ELIS. No. That I did not know about.
LINDKVIST. And to whom do you think?
ELIS. To whom?
LINDKVIST. Why, he is engaged to Miss Alice, and it was made known at a certain recital, where your fiancée helped spread the glad news.
ELIS. Why should it have been such a secret?
LINDKVIST. Haven't two young people the right to keep their hearts' secrets from you?
ELIS. And on account of their happiness I had to suffer this agony!
LINDKVIST. Yes, just as others have suffered for your happiness—your mother, your father, your fiancée, your sister, your friends. Sit down and I'll tell you a little story.
[Elis sits, against his will, through this scene and the following. It is clearing outside.]
LINDKVIST. It's about forty years since I came to this town, as a boy, you understand—alone, unknown, without even one acquaintance, to seek a position. All I owned was one silver dollar. The night that I arrived was a dark, rainy one. As I didn't know of any cheap hotel, I asked the passers-by about one, but no one stopped to answer. Took me for a beggar, most likely. When I was at the height of my despair, a young man came up and asked me why I was crying—evidently I was crying.—I told him my need, and he turned from his course and took me to a hotel, and comforted me with friendly words. As I entered the hotel the glass door of a store next door was thrown open and hit my elbow and was smashed to pieces. The furious owner of the store grabbed me and insisted that I should pay for it, or else he would call the police. Can you imagine my despair? The kindly-intentioned unknown man, who was a witness of the affair, protested, and went to the trouble of calling the police himself, explained, and saved me from a night in the street. This man was your father! So you see, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." And for your father's sake, I have foregone what is owed me. Therefore take this paper and keep your check. [Rises.] And as you find it hard to say thanks, I'll go immediately, and especially as I find it painful to be thanked. [Goes to door back.] Go to your mother as soon as your feet can carry you and relieve her of her worries. [Elis starts to Lindkvist to thank him, but Lindkvist makes a gesture toward R.] Go—