Bernick: And now for the principal reckoning I have to make with the community. Mr. Rorlund said that certain pernicious elements had left us this evening. I can add what you do not yet know. The man referred to did not go away alone; with him, to become his wife, went--
Lona (loudly): Dina Dorf!
Rorlund: What?
Mrs. Bernick: What? (Great commotion.)
Rorlund: Fled? Run away--with him! Impossible!
Bernick: To become his wife, Mr. Rorlund. And I will add more. (In a low voice, to his wife.) Betty, be strong to bear what is coming. (Aloud.) This is what I have to say: hats off to that man, for he has nobly taken another's guilt upon his shoulders. My friends, I want to have done with falsehood; it has very nearly poisoned every fibre of my being. You shall know all. Fifteen years ago, I was the guilty man.
Mrs. Bernick (softly and tremblingly): Karsten!
Martha (similarly): Ah, Johan--!
Lona: Now at last you have found yourself!
(Speechless consternation among the audience.)