GRANDFATHER. [Takes back the bundle] All right! Then I shall throw them into the fire. There is a time to hate and a time to love. The time of hatred must come to an end I am longing for peace. Therefore, I beg you, my next of kin, to regard all that has happened in the past as if it had not happened at all—and I ask you: Will you forget everything, and will you meet your new relatives without grudge or guile, and greet them as friends? Answer me!
ALL. We will!
GRANDFATHER. Then I shall let the fire consume what is left of past evils. [He throws the bundle of papers into the fire, pulls the iron lid in front of the grate, and opens three small ventilators in the lid] Let us be seated!
All seat themselves in front of the fireplace, staring at the red glare from the three ventilators.
ANNA. [To BRITA, in a low voice] Do you hear it sing?
BRITA. No, it moans. And within me it's aching!
The GRANDFATHER rises. Then all the rest follow his example.
GRANDFATHER. [To the FATHER] Bring them in!
The FATHER goes to the door at the right and brings in MATS.
The MOTHER goes to the door in the rear and opens it. KERSTI enters, accompanied by her MOTHER, her FATHER, the SOLDIER, who is wearing the old full-dress uniform of the Swedish infantry of the line, and her GRANDFATHER, the VERGER.
GRANDFATHER. May God bless you! And be seated, please!