Bolette. Do you think so?
Arnholm. I should say it would be well for all parties that she should get away every now and then.
Bolette. If she does go home to Skjoldviken tomorrow, she will never come back here again!
Arnholm. My dear Bolette, whatever makes you think that?
Bolette. I am quite convinced of it. Just you wait; you'll see that she'll not come back again; not anyhow as long as I and Hilde are in the house here.
Arnholm. Hilde, too?
Bolette. Well, it might perhaps be all right with Hilde. For she is scarcely more than a child. And I believe that at bottom she worships Ellida. But, you see, it's different with me—a stepmother who isn't so very much older than oneself!
Arnholm. Dear Bolette, perhaps it might, after all, not be so very long before you left.
Bolette (eagerly). Really! Have you spoken to father about it?
Arnholm. Yes, I have.