Wangel.
The suspicion has often crossed my mind; but to-day I saw it clearly. The children’s little commemoration—you looked on me as a sort of accomplice.—Well yes; a man’s memories are not to be wiped out—not mine, at all events. It is not in my nature.
Ellida.
I know that. Oh, I know it so well.
Wangel.
But you are mistaken, none the less. It seems to you almost as though the children’s mother were still alive. You feel her invisible presence in our midst. You think that my heart is equally divided between you and her. It is this idea that revolts you. You see, as it were, something immoral in our relation; and that is why you cannot, or will not, live with me any more as my wife.
Ellida.
[Rises.] Have you seen all this, Wangel? Seen through all this?
Wangel.
Yes, to-day I have at last seen through it—into the very depths.