Lona: When Johan told me about the lie, I swore to myself that the hero of my youth should stand free and true.
Bernick: What a wretch I am!--and how little I have deserved it of you!
Lona. Oh, if we women always looked for what we deserve, Karsten--!
(AUNE comes in with OLAF from the garden.)
Bernick (going to meet them): Olaf!
Olaf: Father, I promise I will never do it again--
Bernick: Never run away?
Olaf: Yes, yes, I promise you, father.
Bernick: And I promise you, you shall never have reason to. For the future you shall be allowed to grow up, not as the heir to my life's work, but as one who has his own life's work before him.
Olaf: And shall I be allowed to be what I like, when I grow up?