you must believe i meant it all for the best, mrs. ekdal. i daresay you did, but may god forgive you, all the same. oh, i feel as though i want to die. what have i done? mother, you must make him come home to us again. yes, yes. be quiet, hedvig. i'll just go out and see if i can see him. he might be in with relling. you mustn't lie there crying now. promise me. i'll stop as long as daddy comes back. wouldn't it perhaps be better to let him fight his bitter fight to the end? he can do that afterwards. the first thing is to get the child quietened down. do you know what the matter is? why doesn't daddy want me anymore? you mustn't ask that until you've grown up into a big girl. i can't go on feeling awful and miserable until i'm grown up. i know what it is. perhaps i'm not really daddy's at all. how could that be? well, mother could have found me maybe, and now daddy's found out. i've read about things like that. well, but even so, it would-- he could be just as fond of me, even more. after all, the wild duck was sent to us as a present and i