Ella Rentheim.
[Looks at him with a smile.] Was that your experience when you had made Gunhild your wife?
Borkman.
No. But the great aims I had in life helped me to bear even that. I wanted to have at my command all the sources of power in this country. All the wealth that lay hidden in the soil, and the rocks, and the forests, and the sea—I wanted to gather it all into my hands, to make myself master of it all, and so to promote the well-being of many, many thousands.
Ella Rentheim.
[Lost in recollection.] I know it. Think of all the evenings we spent in talking over your projects.
Borkman.
Yes, I could talk to you, Ella.
Ella Rentheim.
I jested with your plans, and asked whether you wanted to awaken all the sleeping spirits of the mine.