The Stranger. You will not!

Ellida (clinging to WANGEL). I shall never go away from you after this.

The Stranger. So it is over?

Ellida. Yes. Over for all time.

The Stranger. I see. There is something here stronger than my will.

Ellida. Your will has not a shadow of power over me any longer. To me you are as one dead—who has come home from the sea, and who returns to it again. I no longer dread you. And I am no longer drawn to you.

The Stranger. Goodbye, Mrs. Wangel! (He swings himself over the fence.) Henceforth, you are nothing but a shipwreck in my life that I have tided over. (He goes out.)

Wangel (looks at her for a while). Ellida, your mind is like the sea—it has ebb and flow. Whence came the change?

Ellida. Ah! don't you understand that the change came—was bound to come when I could choose in freedom?

Wangel. And the unknown?—It no longer lures you?