them. Very well, I thought, you must be saved--and that was how
I came to devise a way out of the difficulty--

Mrs. Linde. And did your husband never get to know from your
father that the money had not come from him?

Nora. No, never. Papa died just at that time. I had meant to let
him into the secret and beg him never to reveal it. But he was so
ill then--alas, there never was any need to tell him.

Mrs. Linde. And since then have you never told your secret to
your husband?

Nora. Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has
such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painful
and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly
independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset
our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would
no longer be what it is now.

Mrs. Linde. Do you mean never to tell him about it?

Nora (meditatively, and with a half smile). Yes--someday,
perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as
I am now. Don't laugh at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is
no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and
dressing-up and reciting have palled on him; then it may be a
good thing to have something in reserve--(Breaking off.) What
nonsense! That time will never come. Now, what do you think of my
great secret, Christine? Do you still think I am of no use? I can