Mrs. Elvsted.
[With a little nervous twitch.] Did I? Yes, I suppose I did. [Vehemently, but not loudly.] No—I may just as well make a clean breast of it at once! For it must all come out in any case.
Hedda.
Why, my dear Thea?
Mrs. Elvsted.
Well, to make a long story short: My husband did not know that I was coming.
Hedda.
What! Your husband didn't know it!
Mrs. Elvsted.
No, of course not. For that matter, he was away from home himself—he was travelling. Oh, I could bear it no longer, Hedda! I couldn't indeed—so utterly alone as I should have been in future.
Hedda.
Well? And then?
Mrs. Elvsted.
So I put together some of my things—what I needed most—as quietly as possible. And then I left the house.
Hedda.
Without a word?
Mrs. Elvsted.
Yes—and took the train straight to town.
