I haven’t an idea; I only gathered that it was some bank business.

Nora.

I didn’t know that Krog—that this Mr. Krogstad had anything to do with the Bank?

Rank.

Yes. He has got some sort of place there. [To Mrs. Linden.] I don’t know whether, in your part of the country, you have people who go grubbing and sniffing around in search of moral rottenness—and then, when they have found a “case,” don’t rest till they have got their man into some good position, where they can keep a watch upon him. Men with a clean bill of health they leave out in the cold.

Mrs. Linden.

Well, I suppose the—delicate characters require most care.

Rank.

[Shrugs his shoulders.] There we have it! It’s that notion that makes society a hospital.

[Nora, deep in her own thoughts, breaks into half-stifled laughter and claps her hands.