MRS. BORKMAN.
You have not, say you!
MRS. WILTON. No. I have neither cajoled nor deluded him. Erhart came to me of his own free will. And of my own free will I went out half-way to meet him.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Measuring her scornfully with her eye.] Yes, indeed! That I can easily believe.
MRS. WILTON. [With self-control.] Mrs. Borkman, there are forces in human life that you seem to know very little about.
MRS. BORKMAN.
What forces, may I ask?
MRS. WILTON. The forces which ordain that two people shall join their lives together, indissolubly—and fearlessly.
MRS. BORKMAN. [With a smile.] I thought you were already indissolubly bound— to another.
MRS. WILTON.
[Shortly.] That other has deserted me.
MRS. BORKMAN.
But he is still living, they say.
MRS. WILTON.
He is dead to me.