ELLA RENTHEIM.
  I have heard her name. Mrs. Fanny Wilton, is it not——?

MRS. BORKMAN.
  Yes, quite right.

ELLA RENTHEIM. Erhart has mentioned her several times. Does she live out here now?

MRS. BORKMAN. Yes, she has taken a villa here; she moved out from town some time ago.

ELLA RENTHEIM. [With a slight hesitation.] They say she is divorced from her husband.

MRS. BORKMAN.
  Her husband has been dead for several years.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
  Yes, but they were divorced. He got a divorce.

MRS. BORKMAN. He deserted her, that is what he did. I am sure the fault wasn't hers.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
  Do you know her at all intimately, Gunhild?

MRS. BORKMAN. Oh yes, pretty well. She lives close by here; and she looks in every now and then.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
  And do you like her?

MRS. BORKMAN.
  She is unusually intelligent; remarkably clear in her judgments.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
  In her judgments of people, do you mean?

MRS. BORKMAN.
  Yes, principally of people. She has made quite a study of
Erhart; looked deep into his character—into his soul. And
the result is she idolises him, as she could not help doing.

ELLA RENTHEIM. [With a touch of finesse.] Then perhaps she knows Erhart still better than she knows you?

MRS. BORKMAN. Yes, Erhart saw a good deal of her in town, before she came out here.

ELLA RENTHEIM.
  [Without thinking.] And in spite of that she moved out of town?

MRS. BORKMAN.