses, after being poisoned. But I feel this that I can be young and
healthy again. Oh, come nearer--come closer round me. Come, Betty!
Come, Olaf, my boy! And you, Martha--it seems to me as if I had never
seen you all these years.
Lona: No, I can believe that. Your community is a community of bachelor
souls; you do not see women.
Bernick: That is quite true; and for that very reason--this is a
bargain, Lona--you must not leave Betty and me.
Mrs. Bernick: No, Lona, you must not.
Lona: No, how could I have the heart to go away and leave you young
people who are just setting up housekeeping? Am I not your
foster-mother? You and I, Martha, the two old aunts-- What are you
looking at?
Martha: Look how the sky is clearing, and how light it is over the sea.
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