[OLAF comes from the forest to the left. Immediately afterwards INGEBORG from the right.]

OLAF. [Looks about and calls softly.] Alfhild! Alfhild! She is nowhere to be seen! Like a bird she disappeared from my view into the wood and I—

INGEBORG. They are right close and—

[Stops, frightened.]

INGEBORG. Olaf Liljekrans!

OLAF. Ingeborg!

HEMMING. [Sticks his head out of the door and spies OLAF.] Lord Olaf! So! Now is it surely all up with me!

[Withdraws hastily.]

INGEBORG. [Aside.] He must have ridden in advance of the rest.

OLAF. [Aside.] She must have come up here with her father to look for me.

INGEBORG. [Aside.] But I will not go with him!

OLAF. [Aside.] I will not stir from here!

INGEBORG. [Aloud, as she draws nearer.] Olaf Liljekrans! Now you have me; but you will do ill if you try to compel me.

OLAF. That is furthest from my mind!

INGEBORG. Why then come you here in company with my kinsmen?

OLAF. Do I? On the contrary, it is you who—

INGEBORG. That invention won't fool me; only a moment ago I saw the whole crowd—

OLAF. Who? Who?

INGEBORG. My father and our relatives!

OLAF. Up here?

INGEBORG. Why, yes, right close at hand!

OLAF. Ah, then is my mother with them.

INGEBORG. Of course, she is with them. But how can that frighten you?

OLAF. You see,—it is I they seek!

INGEBORG. No, it is I!

OLAF. [Astonished.] You!

INGEBORG. [Begins to grasp the connection.] Or—wait a moment—Ha, ha, ha! What an idea! Come, shall we two be honest with each other?

OLAF. Yes, that is exactly what I had in mind!

INGEBORG. Well, then, tell me, at what hour came you up here?

OLAF. During the night!

INGEBORG. I, too!

OLAF. You!

INGEBORG. Yes, yes! And you went away without any one's knowing it?

OLAF. Yes!

INGEBORG. I, too!

OLAF. But tell me—

INGEBORG. Hush, we have only a moment or two! And you fled up here because you had but little desire to go to the altar with me?

OLAF. Aye, how can you think—

INGEBORG. Yes, that I can easily think. Answer me now; we were to speak honestly.

OLAF. Well, then, it was therefore that I—

INGEBORG. Well and good, I did likewise!

OLAF. You, Ingeborg!

INGEBORG. And now you would rather not have any one come upon your tracks?

OLAF. Well, it can't be denied!

INGEBORG. I, too! Aha,—'tis a jolly coincidence; I fled from you, and you from me! We both fled up here, and now just as our relatives are after us we meet again! Listen, Olaf Liljekrans! Say we promise not to betray one another!

OLAF. I promise.

INGEBORG. But now we must part!

OLAF. I understand!

INGEBORG. For, if they found us together, then—

OLAF. Yes, then it would be still more difficult for you to be rid of me!

INGEBORG. Farewell! If ever I come to have a wedding you shall be my bride's man.

OLAF. And if anything like that should happen to me, you will, I am sure, accommodate me in the same way.

INGEBORG. Of course! Farewell! Farewell! And do not think unkindly of me.

OLAF. Indeed not; I shall give you my hand wherever we meet!

INGEBORG. I, too! Wherever we meet—only not at the altar.

[She goes into the house. OLAF goes into the forest on the right at the back.]