THE JUDGE. Now, in spite of everything, I think we are beginning to grow old; our sight is failing us.
LADY ANNA. Not my sight. Listen to me. You should have seen her with the flowers this summer while she was home. When she watered them, she talked with them as if they could understand her. It was as if she returned every rise of fragrance with a smile. And the flowers thrived and blossomed, as if they absorbed her tenderness.
THE JUDGE. I have noticed something else lately: that every time she comes into a room it is as though the air were filled with the beauty of peace. I could have myself blindfolded, and all Reykavik could walk through the room on soles of velvet—when SHE entered I could recognize her by the delightful calm that accompanies her.
LADY ANNA. This excessive love... it is worrying me. Maybe it was mostly on that account that I delayed agreeing to her departure.
THE JUDGE. There are so many things that worry you. Why doesn't Ingolf come back? [Kisses her on the cheek.] I will talk to him about it. [Goes out.]
RANNVEIG [enters]. The servants want to know how many places to lay for dinner.
LADY ANNA [putting aside her needlework]. Well, I'm coming—[Goes out.]
RANNVEIG [walks slowly to the centre of the room, stands looking at the terra cotta statue]. When you dream something, you don't want to come true, you ought to tell it to some one—better to a stone than to no one. [Hands folded, she walks slowly up to the statue, whispering in its ear,] I dreamed of a beautiful and marvellous diamond palace. I walked around it, but it had no doors. No one could get in. If any one were inside, he could not get out. I heard weeping inside the palace. It seemed to tear my heart. I recognised the weeping?—[She passes her hand over her eyes, looks at the statue a long time, walks away from it, looks back at it once more, and goes out. In the doorway she encounters Hadda, looks at her, pats her cheek, and disappears.]
HADDA PADDA [enters with a water jug in her hand, walks up to a flower in the window].
INGOLF [enters and steals up to her].