Hilda: Castles in the air! So easy to build (scornfully), especially for builders who have a—a dizzy conscience.

Solness: We shall build one—with a firm foundation. (Ragnar enters with the wreath) Have you brought the wreath, Ragnar? Then I suppose your father's better? Wasn't he cheered by what I wrote him?

Ragnar: It came too late—he was unconscious. He had had a stroke.

Solness: Go home to him. Give me the wreath.

Ragnar: You don't mean that you yourself—no—I'll stop.

Hilda: Mr. Solness, I will stand here and look at you.

[Solness takes the wreath and goes down through the garden. Mrs. Solness, in an agony of apprehension, re-enters and sends Ragnar to fetch her husband back from the new building. She returns indoors.

Solness (re-entering): Oh, it's you, Hilda! I was afraid it was Aline or the doctor that wanted me.

Hilda: You're easily frightened. They say you're afraid to climb about scaffoldings. Is it true you're afraid?