Helmer.
[By the lamp.] I have hardly the courage to. We may both be lost, both you and I. Ah! I must know. [Hastily tears the letter open; reads a few lines, looks at an enclosure; with a cry of joy.] Nora!
[Nora looks inquiringly at him.
Helmer.
Nora!—Oh! I must read it again.—Yes, yes, it is so. I am saved! Nora, I am saved!
Nora.
And I?
Helmer.
You too, of course; we are both saved, both of us. Look here—he sends you back your promissory note. He writes that he regrets and apologises, that a happy turn in his life——Oh, what matter what he writes. We are saved, Nora! No one can harm you. Oh, Nora, Nora——; but first to get rid of this hateful thing. I’ll just see—— [Glances at the I.O.U.] No, I will not look at it; the whole thing shall be nothing but a dream to me. [Tears the I.O.U. and both letters in pieces. Throws them into the fire and watches them burn.] There! it’s gone!—He said that ever since Christmas Eve——Oh, Nora, they must have been three terrible days for you!
Nora.