THE MAID.
Yes, I will, ma"am. [To herself.] Lord save us!
[She goes out through the wood to the right.
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Standing behind the bench.] So the night air has killed him----
ELLA RENTHEIM.
So it appears.
MRS. BORKMAN.
----strong man that he was.
ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Coming in front of the bench.] Will you not look at him, Gunhild?
MRS. BORKMAN.
[With a gesture of repulsion.] No, no, no. [Lowering her voice.] He was a miner"s son, John Gabriel Borkman. He could not live in the fresh air.
ELLA RENTHEIM.
It was rather the cold that killed him.
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Shakes her head.] The cold, you say? The cold--that had killed him long ago.
ELLA RENTHEIM.
[Nodding to her.] Yes--and changed us two into shadows.
MRS. BORKMAN.
You are right there.
ELLA RENTHEIM.
[With a painful smile.] A dead man and two shadows--that is what the cold has made of us.
MRS. BORKMAN.
Yes, the coldness of heart.--And now I think we two may hold out our hands to each other, Ella.
ELLA RENTHEIM.
I think we may, now.
MRS. BORKMAN.
We twin sisters--over him we have both loved.
ELLA RENTHEIM.
We two shadows--over the dead man.
[MRS. BORKMAN behind the bench, and ELLA RENTHEIM in front of it, take each other"s hand.