Mrs. Linden.

I hear you called at my lodgings.

Nora.

Yes, I was just passing. There’s something you must help me with. Let us sit here on the sofa—so. To-morrow evening there’s to be a fancy ball at Consul Stenborg’s overhead, and Torvald wants me to appear as a Neapolitan fisher-girl, and dance the tarantella; I learned it at Capri.

Mrs. Linden.

I see—quite a performance.

Nora.

Yes, Torvald wishes it. Look, this is the costume; Torvald had it made for me in Italy. But now it’s all so torn, I don’t know——

Mrs. Linden.

Oh, we shall soon set that to rights. It’s only the trimming that has come loose here and there. Have you a needle and thread? Ah, here’s the very thing.