he want down here in my room? ELLA RENTHEIM. He wants to come to an understanding with you, Gunhild. MRS. BORKMAN. He has never tried that before. ELLA RENTHEIM. He is going to, this evening. MRS. BORKMAN. The last time we stood face to face--it was in the Court, when I was summoned to give an account---- BORKMAN. [Approaching.] And this evening it is _I_ who will give an account of myself. MRS. BORKMAN. [Looking at him.] You? BORKMAN. Not of what I have done amiss. All the world knows that. MRS. BORKMAN. [With a bitter sigh.] Yes, that is true; all the world knows that. BORKMAN. But it does not know why I did it; why I had to do it. People do not understand that I had to, because I was myself--because I was John Gabriel Borkman--myself, and not another. And that is what I will try to explain to you. MRS. BORKMAN. [Shaking her head.] It is of no use. Temptations and promptings acquit no one. BORKMAN. They may acquit one in one's own eyes. MRS. BORKMAN. [With a gesture of repulsion.] Oh, let all that alone! I have thought over that black business of yours enough and to spare. BORKMAN. I too. During those five endless years in my cell--and elsewhere --I had time to think it over. And during the eight years up there in the gallery I have had still more ample time. I have re-tried the whole case--by myself. Time after time I have re-tried it. I