KAIA.

[Listening.] Hush! I hear him on the stairs.
[All three go back to their work. A short silence.


HALVARD SOLNESS comes in through the hall door. He is a man no
longer young, but healthy and vigorous, with close-cut curly
hair, dark moustache and dark thick eyebrows. He wears a
greyish-green buttoned jacket with an upstanding collar and
broad lappels. On his head he wears a soft grey felt hat,
and he has one or two light portfolios under his arm.


SOLNESS.

[Near the door, points towards the draughtsmen's office, and asks in
a whisper:] Are they gone?


KAIA.

[Softly, shaking her] No.
[She takes the shade off her eyes. SOLNESS crosses the room,
throws his hat on a chair, places the portfolios on the table
by the sofa, and approaches the desk again. KAIA goes on
writing without intermission, but seems nervous and uneasy.