[Likewise.] Ah, Johan——!
Lona.
At last you have found your true self!
[Speechless astonishment among the listeners.
Bernick.
Yes, my fellow citizens, I was guilty, and he fled. The false and vile rumours which were afterwards current, it is now in no human power to disprove. But of this I cannot complain. Fifteen years ago I swung myself aloft by aid of these rumours; whether I am now to fall with them is for you to decide.
Rörlund.
What a thunderbolt! The first man in the town——! [Softly to Mrs. Bernick.] Oh, how I pity you, Mrs. Bernick!
Hilmar.
Such a confession! Well, I must say——