Oswald.

[Sits down.] There is something I must tell you, mother.

Mrs. Alving.

[Anxiously.] Well?

Oswald.

[Looks fixedly before him.] For I can’t go on hiding it any longer.

Mrs. Alving.

Hiding what? What is it?

Oswald.

[As before.] I could never bring myself to write to you about it; and since I’ve come home——