John Gabriel Borkman

by Henrik Ibsen

ELLA RENTHEIM's VOICE.
[Is heard in the wood to the right.] Where are we going, John?
I don't recognise this place.

BORKMAN's VOICE.
[Higher up.] Just follow my footprints in the snow!

ELLA RENTHEIM's VOICE.
But why need we climb so high?

BORKMAN's VOICE.
[Nearer at hand.] We must go up the winding path.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Still hidden.] Oh, but I can't go much further.

BORKMAN. [On the verge of the wood to the right.] Come, come! We are not far from the view now. There used to be a seat there.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Appearing among the trees.] Do you remember it?

BORKMAN.
You can rest there.

[They have emerged upon a small high-lying, open plateau in the wood. The mountain rises abruptly behind them. To the left, far below, an extensive fiord landscape, with high ranges in the distance, towering one above the other. On the plateau, to the left, a dead fir-tree with a bench under it. The snow lies deep upon the plateau.

[BORKMAN and, after him, ELLA RENTHEIM enter from the right
and wade with difficulty through the snow.