Ljot. I told you that I have not.
Jorunn. You could not tell your old mother a falsehood! But if you are free and not bound by any promise, this puzzles me. Halfdan is young and a capable man, and his father is one of the richest and most respected farmers in the countryside.
Ljot. But I don't care for him. You can't mean that I should marry a man I don't care for. (Leans over the fence.)
Jorunn. Once you are married you will come to care for him. (Goes to her.) It is a great step you are about to take. Weigh your words well, so that you may not rue them. Be careful not to thrust away happiness when she reaches out her hand to you, or there may come a day when you will repent. You must know that your parents wish nothing but what is good for you.
Ljot (with tears in her voice). It seems to me you are against me, both you and father.
Jorunn (stroking her hair). I believe you are hiding something from your mother. I think I know what it is. You were very much pleased with the bird's skin you got to-day. (Ljot is silent.) The winter your father asked me in marriage there came to my home a man who used to go from farm to farm doing odd carpenter jobs. One evening I carried his coffee to him where he was at work. He had a big chest standing there that he kept his tools in. I can remember it plainly; it was yellow. I stood waiting for him to finish his coffee so that I could take the cup back, when he took out of the chest a work-box—the prettiest thing I've ever seen. It was of dark brown wood, the lid round, with pictures of animals carved on it. He made me a present of it, and when I was about to go, he asked me for a kiss, but I would not give it to him.
Ljot. You never told me about this.
Jorunn. He was a good-looking man, with big brown eyes. Well, when your father came, my father and mother both wanted me to become his wife. It was not altogether easy for me, but I would not go against their wishes. I thought it my duty to please them, and besides the other man had never asked me straight out.
Ljot. But he was the one you cared for.
Jorunn. Perhaps I thought so at the time. (Silence.) He went away on the night he heard that I was promised to your father. A year after I married your father, he was drowned—some thought he had taken his own life.