The price, Hilda! The terrible price I had to pay for the opportunity!
Hilda.
But can you never get over that?
Solness.
No. That I might build homes for others, I had to forego—to forego for all time—the home that might have been my own. I mean a home for a troop of children—and for father and mother, too.
Hilda.
[Cautiously.] But need you have done that? For all time, you say?
Solness.
[Nods slowly.] That was the price of this happiness that people talk about. [Breathes heavily.] This happiness—h’m—this happiness was not to be bought any cheaper, Hilda.
Hilda.