Tjaelde (happily, but shyly). My child! Who put such a happy idea into your head?
Valborg (putting an arm round his neck). Father, forgive me for all that I have neglected to do! You shall see how I will try and make up for it! How hard I shall work!
Tjaelde (still half incredulous). My child! My child!
Valborg. I feel—I cannot tell you how deeply—a craving for love and for work! (Throws both her arms round his neck.) Oh, father, how I love you!—and how I shall work for you!
Tjaelde. Ah, that is the Valborg I have waited for, ever since you were a little child! But we had drifted away from one another, somehow.
Valborg. No more about the past! Look forward, father, look forward! Concerns "that would not be affected by the uncertainties of high finance,"—weren't those his words?
Tjaelde. So you were struck by that expression, too?
Valborg. That may mean a future for us now! We will have a home all to ourselves—a little house down on the shore—and I shall help you, and Signe will help mother—we shall know what it is to live, for the first time!
Tjaelde. What happiness it will be!
Valborg. Only look forward, father! Look forward! A united family is invincible!