Hjalmar. Ah! that’s true. Well, then, the day after to-morrow. Henceforth I mean to do everything myself; I alone will do all the work.
Gina. But what’s the good of that, Ekdal? It’ll only make your life a burden to you. I can see to the photographs, and then you can go on with the invention.
Hedvig. And then the wild duck, father, and all the fowls and rabbits and——
Hjalmar. Don’t speak to me of that rubbish! From to-morrow, I’ll never set foot in the loft again.
Hedvig. Yes, but father, you promised me that to-morrow we’d have a little feast.
Hjalmar. H’m, that’s true. Well, then from the day after to-morrow. That damned wild duck, I should like to wring her neck.
Hedvig (shrieks). The wild duck!
Gina. Well I never heard such a thing.
Hedvig (shaking him). Oh! but father—why it’s my wild duck.
Hjalmar. And therefore I will not do it. I have not the heart to do it—not the heart to do it for your sake, Hedvig. But I feel so strongly that I ought not to suffer any creature under my roof that has passed through those hands.