The Maid.
Oh, very well; I’ll leave it.
[She goes into the house again.
Borkman.
[Stands silent for a moment, and listens; then goes hastily down the steps and out into the open space.] Now I am outside the walls, Ella! Now they will never get hold of me again!
Ella Rentheim.
[Who has gone down to him.] But you are a free man in there, too, John. You can come and go just as you please.
Borkman.
[Softly, as though in terror.] Never under a roof again! It is so good to be out here in the night. If I went up into the gallery now, ceiling and walls would shrink together and crush me—crush me flat as a fly.
Ella Rentheim.