RANNVEIG. One does not hear the footstep of vengeance. It came to
them unexpectedly.

KRISTRUN. How I wish my whole fate were held in this ball.

RANNVEIG. What would you do if it were?

KRISTRUN. I would lay it gently in the hand of the man I loved,
saying: Take it to a safe place!--and I would shut my eyes--while
he were searching for the place.

RANNVEIG. If my sister were here, perhaps she could read your fate
in the ball, both the past and the future ... Who knows, but the
whole Universe may be mirrored in this one glass globe.

KRISTRUN. That's your favorite superstition. [Smiling
surreptitiously.] Tell me, Veiga--haven't you a life-egg? [Turns
abruptly from her, throwing the ball to Hadda.]

RANNVEIG [evasively]. I had one once. ...

KRISTRUN [catching the ball]. Then you haven't it any more?

RANNVEIG. No.

KRISTRUN. And you are still alive?

RANNVEIG. He who lived once in happiness dies twice. [Sees the
sisters throw the ball faster and faster.] Don't throw the ball so
carelessly.