ASTA. [In subdued anguish.] Yes, Alfred--I am taking flight. ALLMERS. Flight--from me! ASTA. [Whispering.] From you--and from myself. ALLMERS. [Shrinking back.] Ah--! [ASTA rushes down the steps at the back. BORGHEIM waves his hat and follows her. RITA leans against the entrance to the summer-house. ALLMERS goes, in strong inward emotion, up to the railing, and stands there gazing downwards. A pause.] ALLMERS. [Turns, and says with hard-won composure.] There comes the steamer. Look, Rita. RITA. I dare not look at it. ALLMERS. You dare not? RITA. No. For it has a red eye--and a green one, too. Great, glowing eyes. ALLMERS. Oh, those are only the lights, you know. RITA. Henceforth they are eyes--for me. They stare and stare out of the darkness--and into the darkness. ALLMERS. Now she is putting in to shore. RITA. Where are they mooring her this evening, then? ALLMERS. [Coming forward.] At the pier, as usual-- RITA. [Drawing herself up.] How can they moor her there! ALLMERS. They must. RITA. But it was there that Eyolf--! How can they moor her there! ALLMERS. Yes, life is pitiless, Rita. RITA. Men are heartless. They take no thought--whether for the living or for the dead. ALLMERS. There you are right. Life goes its own way--just as if nothing in the world had happened. RITA. [Gazing straight before her.] And nothing has happened, either. Not to others. Only to us two.