ELLA RENTHEIM.
I shall lock the door. Just leave the key in the lock.
THE MAID.
Oh, very well; I'll leave it.
[She goes into the house again.
BORKMAN. [Stands silent for a moment, and listens; then goes hastily down the steps and out into the open space.] Now I am outside the walls, Ella! Now they will never get hold of me again!
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Who has gone down to him.] But you are a free man in there, too, John. You can come and go just as you please.
BORKMAN. [Softly, as though in terror.] Never under a roof again! It is so good to be out here in the night. If I went up into the gallery now, ceiling and walls would shrink together and crush me—crush me flat as a fly.
ELLA RENTHEIM.
But where will you go, then?
BORKMAN. I will simply go on, and on, and on. I will try if I cannot make my way to freedom, and life, and human beings again. Will you go with me, Ella?
ELLA RENTHEIM.
I? Now?
BORKMAN.
Yes, at once!
ELLA RENTHEIM.
But how far?