Oh yes—I did indeed.—And now this crushing blow falls on me.

Rebecca.

[Behind him, rests her arms on the chair-back.] How beautiful it was when we sat in the twilight, in the room downstairs, helping each other to lay out our new life-plans! You were to set resolutely to work in the world—the living world of to-day, as you said. You were to go as a messenger of emancipation from home to home; to win over minds and wills; to create noble-men around you in wider and wider circles. Noble-men.

Rosmer.

Happy noble-men.

Rebecca.

Yes—happy.

Rosmer.

For it is happiness that ennobles, Rebecca.

Rebecca.