Act 1, Part 2 Summary

When Tesman returns from seeing Aunt Julle to the door, Hedda promises to try to be nicer to her. Tesman asks Hedda if there's something else wrong, and she tells him she's uncomfortable about her piano. She thinks that it doesn't fit with the new furniture. She also says she's confused about a bouquet of flowers that had arrived with a card signed by "Mrs Elvsted," a woman Hedda had known at school but hadn't seen much lately. Hedda and Tesman discuss how Mrs. Elvsted can live "up there" in a small distant town, and how Ejlert Lovborg moved there.

Just then, Mrs. Elvsted arrives. She seems tense and excitable. She explains to Tesman and Hedda that she's come to tell them that Lovborg is in town, and that he's published a new book. She also asks them to keep an...