Lona. Martha! (seizes her arm). Is this the truth?
Martha. My whole life lies in the words. I have loved him, and waited for him. From summer to summer I have looked for his coming. And then he came, but he did not see me.
Lona. Loved him! and it was you that gave his happiness into his hands.
Martha. Should I not have given him his happiness, since I loved him? Yes, I have loved him. My whole life has been for him.... He did not see me.
Lona. It was Dina that overshadowed you, Martha.
Martha. It is well that she did! When he went away we were of the same age. When I saw him again—oh, that horrible moment!—it seemed to me that I was ten years older than he. He had lived in the bright, quivering sunshine, and drunk in youth and health at every breath; and here sat I, the while, spinning and spinning——
Lona. The thread of his happiness, Martha.
Martha. Yes, it was gold I spun. No bitterness! Is it not true, Lona, we have been two good sisters to him?
In Hedda Gabler it is Miss Tesman, aunt of the imbecile Tesman, who plays the pathetic part of the sacrificial mother. She has brought him up, and when he marries gives him the largest part of her modest income. ‘Oh, aunt,’ bleats the poor idiot (p. 18), ‘you will never be tired of sacrificing yourself for me!’ ‘Do you think,’ replies the good creature, ‘I have any other joy in this world than to smooth the way for you, my dear boy—you who have never had a father or a mother to look after you?’ And when subsequently the paralytic sister of Miss Tesman is dead, Hedda and she hold this conversation (p. 196):
Hedda. It will be lonesome for you now, Miss Tesman.