ALLMERS. A child drowned?

ASTA. [Uneasily.] A little boy, they say.

ALLMERS. Oh, they can all swim, every one of them.

RITA. [Shrieks in terror.] Where is Eyolf?

ALLMERS. Keep quiet--quiet. Eyolf is down in the garden, playing.

ASTA. No, he wasn't in the garden.

RITA. [With upstretched arms.] Oh, if only it isn't he!

BORGHEIM. [Listens, and calls down.] Whose child is it, do you say?

[Indistinct voices are heard. BORGHEIM and ASTA utter a suppressed
cry, and rush out through the garden.]

ALLMERS. [In an agony of dread.] It isn't Eyolf! It isn't Eyolf,
Rita!

RITA. [On the verandah, listening.] Hush! Be quiet! Let me hear
what they are saying!

[RITA rushes back with a piercing shriek, into the room.]

ALLMERS. [Following her.] What did they say?

RITA. [Sinking down beside the armchair on the left.] They said: