Mrs. Elvsted.
My marriage?
Hedda.
Yes.
Mrs. Elvsted.
Five years ago.
Hedda.
To be sure; it must be that.
Mrs. Elvsted.
Oh those five years! Or at all events the last two or three of them! Oh, if you[1] could only imagine
Hedda.
[Giving her a little slap on the hand.] De? Fie, Thea!
Mrs. Elvsted.
Yes, yes, I will try Well, if—you could only imagine and understand
Hedda.
[Lightly.] Eilert Lövborg has been in your neighbourhood about three years, hasn't he?
Mrs. Elvsted.
[Looks at her doubtfully.] Eilert Lövborg? Yes—he has.
Hedda.
Had you known him before, in town here?
Mrs. Elvsted.
Scarcely at all. I mean—I knew him by name of course.
1 Mrs. Elvsted here uses the formal pronoun De, whereupon Hedda rebukes her. In her next speech Mrs. Elvsted says du.
