Johan: What mustn't I do? You promised, you know.

Dina: Yes, but--on second thought--you mustn't go out with me.

Johan: But why not?

Dina: Of course, you are a stranger--you cannot understand; but I must tell you--

Johan: Well?

Dina: No, I would rather not talk about it.

Johan: Oh, but you must; you can talk to me about whatever you like.

Dina: Well, I must tell you that I am not like the other young girls here. There is something--something or other about me. That is why you mustn't.

Johan: But I do not understand anything about it. You have not done anything wrong?

Dina: No, not I, but--no, I am not going to talk any more about it now.

You will hear about it from the others, sure enough.

Johan: Hm!

Dina: But there is something else I want very much to ask you.

Johan: What is that?

Dina: I suppose it is easy to make a position for oneself over in America?

Johan: No, it is not always easy; at first you often have to rough it and work very hard.

Dina: I should be quite ready to do that.

Johan: You?

Dina: I can work now; I am strong and healthy; and Aunt Martha taught me a lot.

Johan: Well, hang it, come back with us!

Dina: Ah, now you are only making fun of me; you said that to Olaf too.

But what I wanted to know is if people are so very--so very moral over there?

Johan: Moral?

Dina: Yes; I mean are they as--as proper and as well-behaved as they are here?

Johan: Well, at all events they are not so bad as people here make out.

You need not be afraid on that score.

Dina: You don't understand me. What I want to hear is just that they are not so proper and so moral.

Johan: Not? What would you wish them to be, then?

Dina: I would wish them to be natural.

Johan: Well, I believe that is just what they are.

Dina: Because in that case I should get on if I went there.

Johan: You would, for certain!--and that is why you must come back with us.

Dina: No, I don't want to go with you; I must go alone. Oh, I would make something of my life; I would get on--

Bernick (speaking to LONA and his wife at the foot of the garden steps): Wait a moment--I will fetch it, Betty dear; you might so easily catch cold. (Comes into the room and looks for his wife's shawl.)

Mrs. Bernick (from outside): You must come out too, Johan; we are going down to the grotto.

Bernick: No, I want Johan to stay here. Look here, Dina; you take my wife's shawl and go with them. Johan is going to stay here with me, Betty dear. I want to hear how he is getting on over there.

Mrs. Bernick: Very well--then you will follow us; you know where you will find us. (MRS. BERNICK, LONA and DINA go out through the garden, to the left. BERNICK looks after them for a moment, then goes to the farther door on the left and locks it, after which he goes up to JOHAN, grasps both his hands, and shakes them warmly.)

Bernick: Johan, now that we are alone, you must let me thank you.

Johan: Oh, nonsense!

Bernick: My home and all the happiness that it means to me--my position here as a citizen--all these I owe to you.

Johan: Well, I am glad of it, Karsten; some good came of that mad story after all, then.

Bernick (grasping his hands again): But still you must let me thank you! Not one in ten thousand would have done what you did for me.

Johan: Rubbish! Weren't we, both of us, young and thoughtless? One of us had to take the blame, you know.

Bernick: But surely the guilty one was the proper one to do that?

Johan: Stop! At the moment the innocent one happened to be the proper one to do it. Remember, I had no ties--I was an orphan; it was a lucky chance to get free from the drudgery of the office. You, on the other hand, had your old mother still alive; and, besides that, you had just become secretly engaged to Betty, who was devoted to you. What would have happened between you and her if it had come to her ears?

Bernick: That is true enough, but still--

Johan: And wasn't it just for Betty's sake that you broke off your acquaintance with Mrs. Dorf? Why, it was merely in order to put an end to the whole thing that you were up there with her that evening.

Bernick: Yes, that unfortunate evening when that drunken creature came home! Yes, Johan, it was for Betty's sake; but, all the same, it was splendid of you to let all the appearances go against you, and to go away.

Johan: Put your scruples to rest, my dear Karsten. We agreed that it should be so; you had to be saved, and you were my friend. I can tell you, I was uncommonly proud of that friendship. Here was I, drudging away like a miserable stick-in-the-mud, when you came back from your grand tour abroad, a great swell who had been to London and to Paris; and you chose me for your chum, although I was four years younger than you--it is true it was because you were courting Betty, I understand that now--but I was proud of it! Who would not have been? Who would not willingly have sacrificed himself for you?--especially as it only meant a month's talk in the town, and enabled me to get away into the wide world.

Bernick: Ah, my dear Johan, I must be candid and tell you that the story is not so completely forgotten yet.

Johan: Isn't it? Well, what does that matter to me, once I am back over there on my farm again?

Bernick: Then you mean to go back?