JEAN. Don't step down, Miss Julie. Listen to me--no one would
believe that you stepped down of your own accord; people always say
that one falls down.

JULIE. I think better of the people than you do. Come--and try
them--come!

[Dares him with a look.]

JEAN. Do you know that you are wonderful?

JULIE. Perhaps. But you are too. Everything is wonderful for that
matter. Life, people--everything. Everything is wreckage, that
drifts over the water until it sinks, sinks. I have the same dream
every now and then and at this moment I am reminded of it. I find
myself seated at the top of a high pillar and I see no possible way
to get down. I grow dizzy when I look down, but down I must. But
I'm not brave enough to throw myself; I cannot hold fast and I long
to fall--but I don't fall. And yet I can find no rest or peace
until I shall come down to earth; and if I came down to earth I
would wish myself down in the ground. Have you ever felt like that?

JEAN. No, I dream that I'm lying in a dark wood under a tall tree
and I would up--up to the top, where I can look far over the fair
landscape, where the sun is shining. I climb--climb, to plunder the
birds' nests up there where the golden eggs lie, but the tree trunk
is so thick, so smooth, and the first limb is so high! But I know
if I reached the first limb I should climb as though on a ladder,
to the top. I haven't reached it yet, but I shall reach it, if only