HEL. Nora—can I never be anything more than a stranger to you?

NORA [taking her bag]. Ah, Torvald, the most wonderful thing of all would have to happen.

HEL. Tell me what that would be!

NORA. Both you and I would have to be so changed that— Oh, Torvald, I don’t believe any longer in wonderful things happening.

HEL. But I will believe in it. Tell me. So changed that—

NORA. That our life together would be a real wedlock. Good-by. [She goes out through the hall.]

HEL. [sinks down on a chair at the door and buries his face in his hands]. Nora! Nora! [Looks round and rises.] Empty! She is gone. [A hope flashes across his mind.] The most wonderful thing of all—?

[The sound of a door shutting is heard from below.]