Rosmer.
Have you the courage—have you the will—gladly, as Ulric Brendel said—for my sake, to-night—gladly—to go the same way that Beata went?
Rebecca.
[Rises slowly from the sofa; almost voiceless.] Rosmer——!
Rosmer.
Yes, Rebecca—that is the question that will for ever haunt me—when you are gone. Every hour in the day it will return upon me. Oh, I seem to see you before my very eyes. You are standing out on the foot-bridge—right in the middle. Now you are bending forward over the railing—drawn dizzily downwards, downwards towards the rushing water! No—you recoil. You have not the heart to do what she dared.
Rebecca.
But if I had the heart to do it? And the will to do it gladly? What then?
Rosmer.
I should have to believe you then. I should recover my faith in my mission. Faith in my power to ennoble human souls. Faith in the human soul’s power to attain nobility.