stands before you, just as he did once at the most critical
moment of your life.

Mrs. Alving. And what is it that my priest has to say to me?

Manders. First of all I must stir your memory. The moment is well
chosen. Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of your husband's
death; tomorrow the memorial to the departed will be unveiled;
tomorrow I shall speak to the whole assembly that will be met
together, But today I want to speak to you alone.

Mrs. Alving, Very well, Mr. Manders, speak!

Manders. Have you forgotten that after barely a year of married
life you were standing at the very edge of a precipice?--that you
forsook your house and home? that you ran away from your husband--
yes, Mrs. Alving, ran away, ran away-=and refused to return to
him in spite of his requests and entreaties?

Mrs. Alving. Have you forgotten how unspeakably unhappy I was
during that first year?

Manders. To crave for happiness in this world is simply to be
possessed by a spirit of revolt. What right have we to happiness?
No! we must do our duty, Mrs. Alving. And your duty was to cleave
to the man you had chosen and to whom you were bound by a sacred
bond.

Mrs. Alving. You know quite well what sort of a life my husband
was living at that time--what excesses he was guilty of.