Hagbart. She has showed me lately that she does not. Did she not tell you so, plainly?
Leonarda. She was--how shall I put it?--too excited for me to attach much importance to what she said.
Hagbart. Then she did tell you so. I thought she had--indeed I was sure of it. Aagot does not love me, but she loves you. She wants you to be happy.
Leonarda. If you do not love Aagot, it seems to me you ought not to have come here.
Hagbart. Perhaps you are right. But I am not the same man as I was when I used to come here before; nor do I come for the same reason.
Leonarda. If you do not love Aagot, I must repeat that you have no right to be here. You owe that much consideration both to her and to me.
Hagbart. I assure you that it is from nothing but the sincerest consideration for you that I am here now.
Leonarda (who up to this point has been standing by the tree). Then I must go!
Leonarda. You seem to me completely changed.
Hagbart. Thank goodness for that!--because I don't feel any great respect for the man I was before. Many people can decide such things in a moment, but it has taken me time to see my course clearly.
Hagbart (almost before the words are out of her mouth, coming close to her). You do understand me!
Hagbart. They say there is a devil in every one that should not be waked. It is a foolish saying, because these devils are our vital forces.
Leonarda. But we ought to have them under control. That is the lesson my life has taught me; it has cost me dear, and I mean to profit by it.
Hagbart. If I did not believe that it was the impulse of truth itself that guided me to you, I should not be standing here. I have had a long struggle. I have had to give up one prejudice after another, to enable my soul to find itself fully and go forward confidently. It has brought me to you--and now we will go forward together.
Leonarda. That might have been, without this.
Hagbart. I love you! It is you I have loved in her--since the very first day. I love you!
Leonarda. Then have respect for me--and go!
Leonarda. No, no! (Shrinks away from him.) Oh, why did this happen?
Hagbart. It has come upon us step by step. The cruel obstacles in our way have only proved friends to us, in bringing us together. Give yourself up to happiness, as I do now!