Father. Then you were not reconciled immediately?
Mother (anxiously, in a subdued voice). My goodness, Laura did not say a word about that!
Axel. Because she loved you, and did not want to distress you unnecessarily. But does not her very silence about it show that she was waiting for me? That was her love's first gift to me. (LAURA sits down again.) After a while she gave me others. She saw that I was not angry; on the contrary, she saw that where I had erred, I had erred through my love for her; and she is so loving herself, that little by little she schooled herself to meet me in gentle silence--she longed to be a good wife. And then, one lovely morning--just like to-day--we both had been reading a book which was like a voice from afar, threatening our happiness, and we were driven together by fear. Then, all at once, all the doors and windows flew wide open! It was your letter! The room seemed to glow with warmth--just as it does now with you sitting there; summer went singing through the house--and then I saw in her eyes that all the blossoms were going to unfold their petals! Then I knelt down before her, as I do now, and said: For your parents' sake, that they may be happy about us--for my sake, that I may not be punished any longer--for your own sake, that you may be able again to live as the fulness of your kind heart prompts--let us find one another now! And then Laura answered--(LAURA throws herself into his arms, in a burst of tears. All get up.)
Father. As beautiful as if we were young again ourselves, and had found one another!--How well he told it, too!
Mother. Yes, it was just as if it was all happening before our eyes!
Father. Wasn't it?--He's a very gifted man.
Mother (in a low voice). He will do something big!
Father (in the same tones). Ay, a big man--and one of our family!
Axel (who has advanced towards the foreground with LAURA). So that was your answer, Laura?
Laura. You haven't remembered everything.
Mother. Is there something more? Let us hear some more!
Laura. You know I said that something had held me back a long, long time! I saw well enough that you were fond of me, but I was afraid it was only as you would be fond of a child.
Laura. I am not so clever as--as some others, you know; but I am not a child any longer, because now I love you!