Ida.
I’m getting so frightened, Willy! Perhaps, after all, it would have been better to——Mother certainly did not know that it would be so hard for you,—and I—I only thought—because mother said—it wasn’t that I wished it—! But now, now that you’ve got so far, do—will you?—for my sake! Ah! (putting her arms round him).
William (drawn a little further into the room by Ida’s embrace, with sighs of deep inward disturbance).
Every step forwards—what I have lived through in this very place!
Ida.
Only don’t stir that up! Don’t stir all that up!
William.
See! now it’s getting clear to me—your mother should not have persuaded me to this. She’s always so confident,—so—I knew—I told her—but that simple absolute confidence! If only I hadn’t allowed myself to be blinded—
Ida.