LADY INGER. It rests with you whether all this shall henceforth be changed.
ELINA. How so?
LADY INGER. Listen.—I look for a guest to-night.
ELINA (comes nearer). A guest?
LADY INGER. A stranger, who must remain a stranger to all. None must know whence he comes or whither he goes.
ELINA (throws herself, with a cry of joy, at her mother's feet and seizes her hands). My mother! My mother! Forgive me, if you can, all the wrong I have done you!
LADY INGER. What do you mean? Elina, I do not understand you.
ELINA. Then they were all deceived! You are still true at heart!
LADY INGER. Rise, rise and tell me——
ELINA. Do you think I do not know who the stranger is?