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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of When We Dead Awaken, by Henrik Ibsen
+#10 in our series by Henrik Ibsen
+
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+
+Title: When We Dead Awaken
+
+Author: Henrik Ibsen
+
+Release Date: December, 2003 [EBook #4782]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on March 24, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sonia K.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN
+
+By Henrik Ibsen.
+
+
+Introduction and translation by William Archer.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+From _Pillars of Society_ to _John Gabriel Borkman_, Ibsen’s plays had
+followed each other at regular intervals of two years, save when his
+indignation over the abuse heaped upon _Ghosts_ reduced to a single
+year the interval between that play and _An Enemy of the People_.
+_John Gabriel Borkman_ having appeared in 1896, its successor was
+expected in 1898; but Christmas came and brought no rumour of a new
+play. In a man now over seventy, this breach of a long-established
+habit seemed ominous.  The new National Theatre in Christiania was
+opened in September of the following year; and when I then met Ibsen
+(for the last time) he told me that he was actually at work on a new
+play, which he thought of calling a "Dramatic Epilogue."  "He wrote
+_When We Dead Awaken_," says Dr. Elias, "with such labour and such
+passionate agitation, so spasmodically and so feverishly, that those
+around him were almost alarmed.  He must get on with it, he must get
+on!  He seemed to hear the beating of dark pinions over his head.  He
+seemed to feel the grim Visitant, who had accompanied Alfred Allmers
+on the mountain paths, already standing behind him with uplifted hand.
+His relatives are firmly convinced that he knew quite clearly that this
+would be his last play, that he was to write no more.  And soon the
+blow fell."
+
+_When We Dead Awaken_ was published very shortly before Christmas 1899.
+He had still a year of comparative health before him.  We find him in
+March 1900, writing to Count Prozor: "I cannot say yet whether or not
+I shall write another drama; but if I continue to retain the vigour of
+body and mind which I at present enjoy, I do not imagine that I shall
+be able to keep permanently away from the old battlefields.  However,
+if I were to make my appearance again, it would be with new weapons
+and in new armour."  Was he hinting at the desire, which he had long
+ago confessed to Professor Herford, that his last work should be a
+drama in verse?  Whatever his dream, it was not to be realised.  His
+last letter (defending his attitude of philosophic impartiality with
+regard to the South African war) is dated December 9, 1900.  With the
+dawn of the new century, the curtain descended upon the mind of the
+great dramatic poet of the age which had passed away.
+
+_When We Dead Awaken_ was acted during 1900 at most of the leading
+theatres in Scandinavia and Germany.  In some German cities (notably
+in Frankfort on Main) it even attained a considerable number of
+representatives.  I cannot learn, however, that it has anywhere held
+the stage.  It was produced in London, by the State Society, at the
+Imperial Theatre, on January 25 and 26, 1903.  Mr. G. S. Titheradge
+played Rubek, Miss Henrietta Watson Irene, Miss Mabel Hackney Maia,
+and Mr. Laurence Irving Ulfheim.  I find no record of any American
+performance.
+
+In the above-mentioned letter to Count Prozor, Ibsen confirmed that
+critic's conjecture that "the series which ends with the Epilogue
+really began with _The Master Builder."  As the last confession, so
+to speak, of a great artist, the Epilogue will always be read with
+interest.  It contains, moreover, many flashes of the old genius, many
+strokes of the old incommunicable magic.  One may say with perfect
+sincerity that there is more fascination in the dregs of Ibsen's mind
+than in the "first sprightly running" of more common-place talents.
+But to his sane admirers the interest of the play must always be
+melancholy, because it is purely pathological.  To deny this is, in
+my opinion, to cast a slur over all the poet's previous work, and in
+great measure to justify the criticisms of his most violent detractors.
+For _When We Dead Awaken_ is very like the sort of play that haunted
+the "anti-Ibsenite" imagination in the year 1893 or thereabouts.  It
+is a piece of self-caricature, a series of echoes from all the earlier
+plays, an exaggeration of manner to the pitch of mannerism.  Moreover,
+in his treatment of his symbolic motives, Ibsen did exactly what he
+had hitherto, with perfect justice, plumed himself upon never doing:
+he sacrificed the surface reality to the underlying meaning.  Take,
+for instance, the history of Rubek's statue and its development
+into a group.  In actual sculpture this development is a grotesque
+impossibility.  In conceiving it we are deserting the domain of
+reality, and plunging into some fourth dimension where the properties
+of matter are other than those we know.  This is an abandonment of the
+fundamental principle which Ibsen over and over again emphatically
+expressed--namely, that any symbolism his work might be found to
+contain was entirely incidental, and subordinate to the truth and
+consistency of his picture of life.  Even when he dallied with the
+supernatural, as in _The Master Builder_ and _Little Eyolf_, he was
+always careful, as I have tried to show, not to overstep decisively
+the boundaries of the natural.  Here, on the other hand, without any
+suggestion of the supernatural, we are confronted with the wholly
+impossible, the inconceivable.  How remote is this alike from his
+principles of art and from the consistent, unvarying practice of his
+better years!  So great is the chasm between _John Gabriel Borkman_
+and _When We Dead Awaken_ that one could almost suppose his mental
+breakdown to have preceded instead of followed the writing of the
+latter play.  Certainly it is one of the premonitions of the coming
+end.  It is Ibsen's _Count Robert of Paris_.  To pretend to rank it
+with his masterpieces is to show a very imperfect sense of the nature
+of their mastery.
+
+
+
+
+WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN.
+
+A DRAMATIC EPILOGUE.
+
+
+
+CHARACTERS.
+
+
+PROFESSOR ARNOLD RUBEK, a sculptor.
+MRS. MAIA RUBEK, his wife.
+THE INSPECTOR at the Baths.
+ULFHEIM, a landed proprietor.
+A STRANGER LADY.
+A SISTER OF MERCY.
+
+      Servants, Visitors to the Baths, and Children.
+
+
+  The First Act passes at a bathing establishment on the
+         coast; the Second and Third Acts in the
+          neighbourhood of a health resort, high
+                    in the mountains.
+
+
+
+
+ACT FIRST.
+
+
+[Outside the Bath Hotel.  A portion of the main building can be seen
+   to the right.  An open, park-like place with a fountain, groups
+   of fine old trees, and shrubbery.  To the left, a little pavilion
+   almost covered with ivy and Virginia creeper.  A table and chair
+   outside it.  At the back a view over the fjord, right out to sea,
+   with headlands and small islands in the distance.  It is a calm,
+   warm and sunny summer morning.
+
+[PROFESSOR RUBEK and MRS. MAIA RUBEK are sitting in basket chairs
+   beside a covered table on the lawn outside the hotel, having just
+   breakfasted.  They have champagne and seltzer water on the table,
+   and each has a newspaper.  PROFESSOR RUBEK is an elderly man of
+   distinguished appearance, wearing a black velvet jacket, and
+   otherwise in light summer attire.  MAIA is quite young, with
+   a vivacious expression and lively, mocking eyes, yet with a
+   suggestion of fatigue.  She wears an elegant travelling dress.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Sits for some time as though waiting for the PROFESSOR to say
+something, then lets her paper drop with a deep sigh.]  Oh dear, dear,
+dear---!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks up from his paper.]  Well, Maia?  What is the matter with you?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Just listen how silent it is here.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Smiles indulgently.]  And you can hear that?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+What?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+The silence?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, indeed I can.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well, perhaps you are right, _mein Kind_.  One can really hear the
+silence.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Heaven knows you can--when it's so absolutely overpowering as it is
+here---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Here at the Baths, you mean?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Wherever you go at home here, it seems to me.  Of course there was
+noise and bustle enough in the town.  But I don't know how it is--
+even the noise and bustle seemed to have something dead about it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With a searching glance.]  You don't seem particularly glad to be at
+home again, Maia?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looks at him.]  Are you glad?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Evasively.]  I---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, you, who have been so much, much further away than I.  Are you
+entirely happy, now that you are at home again?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+No--to be quite candid--perhaps not entirely happy---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With animation.]  There, you see!  Didn't I know it!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I have been too long abroad.  I have drifted quite away from all this
+--this home life.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Eagerly, drawing her chair nearer him.]  There, you see, Rubek!  We
+had much better get away again!  As quickly as ever we can.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Somewhat impatiently.]  Well, well, that is what we intend to do, my
+dear Maia.  You know that.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+But why not now--at once?  Only think how cozy and comfortable we
+could be down there, in our lovely new house---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Smiles indulgently.]  We ought by rights to say: our lovely new home.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Shortly.]  I prefer to say house--let us keep to that.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[His eyes dwelling on her.]  You are really a strange little person.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Am I so strange?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, I think so.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+But why, pray?  Perhaps because I'm not desperately in love with
+mooning about up here---?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Which of us was it that was absolutely bent on our coming north
+this summer?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+I admit, it was I.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+It was certainly not I, at any rate.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+But good heavens, who could have dreamt that everything would have
+altered so terribly at home here?  And in so short a time, too!  Why,
+it is only just four years since I went away---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Since you were married, yes.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Married?  What has that to do with the matter?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Continuing.]  --since you became the Frau Professor, and found
+yourself mistress of a charming home--I beg your pardon--a very
+handsome house, I ought to say.  And a villa on the Lake of Taunitz,
+just at the point that has become most fashionable, too--.  In fact
+it is all very handsome and distinguished, Maia, there's no denying
+that.  And spacious too.  We need not always be getting in each
+other's way---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Lightly.]  No, no, no--there's certainly no lack of house-room, and
+that sort of thing---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Remember, too, that you have been living in altogether more spacious
+and distinguished surroundings--in more polished society than you were
+accustomed to at home.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looking at him.]  Ah, so you think it is _I_ that have changed?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Indeed I do, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+I alone?  Not the people here?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh yes, they too--a little, perhaps.  And not at all in the direction
+of amiability.  That I readily admit.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+I should think you must admit it, indeed.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Changing the subject.]  Do you know how it affects me when I look at
+the life of the people around us here?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+No.  Tell me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+It makes me think of that night we spent in the train, when we were
+coming up here---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Why, you were sound asleep all the time.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Not quite.  I noticed how silent it became at all the little roadside
+stations.  I heard the silence--like you, Maia---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+H'm,--like me, yes.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+--and that assured me that we had crossed the frontier--that we were
+really at home.  For the train stopped at all the little stations--
+although there was nothing doing at all.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Then why did it stop--though there was nothing to be done?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Can't say.  No one got out or in; but all the same the train stopped a
+long, endless time.  And at every station I could make out that there
+were two railway men walking up and down the platform--one with a
+lantern in his hand--and they said things to each other in the night,
+low, and toneless, and meaningless.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, that is quite true.  There are always two men walking up and down,
+and talking---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+--of nothing.  [Changing to a livelier tone.]  But just wait till to-
+morrow.  Then we shall have the great luxurious steamer lying in
+the harbour.  We'll go on board her, and sail all round the coast--
+northward ho!--right to the polar sea.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, but then you will see nothing of the country--and of the people.
+And that was what you particularly wanted.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shortly and snappishly.]  I have seen more than enough.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Do you think a sea voyage will be better for you?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+It is always a change.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Well, well, if only it is the right thing for you---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+For me?  The right thing?  There is nothing in the world the matter
+with me.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Rises and goes to him.]  Yes, there is, Rubek.  I am sure you must
+feel it yourself.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Why my dearest Maia--what should be amiss with me?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Behind him, bending over the back of his chair.]  That you must tell
+me.  You have begun to wander about without a moment's peace.  You
+cannot rest anywhere--neither at home nor abroad.  You have become
+quite misanthropic of late.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With a touch of sarcasm.]  Dear me--have you noticed that?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+No one that knows you can help noticing it.  And then it seems to me
+so sad that you have lost all pleasure in your work.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+That too, eh?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+You that used to be so indefatigable--working from morning to night!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Gloomily.]  Used to be, yes---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+But ever since you got your great masterpiece out of hand---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nods thoughtfully.]  "The Resurrection Day"---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+--the masterpiece that has gone round the whole world, and made you
+so famous---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Perhaps that is just the misfortune, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+How so?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+When I had finished this masterpiece of mine--[Makes a passionate
+movement with his hand]--for "The Resurrection Day" is a masterpiece!
+Or was one in the beginning.  No, it is one still.  It must, must,
+must be a masterpiece!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looks at him in astonishment.]  Why, Rubek--all the world knows that.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Short, repellently.]  All the world knows nothing!  Understands
+nothing!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Well, at any rate it can divine something---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Something that isn't there at all, yes.  Something that never was in
+my mind.  Ah yes, that they can all go into ecstasies over!  [Growling
+to himself.]  What is the good of working oneself to death for the mob
+and the masses--for "all the world"!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Do you think it is better, then--do you think it is worthy of you, to
+do nothing at all but portrait-bust now and then?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With a sly smile.]  They are not exactly portrait-busts that I turn
+out, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, indeed they are--for the last two or three years--ever since you
+finished your great group and got it out of the house---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+All the same, they are no mere portrait-busts, I assure you.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+What are they, then?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+There is something equivocal, something cryptic, lurking in and behind
+these busts--a secret something, that the people themselves cannot
+see---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Indeed?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Decisively.]  I alone can see it.  And it amuses me unspeakably.--On
+the surface I give them the "striking likeness," as they call it, that
+they all stand and gape at in astonishment--[Lowers his voice]--but
+at bottom they are all respectable, pompous horse-faces, and self-
+opinionated donkey-muzzles, and lop-eared, low-browed dog-skulls, and
+fatted swine-snouts--and sometimes dull, brutal bull-fronts as well---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Indifferently.]  All the dear domestic animals, in fact.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Simply the dear domestic animals, Maia.  All the animals which men have
+bedevilled in their own image--and which have bedevilled men in return.
+[Empties his champagne-glass and laughs.]  And it is these double-faced
+works of art that our excellent plutocrats come and order of me.  And
+pay for in all good faith--and in good round figures too--almost their
+weight in gold, as the saying goes.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Fills his glass.]  Come, Rubek!   Drink and be happy.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Passes his hand several times across his forehead and leans back
+in his chair.]  I am happy, Maia.  Really happy--in a way.  [Short
+silence.]  For after all there is a certain happiness in feeling
+oneself free and independent on every hand--in having at ones command
+everything one can possibly wish for--all outward things, that is to
+say.  Do you not agree with me, Maia?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh yes, I agree.  All that is well enough in its way.  [Looking at
+him.]  But do you remember what you promised me the day we came to
+an understanding on--on that troublesome point---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nods.] --on the subject of our marriage, yes.  It was no easy matter
+for you, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Continuing unruffled.]  --and agreed that I was to go abroad with
+you, and live there for good and all--and enjoy myself.--Do you
+remember what you promised me that day?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shaking his head.]  No, I can't say that I do.  Well, what did I
+promise?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+You said you would take me up to a high mountain and show me all the
+glory of the world.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With a slight start.]  Did I promise you that, too?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Me too?  Who else, pray?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Indifferently.]  No, no, I only meant did I promise to show you---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+--all the glory of the world?  Yes, you did.  And all that glory should
+be mine, you said.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+That is sort of figure of speech that I was in the habit of using once
+upon a time.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Only a figure of speech?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, a schoolboy phrase--the sort of thing I used to say when I wanted
+to lure the neighbours' children out to play with me, in the woods and
+on the mountains.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looking hard at him.]  Perhaps you only wanted to lure me out to play,
+as well?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Passing it off as a jest.]  Well, has it not been a tolerable amusing
+game, Maia?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Coldly.]  I did not go with you only to play.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+No, no, I daresay not.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+And you never took me up with you to any high mountain, or showed me---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With irritation.]  --all the glory of the world?  No, I did not.  For,
+let me tell you something: you are not really born to be a mountain-
+climber, little Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Trying to control herself.]  Yet at one time you seemed to think
+I was.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Four or five years ago, yes.  [Stretching himself in his chair.]  Four
+or five years--it's a long, long time, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looking at him with a bitter expression.]  Has the time seemed so
+very long to you, Rubek?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I am beginning now to find it a trifle long.  [Yawning.]  Now and
+then, you know.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Returning to her place.]  I shall not bore you any longer.
+
+    [She resumes her seat, takes up the newspaper, and begins turning
+       over the leaves.  Silence on both sides.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Leaning on his elbows across the table, and looking at her teasingly.]
+Is the Frau Professor offended?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Coldly, without looking up.]  No, not at all.
+
+    [Visitors to the baths, most of them ladies, begin to pass,
+       singly and in groups, through the park from the right, and
+       out to the left.
+
+    [Waiters bring refreshments from the hotel, and go off behind
+       the pavilion.
+
+    [The INSPECTOR, wearing gloves and carrying a stick, comes from
+       his rounds in the park, meets visitors, bows politely, and
+       exchanges a few words with some of them.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Advancing to PROFESSOR RUBEK's table and politely taking off his hat.]
+I have the honour to wish you good morning, Mrs. Rubek.--Good morning,
+Professor Rubek.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Good morning, good morning Inspector.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Addressing himself to MRS. RUBEK.]  May I venture to ask if you have
+slept well?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, thank you; excellently--for my part.  I always sleep like a stone.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+I am delighted to hear it.  The first night in a strange place is often
+rather trying.--And the Professor---?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh, my night's rest is never much to boast of--especially of late.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[With a show of sympathy.]  Oh--that is a pity.  But after a few weeks'
+stay at the Baths--you will quite get over that.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looking up at him.]  Tell me, Inspector--are any of your patients in
+the habit of taking baths during the night?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Astonished.]  During the night?  No, I have never heard of such
+a thing.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Have you not?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+No, I don't know of any one so ill as to require such treatment.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well, at any rate there is some one who is in the habit of walking
+about the park by night?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Smiling and shaking his head.]  No, Professor--that would be against
+the rules.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Impatiently.]  Good Heavens, Rubek, I told you so this morning--you
+must have dreamt it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Drily.]  Indeed?  Must I?  Thank you!  [Turning to the INSPECTOR.]
+The fact is, I got up last night--I couldn't sleep--and I wanted to
+see what sort of night it was---
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Attentively.]  To be sure--and then---?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I looked out at the window--and caught sight of a white figure in
+there among the trees.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Smiling to the INSPECTOR.]  And the Professor declares that the
+figure was dressed in a bathing costume---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+--or something like it, I said.  Couldn't distinguish very clearly.
+But I am sure it was something white.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Most remarkable.  Was it a gentleman or a lady?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I could almost have sworn it was a lady.  But then after it came another
+figure.  And that one was quite dark--like a shadow---.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Starting.]  A dark one?  Quite black, perhaps?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, I should almost have said so.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[A light breaking in upon him.]  And behind the white figure?  Following
+close upon her---?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes--at a little distance---
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Aha!  Then I think I can explain the mystery, Professor.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well, what was it then?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Simultaneously.]  Was the professor really not dreaming?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Suddenly whispering, as he directs their attention towards the
+background on the right.]  Hush, if you please!  Look there--don't
+speak loud for a moment.
+
+    [A slender lady, dressed in fine, cream-white cashmere, and
+       followed by a SISTER OF MERCY in black, with a silver cross
+       hanging by a chain on her breast, comes forward from behind
+       the hotel and crosses the park towards the pavilion in front
+       on the left.  Her face is pale, and its lines seem to have
+       stiffened; the eyelids are drooped and the eyes appear as
+       though they saw nothing.  Her dress comes down to her feet
+       and clings to the body in perpendicular folds.  Over her head,
+       neck, breast, shoulders and arms she wears a large shawl of
+       white crape.  She keeps her arms crossed upon her breast.
+       She carries her body immovably, and her steps are stiff and
+       measured.  The SISTER's bearing is also measured, and she has
+       the air of a servant.  She keeps her brown piercing eyes
+       incessantly fixed upon the lady.  WAITERS, with napkins on
+       their arms, come forward in the hotel doorway, and cast
+       curious glances at the strangers, who take no notice of
+       anything, and, without looking round, enter the pavilion.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Has risen slowly and involuntarily, and stands staring at the closed
+door of the pavilion.]  Who was that lady?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+She is a stranger who has rented the little pavilion there.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+A foreigner?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Presumably.  At any rate they both came from abroad--about a week ago.
+They have never been here before.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Decidedly; looking at him.]  It was she I saw in the park last night.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+No doubt it must have been.  I thought so from the first.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+What is this lady's name, Inspector?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+She has registered herself as "Madame de Satow, with companion."  We
+know nothing more.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Reflecting.]  Satow?  Satow---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+[Laughing mockingly.]  Do you know any one of that name, Rubek?  Eh?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shaking his head.]  No, no one.--Satow?  It sounds Russian--or in all
+events Slavonic.  [To the INSPECTOR.]  What language does she speak?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+When the two ladies talk to each other, it is in a language I cannot
+make out at all.  But at other times she speaks Norwegian like a
+native.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Exclaims with a start.]  Norwegian?  You are sure you are not
+mistaken?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+No, how could I be mistaken in that?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks at him with eager interest.]  You have heard her yourself?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Yes.  I myself have spoken to her--several times.--Only a few words,
+however; she is far from communicative.  But---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But Norwegian it was?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Thoroughly good Norwegian--perhaps with a little north-country accent.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Gazing straight before him in amazement, whispers.]  That too?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[A little hurt and jarred.]  Perhaps this lady has been one of your
+models, Rubek?  Search your memory.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks cuttingly at her.]  My models?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With a provoking smile.]  In your younger days, I mean.  You are said
+to have had innumerable models--long ago, of course.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[In the same tone.]  Oh no, little Frau Maia.  I have in reality had
+only one single model.  One and only one--for everything I have done.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Who has turned away and stands looking out to the left.]  If you'll
+excuse me, I think I will take my leave.  I see some one coming whom
+it is not particularly agreeable to meet.  Especially in the presence
+of ladies.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looking in the same direction.]  That sportsman there?  Who is it?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+It is a certain Mr. Ulfheim, from---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh, Mr. Ulfheim---
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+--the bear-killer, as they call him---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I know him.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Who does not know him?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Very slightly, however.  Is he on your list of patients--at last?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+No, strangely enough--not as yet.  He comes here only once a year--on
+his way up to his hunting-grounds.--Excuse me for the moment---
+
+    [Makes a movement to go into the hotel.
+
+
+ULFHEIM's VOICE.
+
+[Heard outside.]  Stop a moment, man!  Devil take it all, can't you
+stop?  Why do you always scuttle away from me?
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Stops.]  I am not scuttling at all, Mr. Ulfheim.
+
+    [ULFHEIM enters from the left followed by a servant with a
+       couple of sporting dogs in leash.  ULFHEIM is in shooting
+       costume, with high boots and a felt hat with a feather in
+       it.  He is a long, lank, sinewy personage, with matted hair
+       and beard, and a loud voice.  His appearance gives no precise
+       clue to his age, but he is no longer young.]
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Pounces upon the INSPECTOR.]  Is this a way to receive strangers,
+hey?  You scamper away with your tail between your legs--as if you
+had the devil at your heels.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Calmly, without answering him.]  Has Mr. Ulfheim arrived by the
+steamer?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Growls.]  Haven't had the honour of seeing any steamer.  [With his arms
+akimbo.]  Don't you know that I sail my own cutter?  [To the SERVANT.]
+Look well after your fellow-creatures, Lars.  But take care you keep
+them ravenous, all the same.  Fresh meat-bones--but not too much meat
+on them, do you hear?  And be sure it's reeking raw, and bloody.  And
+get something in your own belly while you're about it. [Aiming a kick
+at him.]  Now then, go to hell with you!
+
+    [The SERVANT goes out with the dogs, behind the corner of the
+       hotel.]
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Would not Mr. Ulfheim like to go into the dining-room in the meantime?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+In among all the half-dead flies and people?  No, thank you a thousand
+times, Mr. Inspector.
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+Well, well, as you please.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+But get the housekeeper to prepare a hamper for me as usual.  There
+must be plenty of provender in it--and lots of brandy--!  You can
+tell her that I or Lars will come and play Old Harry with her if
+she doesn't---
+
+
+THE INSPECTOR.
+
+[Interrupting.]  We know your ways of old.  [Turning.]  Can I give
+the waiter any orders, Professor?  Can I send Mrs. Rubek anything?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+No thank you; nothing for me.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Nor for me.
+
+    [The INSPECTOR goes into the hotel.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Stares at them for a moment; then lifts his hat.]  Why, blast me
+if here isn't a country tyke that has strayed into regular tip-top
+society.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looking up.]  What do you mean by that, Mr. Ulfheim?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+
+[More quietly and politely.]  I believe I have the honour of addressing
+no less a person than the great Sculptor Rubek.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nods.]  I remember meeting you once or twice--the autumn when I was
+last at home.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+That's many years ago, now.  And then you weren't so illustrious as I
+hear you've since become.  At that time even a dirty bear-hunter might
+venture to come near you.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Smiling.]  I don't bite even now.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looks with interest at ULFHEIM.]  Are you really and truly a bear-
+hunter?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Seating himself at the next table, nearer the hotel.]  A bear-hunter
+when I have the chance, madam.  But I make the best of any sort of
+game that comes in my way--eagles, and wolves, and women, and elks,
+and reindeer--if only it's fresh and juicy and has plenty of blood
+in it.
+
+    [Drinks from his pocket-flask.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Regarding him fixedly.]  But you like bear-hunting best?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+I like it best, yes.  For then one can have the knife handy at a pinch.
+[With a slight smile.]  We both work in a hard material, madam--both
+your husband and I.  He struggles with his marble blocks, I daresay;
+and I struggle with tense and quivering bear-sinews.  And we both
+of us win the fight in the end--subdue and master our material.  We
+never rest till we've got the upper hand of it, though it fight never
+so hard.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Deep in thought.]  There's a great deal of truth in what you say.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Yes, for I take it the stone has something to fight for too.  It is
+dead, and determined by no manner of means to let itself be hammered
+into life.  Just like the bear when you come and prod him up in his
+lair.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Are you going up into the forests now to hunt?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+I am going right up into the high mountain.--I suppose you have never
+been in the high mountain, madam?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+No, never.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Confound it all then, you must be sure and come up there this very
+summer!  I'll take you with me--both you and the Professor, with
+pleasure.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Thanks.  But Rubek is thinking of taking a sea trip this summer.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Round the coast--through the island channels.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Ugh--what the devil would you do in those damnable sickly gutters--
+floundering about in the brackish ditchwater?  Dishwater I should
+rather call it.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+There, you hear, Rubek!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+No, much better come up with me to the mountain--away, clean away,
+from the trail and taint of men.  You cant' think what that means
+for me.  But such a little lady---
+
+    [He stops.
+
+    [The SISTER OF MERCY comes out of the pavilion and goes into
+       the hotel.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Following her with his eyes.]  Just look at her, do!  That night-crow
+there!--Who is it that's to be buried?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I have not heard of any one---
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Well, there's some one on the point of giving up the ghost, then--in
+on corner or another.--People that are sickly and rickety should have
+the goodness to see about getting themselves buried--the sooner the
+better.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Have you ever been ill yourself, Mr. Ulfheim.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Never.  If I had, I shouldn't be here.--But my nearest friends--they
+have been ill, poor things.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+And what did you do for your nearest friends?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Shot them, of course.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looking at him.]  Shot them?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Moving her chair back.]  Shot them dead?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Nods.]  I never miss, madam.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+But how can you possibly shoot people!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+I am not speaking of people---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+You said your nearest friends---
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Well, who should they be but my dogs?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Are your dogs your nearest friends?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+I have none nearer.  My honest, trusty, absolutely loyal comrades--.
+When one of them turns sick and miserable--bang!--and there's my
+friend sent packing--to the other world.
+
+    [The SISTER OF MERCY comes out of the hotel with a tray on which
+       is bread and milk.  She places it on the table outside the
+       pavilion, which she enters.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Laughs scornfully.]  That stuff there--is that what you call food for
+human beings!  Milk and water and soft, clammy bread.  Ah, you should
+see my comrades feeding.  Should you like to see it?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Smiling across to the PROFESSOR and rising.]  Yes, very much.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Also rising.]  Spoken like a woman of spirit, madam!  Come with me,
+then!  They swallow whole great thumping meat-bones--gulp them up and
+then gulp them down again.  Oh, it's a regular treat to see them.
+Come along and I'll show you--and while we're about it, we can talk
+over this trip to the mountains---
+
+    [He goes out by the corner of the hotel, MAIA following him.
+
+    [Almost at the same moment the STRANGE LADY comes out of the
+       pavilion and seats herself at the table.
+
+    [The LADY raises her glass of milk and is about to drink, but
+       stops and looks across at RUBEK with vacant, expressionless
+       eyes.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Remains sitting at his table and gazes fixedly and earnestly at her.
+At last he rises, goes some steps towards her, stops, and says in a
+low voice.]  I know you quite well, Irene.
+
+
+THE LADY.
+
+[In a toneless voice, setting down her glass.]  You can guess who I
+am, Arnold?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Without answering.]  And you recognise me, too, I see.
+
+
+THE LADY.
+
+With you it is quite another matter.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+With me?--How so?
+
+
+THE LADY.
+
+Oh, you are still alive.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Not understanding.]  Alive---?
+
+
+THE LADY.
+
+[After a short pause.]  Who was the other?  The woman you had with
+you--there at the table?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[A little reluctantly.]  She?  That was my--my wife.
+
+
+THE LADY.
+
+[Nods slowly.]  Indeed.  That is well, Arnold.  Some one, then, who does
+not concern me---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nods.]  No, of course not---
+
+
+THE LADY.
+
+--one whom you have taken to you after my lifetime.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Suddenly looking hard at her.]  After your--?  What do you mean by
+that, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Without answering.]  And the child?  I hear the child is prospering
+too.  Our child survives me--and has come to honour and glory.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Smiles as at a far-off recollection.]  Our child?  Yes, we called it
+so--then.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+In my lifetime, yes.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Trying to take a lighter tone.]  Yes, Irene.--I can assure you "our
+child" has become famous all the wide world over.  I suppose you have
+read about it.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Nods.]  And has made its father famous too.--That was your dream.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[More softly, with emotion.]  It is to you I owe everything, everything,
+Irene--and I thank you.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Lost in thought for a moment.]  If I had then done what I had a right
+to do, Arnold---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well?  What then?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I should have killed that child.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Killed it, you say?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Whispering.]  Killed it--before I went away from you.  Crushed it--
+crushed it to dust.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shakes his head reproachfully.]  You would never have been able to,
+Irene.  You had not the heart to do it.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+No, in those days I had not that sort of heart.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But since then?  Afterwards?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Since then I have killed it innumerable times.  By daylight and in the
+dark.  Killed it in hatred--and in revenge--and in anguish.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Goes close up to the table and asks softly.]  Irene--tell me now
+at last--after all these years--why did you go away from me?  You
+disappeared so utterly--left not a trace behind---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Shaking her head slowly.]  Oh Arnold--why should I tell you that now--
+from the world beyond the grave.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Was there some one else whom you had come to love?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+There was one who had no longer any use for my love--any use for my
+life.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Changing the subject.]  H'm--don't let us talk any more of the past---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+No, no--by all means let us not talk of what is beyond the grave--what
+is now beyond the grave for me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Where have you been, Irene?  All my inquiries were fruitless--you
+seemed to have vanished away.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I went into the darkness--when the child stood transfigured in the
+light.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Have you travelled much about the world?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes.  Travelled in many lands.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks compassionately at her.]  And what have you found to do, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Turning her eyes upon him.]  Wait a moment; let me see--.  Yes, now I
+have it.  I have posed on the turntable in variety-shows.  Posed as a
+naked statue in living pictures.  Raked in heaps of money.  That was
+more than I could do with you;  for you had none.--And then I turned
+the heads of all sorts of men.  That too, was more than I could do
+with you, Arnold.  You kept yourself better in hand.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Hastening to pass the subject by.]  And then you have married, too?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes; I married one of them.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Who is your husband?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+He was a South American.  A distinguished diplomatist.  [Looks straight
+in front of her with a stony smile.]  Him I managed to drive quite out
+of his mind; mad--incurably mad; inexorably mad.--It was great sport,
+I can tell you--while it was in the doing.  I could have laughed within
+me all the time--if I had anything within me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And where is he now?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Oh, in a churchyard somewhere or other.  With a fine handsome monument
+over him.  And with a bullet rattling in his skull.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Did he kill himself?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, he was good enough to take that off my hands.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Do you not lament his loss, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Not understanding.]  Lament?  What loss?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Why, the loss of Herr von Satow, of course.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+His name was not Satow.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Was it not?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+My second husband is called Satow.  He is a Russian---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And where is he?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Far away in the Ural Mountains.  Among all his gold-mines.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+So he lives there?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Shrugs her shoulders.]  Lives?  Lives?  In reality I have killed
+him---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Start.]  Killed---!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Killed him with a fine sharp dagger which I always have with me in
+bed---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Vehemently.]  I don't believe you, Irene!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a gentle smile.]  Indeed you may believe it, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks compassionately at her.]  Have you never had a child?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, I have had many children.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And where are your children now?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I killed them.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Severely.]  Now you are telling me lies again!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I have killed them, I tell you--murdered them pitilessly.  As soon as
+ever they came into the world.  Oh, long, long before.  One after the
+other.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Sadly and earnestly.]  There is something hidden behind everything
+you say.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+How can I help that?  Every word I say is whispered into my ear.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I believe I am the only one that can divine your meaning.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Surely you ought to be the only one.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Rests his hands on the table and looks intently at her.]  Some of the
+strings of your nature have broken.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Gently.]  Does not that always happen when a young warm-blooded woman
+dies?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh Irene, have done with these wild imaginings--!  You are living!
+Living--living!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Rises slowly from her chair and says, quivering.]  I was dead for
+many years.  They came and bound me--laced my arms together behind
+my back--.  Then they lowered me into a grave-vault, with iron bars
+before the loop-hole.  And with padded walls--so that no one on the
+earth above could hear the grave-shrieks--.  But now I am beginning,
+in a way, to rise from the dead.
+
+    [She seats herself again.]
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[After a pause.]  In all this, do you hold me guilty?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Guilty of that--your death, as you call it.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Guilty of the fact that I had to die.  [Changing her tone to one of
+indifference.]  Why don't you sit down, Arnold?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+May I?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes.--You need not be afraid of being frozen.  I don't think I am quite
+turned to ice yet.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Moves a chair and seats himself at her table.]  There, Irene.  Now we
+two are sitting together as in the old days.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+A little way apart from each other--also as in the old days.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Moving nearer.]  It had to be so, then.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Had it?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Decisively.]  There had to be a distance between us---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Was it absolutely necessary, Arnold?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Continuing.]  Do you remember what you answered when I asked if you
+would go with me out into the wide world?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I held up three fingers in the air and swore that I would go with you
+to the world's end and to the end of life.  And that I would serve you
+in all things---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+As the model for my art---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+--in frank, utter nakedness---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With emotion.]  And you did serve me, Irene--so bravely--so gladly
+and ungrudgingly.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, with all the pulsing blood of my youth, I served you!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nodding, with a look of gratitude.]  That you have every right to say.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I fell down at your feet and served you, Arnold!  [Holding her clenched
+hand towards him.]  But you, you,--you--!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Defensively.]  I never did you any wrong!  Never, Irene!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, you did!  You did wrong to my innermost, inborn nature---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Starting back.]  I--!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, you!  I exposed myself wholly and unreservedly to your gaze--
+[More softly.]  And never once did you touch me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Irene, did you not understand that many a time I was almost beside
+myself under the spell of all your loveliness?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Continuing undisturbed.]  And yet--if you had touched me, I think I
+should have killed you on the spot.  For I had a sharp needle always
+upon me--hidden in my hair--  [Strokes her forehead meditatively.]
+But after all--after all--that you could---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks impressively at her.]  I was an artist, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Darkly.]  That is just it.  That is just it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+An artist first of all.  And I was sick with the desire to achieve the
+great work of my life.  [Losing himself in recollection.]  It was to
+be called "The Resurrection Day"--figured in the likeness of a young
+woman, awakening from the sleep of death---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Our child, yes---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Continuing.]  It was to be the awakening of the noblest, purest, most
+ideal woman the world ever saw.  Then I found you.  You were what I
+required in every respect.  And you consented so willingly--so gladly.
+You renounced home and kindred--and went with me.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+To go with you meant for me the resurrection of my childhood.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+That was just why I found in you all that I required--in you and in
+no one else.  I came to look on you as a thing hallowed, not to be
+touched save in adoring thoughts.  In those days I was still young,
+Irene.  And the superstition took hold of me that if I touched you,
+if I desired you with my senses, my soul would be profaned, so that
+I should be unable to accomplish what I was striving for.--And I
+still think there was some truth in that.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Nods with a touch of scorn.]  The work of art first--then the human
+being.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You must judge me as you will; but at that time I was utterly dominated
+by my great task--and exultantly happy in it.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+And you achieved your great task, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Thanks and praise be to you, I achieved my great task.  I wanted to
+embody the pure woman as I saw her awakening on the Resurrection Day.
+Not marvelling at anything new and unknown and undivined; but filled
+with a sacred joy at finding herself unchanged--she, the woman of earth
+--in the higher, freer, happier region--after the long, dreamless sleep
+of death.  [More softly.]  Thus did I fashion her.--I fashioned her in
+your image, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Laying her hands flat upon the table and leaning against the back of
+her chair.]  And then you were done with me---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Reproachfully.]  Irene!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+You had no longer any use for me---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+How can you say that!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+--and began to look about you for other ideals---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I found none, none after you.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+And no other models, Arnold?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You were no model to me.  You were the fountainhead of my achievement.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Is silent for a short time.]  What poems have you made since?  In
+marble I mean.  Since the day I left you.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I have made no poems since that day--only frittered away my life in
+modelling.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+And that woman, whom you are now living with---?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Interrupting vehemently.]  Do not speak of her now! It makes me tingle
+with shame.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Where are you thinking of going with her?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Slack and weary.]  Oh, on a tedious coasting-voyage to the North,
+I suppose.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looks at him, smiles almost imperceptibly, and whispers.]  You should
+rather go high up into the mountains.  As high as ever you can.  Higher,
+higher,--always higher, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With eager expectation.]  Are you going up there?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Have you the courage to meet me once again?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Struggling with himself, uncertainly.]  If we could--oh, if only we
+could---!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Why can we not do what we will?  [Looks at him and whispers beseechingly
+with folded hands.]  Come, come, Arnold!  Oh, come up to me---!
+
+    [MAIA enters, glowing with pleasure, from behind the hotel,
+       and goes quickly up to the table where they were previously
+       sitting.]
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Still at the corner of the hotel, without looking around.]  Oh, you
+may say what you please, Rubek, but--[Stops, as she catches sight of
+IRENE]--Oh, I beg your pardon--I see you have made an acquaintance.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Curtly.]  Renewed an acquaintance.  [Rises.]  What was it you wanted
+with me?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+I only wanted to say this: you may do whatever you please, but _I_ am
+not going with you on that disgusting steamboat.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Why not?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Because I want to go up on the mountains and into the forests--that's
+what I want.  [Coaxingly.]  Oh, you must let me do it, Rubek.--I shall
+be so good, so good afterwards!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Who is it that has put these ideas into your head?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Why he--that horrid bear-killer.  Oh you cannot conceive all the
+marvelous things he has to tell about the mountains.  And about life
+up there!  They're ugly, horrid, repulsive, most of the yarns he spins
+--for I almost believe he's lying--but wonderfully alluring all the
+same.  Oh, won't you let me go with him?  Only to see if what he says
+is true, you understand.  May I, Rubek?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, I have not the slightest objection.  Off you go to the mountains--
+as far and as long as you please.  I shall perhaps be going the same
+way myself.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Quickly.]  No, no, no, you needn't do that!  Not on my account!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I want to go to the mountains.  I have made up my mind to go.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh thanks, thanks!  May I tell the bear-killer at once?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Tell the bear-killer whatever you please.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh thanks, thanks, thanks!  [Is about to take his hand; he repels the
+movement.]  Oh, how dear and good you are to-day, Rubek!
+
+    [She runs into the hotel.
+
+    [At the same time the door of the pavilion is softly and
+       noiselessly set ajar.  The SISTER OF MERCY stands in the
+       opening, intently on the watch.  No one sees her.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Decidedly, turning to IRENE.]  Shall we meet up there then?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Rising slowly.]  Yes, we shall certainly meet.--I have sought for you
+so long.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+When did you begin to seek for me, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a touch of jesting bitterness.]  From the moment I realised
+that I had given away to you something rather indispensable, Arnold.
+Something one ought never to part with.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Bowing his head.]  Yes, that is bitterly true.  You gave me three or
+four years of your youth.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+More, more than that I gave you--spend-thrift as I then was.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, you were prodigal, Irene.  You gave me all your naked loveliness---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+--to gaze upon---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+--and to glorify---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, for your own glorification.--And the child's.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And yours too, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+But you have forgotten the most precious gift.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+The most precious--?  What gift was that?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I gave you my young, living soul.  And that gift left me empty within
+--soulless.  [Looking at him with a fixed stare.]  It was that I died
+of, Arnold.
+
+    [The SISTER OF MERCY opens the door wide and makes room for her.
+       She goes into the pavilion.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Stands and looks after her; then whispers.]  Irene!
+
+
+
+
+ACT SECOND.
+
+
+[Near a mountain resort.  The landscape stretches, in the form of
+   an immense treeless upland, towards a long mountain lake.  Beyond
+   the lake rises a range of peaks with blue-white snow in the clefts.
+   In the foreground on the left a purling brook falls in severed
+   streamlets down a steep wall of rock, and thence flows smoothly
+   over the upland until it disappears to the right.  Dwarf trees,
+   plants, and stones along the course of the brook.  In the
+   foreground on the right a hillock, with a stone bench on the
+   top of it.  It is a summer afternoon, towards sunset.
+
+[At some distance over the upland, on the other side of the brook,
+   a troop of children is singing, dancing, and playing.  Some are
+   dressed in peasant costume, others in town-made clothes.  Their
+   happy laughter is heard, softened by distance, during the
+   following.
+
+[PROFESSOR RUBEK is sitting on the bench, with a plaid over his
+   shoulders, and looking down at the children's play.
+
+[Presently, MAIA comes forward from among some bushes on the upland
+   to the left, well back, and scans the prospect with her hand
+   shading her eyes.  She wears a flat tourist cap, a short skirt,
+   kilted up, reaching only midway between ankle and knee, and high,
+   stout lace-boots.  She has in her hand a long alpenstock.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[At last catches sight of RUBEK and calls.]  Hallo!
+
+    [She advances over the upland, jumps over the brook, with the
+       aid of her alpenstock, and climbs up the hillock.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Panting.]  Oh, how I have been rushing around looking for you, Rubek.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nods indifferently and asks.]  Have you just come from the hotel?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, that was the last place I tried--that fly-trap.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looking at her for moment.]  I noticed that you were not at the
+dinner-table.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+No, we had our dinner in the open air, we two.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+"We two"?  What two?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Why, I and that horrid bear-killer, of course.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh, he.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes.  And first thing to-morrow morning we are going off again.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+After bears?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes.  Off to kill a brown-boy.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Have you found the tracks of any?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With superiority.]  You don't suppose that bears are to be found in
+the naked mountains, do you?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Where, then?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Far beneath.  On the lower slopes; in the thickest parts of the forest.
+Places your ordinary town-folk could never get through---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And you two are going down there to-morrow?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Throwing herself down among the heather.]  Yes, so we have arranged.
+--Or perhaps we may start this evening.--If you have no objection,
+that's to say?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I?  Far be it from me to---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Quickly.]  Of course Lars goes with us--with the dogs.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I feel no curiosity as to the movements of Mr. Lars and his dogs.
+[Changing the subject.]  Would you not rather sit properly on the
+seat?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Drowsily.]  No, thank you.  I'm lying so delightfully in the soft
+heather.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I can see that you are tired.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Yawning.]  I almost think I'm beginning to feel tired.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You don't notice it till afterwards--when the excitement is over---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[In a drowsy tone.]  Just so.  I will lie and close my eyes.
+
+    [A short pause.
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With sudden impatience.]  Ugh, Rubek--how can you endure to sit there
+listening to these children's screams!  And to watch all the capers
+they are cutting, too!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+There is something harmonious--almost like music--in their movements,
+now and then; amid all the clumsiness.  And it amuses me to sit and
+watch for these isolated moments--when they come.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With a somewhat scornful laugh.]  Yes, you are always, always an
+artist.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And I propose to remain one.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Lying on her side, so that her back is turned to him.]  There's not
+a bit of the artist about him.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With attention.]  Who is it that's not an artist?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Again in a sleepy tone.]  Why, he--the other one, of course.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+The bear-hunter, you mean?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes.  There's not a bit of the artist about him--not the least little
+bit.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Smiling.]  No, I believe there's no doubt about that.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Vehemently, without moving.]  And so ugly as he is!  [Plucks up a
+tuft of heather and throws it away.]  So ugly, so ugly!  Isch!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Is that why you are so ready to set off with him--out into the wilds?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Curtly.]  I don't know.  [Turning towards him.]  You are ugly, too,
+Rubek.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Have you only just discovered it?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+No, I have seen it for long.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shrugging his shoulders.]  One doesn't grow younger.  One doesn't
+grow younger, Frau Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+It's not that sort of ugliness that I mean at all.  But there has come
+to be such an expression of fatigue, of utter weariness, in your eyes
+--when you deign, once in a while, to cast a glance at me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Have you noticed that?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Nods.]  Little by little this evil look has come into your eyes.  It
+seems almost as though you were nursing some dark plot against me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Indeed?  [In a friendly but earnest tone.]  Come here and sit beside
+me, Maia; and let us talk a little.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Half rising.]  Then will you let me sit upon your knee?  As I used to
+in the early days?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+No, you mustn't--people can see us from the hotel.  [Moves a little.]
+But you can sit here on the bench--at my side.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+No, thank you;  in that case I'd rather lie here, where I am.  I can
+hear you quite well here.  [Looks inquiringly at him.]  Well, what is
+it you want to say to me?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Begins slowly.]  What do you think was my real reason for agreeing to
+make this tour?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Well--I remember you declared, among other things, that it was going
+to do me such a tremendous lot of good.  But--but---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+But now I don't believe the least little bit that that was the reason---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Then what is your theory about it now?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+I think now that it was on account of that pale lady.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Madame von Satow---!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, she who is always hanging at our heels.  Yesterday evening she
+made her appearance up here too.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But what in all the world---!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh, I know you knew her very well indeed--long before you knew me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And had forgotten her, too--long before I knew you.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Sitting upright.]  Can you forget so easily, Rubek?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Curtly.]  Yes, very easily indeed.  [Adds harshly.]  When I want
+to forget.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Even a woman who has been a model to you?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+When I have no more use for her---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+One who has stood to you undressed?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+That means nothing--nothing for us artists.  [With a change of tone.]
+And then--may I venture to ask--how was I to guess that she was in
+this country?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh, you might have seen her name in a Visitor's List--in one of the
+newspapers.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But I had no idea of the name she now goes by.  I had never heard of
+any Herr von Satow.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Affecting weariness.]  Oh well then, I suppose it must have been for
+some other reason that you were so set upon this journey.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Seriously.]  Yes, Maia--it was for another reason.  A quite different
+reason.  And that is what we must sooner or later have a clear
+explanation about.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[In a fit of suppressed laughter.]  Heavens, how solemn you look!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Suspiciously scrutinising her.]  Yes, perhaps a little more solemn
+than necessary.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+How so---?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And that is a very good thing for us both.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+You begin to make me feel curious, Rubek.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Only curious?  Not a little bit uneasy.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Shaking her head.]  Not in the least.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Good.  Then listen.--You said that day down at the Baths that it seemed
+to you I had become very nervous of late---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, and you really have.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And what do you think can be the reason of that?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+How can I tell---?  [Quickly.]  Perhaps you have grown weary of this
+constant companionship with me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Constant--?  Why not say "everlasting"?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Daily companionship, then.  Here have we two solitary people lived
+down there for four or five mortal years, and scarcely have an hour
+away from each other.--We two all by ourselves.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With interest.]  Well?  And then---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[A little oppressed.]  You are not a particularly sociable man, Rubek.
+You like to keep to yourself and think your own thoughts.  And of
+course I can't talk properly to you about your affairs.  I know
+nothing about art and that sort of thing--  [With an impatient
+gesture.]  And care very little either, for that matter!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well, well; and that's why we generally sit by the fireside, and chat
+about your affairs.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh, good gracious--I have no affairs to chat about.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well, they are trifles, perhaps; but at any rate the time passes for
+us in that way as well as another, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, you are right.  Time passes.  It is passing away from you, Rubek.
+--And I suppose it is really that that makes you so uneasy---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nods vehemently.]  And so restless!  [Writhing in his seat.]  No, I
+shall soon not be able to endure this pitiful life any longer.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Rises and stands for a moment looking at him.]  If you want to get
+rid of me, you have only to say so.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Why will you use such phrases?  Get rid of you?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, if you want to have done with me, please say so right out.  And I
+will go that instant.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With an almost imperceptible smile.]  Do you intend that as a threat,
+Maia?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+There can be no threat for you in what I said.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Rising.]  No, I confess you are right there.  [Adds after a pause.]
+You and I cannot possibly go on living together like this---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Well?  And then---?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+There is no "then" about it.  [With emphasis on his words.]  Because
+we two cannot go on living together alone--it does not necessarily
+follow that we must part.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Smiles scornfully.]  Only draw away from each other a little, you
+mean?
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shakes his head.]  Even that is not necessary.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Well then?  Come out with what you want to do with me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With some hesitation.]  What I now feel so keenly--and so painfully--
+that I require, is to have some one about me who really and truly
+stands close to me---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Interrupts him anxiously.]  Don't I do that, Rubek?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Waving her aside.]  Not in that sense.  What I need is the
+companionship of another person who can, as it were, complete me--
+supply what is wanting in me--be one with me in all my striving.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Slowly.]  It's true that things like that are a great deal too hard
+for me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh no, they are not at all in your line, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With an outburst.]  And heaven knows I don't want them to be, either!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I know that very well.--And it was with no idea of finding any such
+help in my life-work that I married you.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Observing him closely.]  I can see in your face that you are thinking
+of some one else.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Indeed?  I have never noticed before that you were a thought-reader.
+But you can see that, can you?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, I can.  Oh, I know you so well, so well, Rubek.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Then perhaps you can also see who it is I am thinking of?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, indeed I can.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well?  Have the goodness to---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+You are thinking of that--that model you once used for--  [Suddenly
+letting slip the train of thought.]  Do you know, the people down at
+the hotel think she's mad.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Indeed?  And pray what do the people down at the hotel think of you
+and the bear-killer?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+That has nothing to do with the matter.  [Continuing the former train
+of thought.]  But it was this pale lady you were thinking of.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Calmly.]  Precisely, of her.--When I had no more use for her--and
+when, besides, she went away from me--vanished without a word---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Then you accepted me as a sort of makeshift, I suppose?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[More unfeelingly.]  Something of the sort, to tell the truth, little
+Maia.  For a year or a year and a half I had lived there lonely and
+brooding, and had put the last touch--the very last touch, to my work.
+"The Resurrection Day" went out over the world and brought me fame--
+and everything else that heart could desire.  [With greater warmth.]
+But I no longer loved my own work.  Men's laurels and incense nauseated
+me, till I could have rushed away in despair and hidden myself in the
+depths of the woods.  [Looking at her.]  You, who are a thought-reader
+--can you guess what then occurred to me?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Lightly.]  Yes, it occurred to you to make portrait-busts of gentlemen
+and ladies.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Nods.]  To order, yes.  With animals' faces behind the masks.  Those
+I threw in gratis--into the bargain, you understand.  [Smiling.]  But
+that was not precisely what I had in my mind.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+What, then?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Again serious.]  It was this, that all the talk about the artist's
+vocation and the artist's mission, and so forth, began to strike me
+as being very empty, and hollow, and meaningless at bottom.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Then what would you put in its place?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Life, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Life?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, is not life in sunshine and in beauty a hundred times better worth
+while than to hang about to the end of your days in a raw, damp hole,
+and wear yourself out in a perpetual struggle with lumps of clay and
+blocks of stone?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With a little sigh.]  Yes, I have always thought so, certainly.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And then I had become rich enough to live in luxury and in indolent,
+quivering sunshine.  I was able to build myself the villa on the Lake
+of Taunitz, and the palazzo in the capital,--and all the rest of it.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Taking up his tone.]  And last but not least, you could afford to
+treat yourself to me, too.  And you gave me leave to share in all
+your treasures.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Jesting, so as to turn the conversation.]  Did I not promise to take
+you up to a high enough mountain and show you all the glory of the
+world?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With a gentle expression.]  You have perhaps taken me up with you to
+a high enough mountain, Rubek--but you have not shown me all the glory
+of the world.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With a laugh of irritation.]  How insatiable you are, Maia.!
+Absolutely insatiable!  [With a vehement outburst.]  But do you know
+what is the most hopeless thing of all, Maia?  Can you guess that?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With quiet defiance.]  Yes, I suppose it is that you have gone and
+tied yourself to me--for life.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I would not have expressed myself so heartlessly.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+But you would have meant it just as heartlessly.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You have no clear idea of the inner workings of an artist's nature.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Smiling and shaking her head.]  Good heavens, I haven't even a clear
+idea of the inner workings of my own nature.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Continuing undisturbed.]  I live at such high speed, Maia.  We live
+so, we artists.  I, for my part, have lived through a whole lifetime
+in the few years we two have known each other.  I have come to realise
+that I am not at all adapted for seeking happiness in indolent
+enjoyment.  Life does not shape itself that way for me and those like
+me.  I must go on working--producing one work after another--right up
+to my dying day.  [Forcing himself to continue.]  That is why I cannot
+get on with you any longer, Maia--not with you alone.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Quietly.]  Does that mean, in plain language, that you have grown
+tired of me?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Bursts forth.]  Yes, that is what it means!  I have grown tired--
+intolerably tired and fretted and unstrung--in this life with you!
+Now you know it.  [Controlling himself.]  These are hard, ugly words
+I am using.  I know that very well.  And you are not at all to blame
+in this matter;--that I willingly admit.  It is simply and solely I
+myself, who have once more undergone a revolution--[Half to himself]--
+and awakening to my real life.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Involuntarily folding her hands.]  Why in all the world should we not
+part then?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks at her in astonishment.]  Should you be willing to?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Shrugging her shoulders.]  Oh yes--if there's nothing else for it,
+then---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Eagerly.]  But there is something else for it.  There is an
+alternative---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Holding up her forefinger.]  Now you are thinking of the pale lady
+again!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, to tell the truth, I cannot help constantly thinking of her.  Ever
+since I met her again.  [A step nearer her.]  For now I will tell you
+a secret, Maia.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Well?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Touching his own breast.]  In here, you see--in here I have a little
+bramah-locked casket.  And in that casket all my sculptor's visions
+are stored up.  But when she disappeared and left no trace, the lock
+of the casket snapped to.  And she had the key--and she took it away
+with her.--You, little Maia, you had no key; so all that the casket
+contains must lie unused.  And the years pass!  And I have no means
+of getting at the treasure.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Trying to repress a subtle smile.]  Then get her to open the casket
+for you again---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Not understanding.]  Maia---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+--for here she is, you see.   And no doubt it's on account of this
+casket that she has come.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I have not said a single word to her on this subject!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looks innocently at him.]  My dear Rubek--is it worth while to make
+all this fuss and commotion about so simple a matter?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Do you think this matter is so absolutely simple?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, certainly I think so.  Do you attach yourself to whoever you
+most require.  [Nods to him.]  I shall always manage to find a place
+for myself.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Where do you mean?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Unconcerned, evasively.]  Well--I need only take myself off to the
+villa, if it should be necessary.  But it won't be; for in town--in
+all that great house of ours--there must surely, with a little good
+will, be room enough for three.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Uncertainly.]  And do you think that would work in the long run?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[In a light tone.]  Very well, then--if it won't work, it won't.  It
+is no good talking about it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And what shall we do then, Maia--if it does not work?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Untroubled.]  Then we two will simply get out of each other's way--
+part entirely.  I shall always find something new for myself, somewhere
+in the world.  Something free!  Free!  Free!--No need to be anxious
+about that, Professor Rubek!  [Suddenly points off to the right.]
+Look there!  There we have her.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Turning.]  Where?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Out on the plain.  Striding--like a marble stature.  She is coming this
+way.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Stands gazing with his hand over his eyes.]  Does not she look like
+the Resurrection incarnate?  [To himself.]  And her I could displace--
+and move into the shade!  Remodel her--.  Fool that I was!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+What do you mean by that?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Putting the question aside.]  Nothing.  Nothing that you would
+understand.
+
+    [IRENE advances from the right over the upland.  The children
+       at their play have already caught sight of her and run to
+       meet her.  She is now surrounded by them; some appear confident
+       and at ease, others uneasy and timid.  She talks low to them
+       and indicates that they are to go down to the hotel; she
+       herself will rest a  little beside the brook.  The children
+       run down over the slope to the left, half way to the back.
+       IRENE goes up to the wall of rock, and lets the rillets of
+       the cascade flow over her hands, cooling them.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[In a low voice.]  Go down and speak to her alone, Rubek.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And where will you go in the meantime?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looking significantly at him.]  Henceforth I shall go my own ways.
+
+    [She descends form the hillock and leaps over the brook, by aid
+       of her alpenstock.  She stops beside IRENE.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Professor Rubek is up there, waiting for you, madam.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+What does he want?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+He wants you to help him to open a casket that has snapped to.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Can I help him in that?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+He says you are the only person that can.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Then I must try.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, you really must, madam.
+
+    [She goes down by the path to the hotel.
+
+    [In a little while PROFESSOR RUBEK comes down to IRENE, but stops
+       with the brook between them.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[After a short pause.]  She--the other one--said that you had been
+waiting for me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I have waited for you year after year--without myself knowing it.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I could not come to you, Arnold.  I was lying down there, sleeping the
+long, deep, dreamful sleep.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But now you have awakened, Irene!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Shakes her head.]  I have the heavy, deep sleep still in my eyes.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You shall see that day will dawn and lighten for us both.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Do not believe that.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Urgently.]  I do believe it!  And I know it!  Now that I have found
+you again---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Risen from the grave.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Transfigured!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Only risen, Arnold.  Not transfigured.
+
+    [He crosses over to her by means of stepping-stones below the
+       cascade.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Where have you been all day, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Pointing.]  Far, far over there, on the great dead waste---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Turning the conversation.]  You have not your--your friend with you
+to-day, I see.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Smiling.]  My friend is keeping a close watch on me, none the less.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Can she?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Glancing furtively around.]  You may be sure she can--wherever I may
+go.  She never loses sight of me--  [Whispering.]  Until, one fine
+sunny morning, I shall kill her.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Would you do that?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+With the utmost delight--if only I could manage it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Why do you want to?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Because she deals in witchcraft.  [Mysteriously.]  Only think, Arnold--
+she has changed herself into my shadow.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Trying to calm her.]  Well, well, well--a shadow we must all have.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I am my own shadow.  [With an outburst.]  Do you not understand that!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Sadly.]  Yes, yes, Irene, I understand.
+
+    [He seats himself on a stone beside the brook.  She stands behind
+       him, leaning against the wall of rock.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[After a pause.]  Why do you sit there turning your eyes away from me?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Softly, shaking his head.]  I dare not--I dare not look at you.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Why dare you not look at me any more?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You have a shadow that tortures me.  And I have the crushing weight of
+my conscience.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a glad cry of deliverance.]  At last!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Springs up.]  Irene--what is it!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Motioning him off.]  Keep still, still, still!  [Draws a deep breath
+and says, as though relieved of a burden.]  There!  Now they let me
+go.  For this time.--Now we can sit down and talk as we used to--when
+I was alive.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh, if only we could talk as we used to.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Sit there, where you were sitting.  I will sit here beside you.
+
+    [He sits down again.  She seats herself on another stone, close
+       to him.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[After a short interval of silence.]  Now I have come back to you from
+the uttermost regions, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Aye, truly, from an endless journey.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Come home to my lord and master---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+To our home;--to our own home, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Have you looked for my coming every single day?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+How dared I look for you?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a sidelong glance.]  No, I suppose you dared not.  For you
+understood nothing.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Was it really not for the sake of some one else that you all of a
+sudden disappeared from me in that way?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Might it not quite well be for your sake, Arnold?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks doubtfully at her.]  I don't understand you---?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+When I had served you with my soul and with my body--when the statue
+stood there finished--our child as you called it--then I laid at your
+feet the most precious sacrifice of all--by effacing myself for all
+time.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Bows his head.]  And laying my life waste.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Suddenly firing up.]  It was just that I wanted!  Never, never
+should you create anything again--after you had created that only
+child of ours.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Was it jealously that moved you, then?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Coldly.]  I think it was rather hatred.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Hatred?  Hatred for me?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Again vehemently.]  Yes, for you--for the artist who had so lightly
+and carelessly taken a warm-blooded body, a young human life, and
+worn the soul out of it--because you needed it for a work of art.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And you can say that--you who threw yourself into my work with such
+saint-like passion and such ardent joy?--that work for which we two
+met together every morning, as for an act of worship.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Coldly, as before.]  I will tell you one thing, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I never loved your art, before I met you.--Nor after either.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But the artist, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+The artist I hate.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+The artist in me too?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+In you most of all.  When I unclothed myself and stood for you, then I
+hated you, Arnold---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Warmly.]  That you did not, Irene!  That is not true!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I hated you, because you could stand there so unmoved---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Laughs.]  Unmoved?  Do you think so?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+--at any rate so intolerably self-controlled.  And because you were
+an artist and an artist only--not a man!  [Changing to a tone full
+of warmth and feeling.]  But that statue in the wet, living clay,
+that I loved--as it rose up, a vital human creature, out of those
+raw, shapeless masses--for that was our creation, our child.  Mine
+and yours.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Sadly.]  It was so in spirit and in truth.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Let me tell you, Arnold--it is for the sake of this child of ours
+that I have undertaken this long pilgrimage.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Suddenly alert.]  For the statue's---?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Call it what you will.  I call it our child.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And now you want to see it?  Finished?  In marble, which you always
+thought so cold?  [Eagerly.]  You do not know, perhaps, that it is
+installed in a great museum somewhere--far out in the world?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I have heard a sort of legend about it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And museums were always a horror to you.  You called them grave-
+vaults---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I will make a pilgrimage to the place where my soul and my child's
+soul lie buried.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Uneasy and alarmed.]  You must never see that statue again!  Do you
+hear, Irene!  I implore you--!  Never, never see it again!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Perhaps you think it would mean death to me a second time?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Clenching his hands together.]  Oh, I don't know what I think.--But
+how could I ever imagine that you would fix your mind so immovably on
+that statue?  You, who went away from me--before it was completed.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+It was completed.  That was why I could go away from you--and leave
+you alone.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Sits with his elbows upon his knees, rocking his head from side to
+side, with his hands before his eyes.]  It was not what it afterwards
+became.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Quietly but quick as lightning, half-unsheathes a narrow-bladed sharp
+knife which she carried in her breast, and asks in a hoarse whisper.]
+Arnold--have you done any evil to our child?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Evasively.]  Any evil?--How can I be sure what you would call it?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Breathless.]  Tell me at once: what have you done to the child?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I will tell you, if you will sit and listen quietly to what I say.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Hides the knife.]  I will listen as quietly as a mother can when she---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Interrupting.]  And you must not look at me while I am telling you.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Moves to a stone behind his back.]  I will sit here, behind you.--
+Now tell me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Takes his hands from before his eyes and gazes straight in front of
+him.  When I had found you, I knew at once how I should make use of
+you for my life-work.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+"The Resurrection Day" you called your life-work.--I call it "our
+child."
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I was young then--with no knowledge of life.  The Resurrection, I
+thought, would be most beautifully and exquisitely figured as a young
+unsullied woman--with none of our earth-life's experiences--awakening
+to light and glory without having to put away from her anything ugly
+and impure.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Quickly.]  Yes--and so I stand there now, in our work?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Hesitating.]  Not absolutely and entirely so, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[In rising excitement.]  Not absolutely--?  Do I not stand as I always
+stood for you?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Without answering.]  I learned worldly wisdom in the years that
+followed, Irene.  "The Resurrection Day" became in my mind's eye
+something more and something--something more complex.  The little
+round plinth on which your figure stood erect and solitary--it no
+longer afforded room for all the imagery I now wanted to add---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Groped for her knife, but desists.]  What imagery did you add then?
+Tell me!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I imagined that which I saw with my eyes around me in the world.  I
+had to include it--I could not help it, Irene.  I expanded the plinth
+--made it wide and spacious.  And on it I placed a segment of the
+curving, bursting earth.  And up from the fissures of the soil there
+now swarm men and women with dimly-suggested animal-faces.  Women and
+men--as I knew them in real life.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[In breathless suspense.]  But in the middle of the rout there stands
+the young woman radiant with the joy of light?--Do I not stand so,
+Arnold?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Evasively.]  Not quite in the middle.  I had unfortunately to move
+that figure a little back.  For the sake of the general effect, you
+understand.  Otherwise it would have dominated the whole too much.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+But the joy in the light still transfigures my face?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, it does, Irene--in a way.  A little subdued perhaps--as my altered
+idea required.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Rising noiselessly.]  That design expresses the life you now see,
+Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, I suppose it does.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+And in that design you have shifted me back, a little toned down--to
+serve as a background-figure--in a group.
+
+    [She draws the knife.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Not a background-figure.  Let us say, at most, a figure not quite in
+the foreground--or something of that sort.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Whispers hoarsely.]  There you uttered your own doom.
+
+    [On the point of striking.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Turns and looks up at her.]  Doom?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Hastily hides the knife, and says as though choked with agony.]  My
+whole soul--you and I--we, we, we and our child were in that solitary
+figure.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Eagerly, taking off his hat and drying the drops of sweat upon his
+brow.]  Yes, but let me tell you, too, how I have placed myself in
+the group.  In front, beside a fountain--as it were here--sits a man
+weighed down with guilt, who cannot quite free himself from the earth
+-crust.  I call him remorse for a forfeited life.  He sits there and
+dips his fingers in the purling stream--to wash them clean--and he is
+gnawed and tortured by the thought that never, never will he succeed.
+Never in all eternity will he attain to freedom and the new life.  He
+will remain for ever prisoned in his hell.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Hardly and coldly.]  Poet!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Why poet?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Because you are nerveless and sluggish and full of forgiveness for all
+the sins of your life, in thought and in act.  You have killed my soul
+--so you model yourself in remorse, and self-accusation, and penance--
+[Smiling.]  --and with that you think your account is cleared.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Defiantly.]  I am an artist, Irene.  And I take no shame to myself
+for the frailties that perhaps cling to me.  For I was born to be an
+artist, you see.  And, do what I may, I shall never be anything else.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looks at him with a lurking evil smile, and says gently and softly.]
+You are a poet, Arnold.  [Softly strokes his hair.]  You dear, great,
+middle-aged child,--is it possible that you cannot see that!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Annoyed.]  Why do you keep on calling me a poet?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With malign eyes.]  Because there is something apologetic in the word,
+my friend.  Something that suggests forgiveness of sins--and spreads
+a cloak over all frailty.  [With a sudden change of tone.]  But I was
+a human being--then!  And I, too, had a life to live,--and a human
+destiny to fulfil.  And all that, look you, I let slip--gave it all
+up in order to make myself your bondwoman.--Oh, it was self-murder--a
+deadly sin against myself!  [Half whispering.]  And that sin I can
+never expiate!
+
+    [She seats herself near him beside the brook, keeps close, though
+       unnoticed, watch upon him, and, as though in absence of mind,
+       plucks some flowers form the shrubs around them.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With apparent self-control.]  I should have borne children in the
+world--many children--real children--not such children as are hidden
+away in grave-vaults.  That was my vocation.  I ought never to have
+served you--poet.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Lost in recollection.]  Yet those were beautiful days, Irene.
+Marvellously beautiful days--as I now look back upon them---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looking at him with a soft expression.]  Can you remember a little
+word that you said--when you had finished--finished with me and with
+our child?  [Nods to him.]  Can you remember that little word, Arnold?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks inquiringly at her.]  Did I say a little word then, which you
+still remember?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, you did.  Can you not recall it?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shaking his head.]  No, I can't say that I do.  Not at the present
+moment, at any rate.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+You took both my hands and pressed them warmly.  And I stood there in
+breathless expectation.  And then you said: "So now, Irene, I thank
+you from my heart.  This," you said, "has been a priceless episode
+for me."
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks doubtfully at her.]  Did I say "episode"?  It is not a word I
+am in the habit of using.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+You said "episode."
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With assumed cheerfulness.]  Well, well--after all, it was in reality
+an episode.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Curtly.]  At that word I left you.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You take everything so painfully to heart, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Drawing her hand over her forehead.]  Perhaps you are right.  Let us
+shake off all the hard things that go to the heart.  [Plucks off the
+leaves of a mountain rose and strews them on the brook.]  Look there,
+Arnold.  There are our birds swimming.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+What birds are they?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Can you not see?  Of course they are flamingoes.  Are they not
+rose-red?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Flamingoes do not swim.  They only wade.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Then they are not flamingoes.  They are sea-gulls.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+They may be sea-gulls with red bills, yes.  [Plucks broad green leaves
+and throws them into the brook.]  Now I send out my ships after them.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+But there must be no harpoon-men on board.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+No, there shall be no harpoon-men.  [Smiles to her.]  Can you remember
+the summer when we used to sit like this outside the little peasant hut
+on the Lake of Taunitz?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Nods.]  On Saturday evenings, yes,--when we had finished our week's
+work---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+--And taken the train out to the lake--to stay there over Sunday---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With an evil gleam of hatred in her eyes.]  It was an episode, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[As if not hearing.]  Then, too, you used to set birds swimming in the
+brook.  They were water-lilies which you---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+They were white swans.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I meant swans, yes.  And I remember that I fastened a great furry leaf
+to one of the swans.  It looked like a burdock-leaf---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+And then it turned into Lohengrin's boat--with the swan yoked to it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+How fond you were of that game, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+We played it over and over again.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Every single Saturday, I believe,--all the summer through.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+You said I was the swan that drew your boat.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Did I say so?  Yes, I daresay I did.  [Absorbed in the game.]  Just
+see how the sea-gulls are swimming down the stream!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Laughing.]  And all your ships have run ashore.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Throwing more leaves into the brook.]  I have ships enough in reserve.
+[Follows the leaves with his eyes, throws more into the brook, and says
+after a pause.]  Irene,--I have bought the little peasant hut beside
+the Lake of Taunitz.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Have you bought it?  You often said you would, if you could afford it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+The day came when I could afford it easily enough; and so I bought it.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a sidelong look at him.]  Then do you live out there now--in
+our old house?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+No, I have had it pulled down long ago.  And I have built myself a
+great, handsome, comfortable villa on the site--with a park around
+it.  It is there that we-- [Stops and corrects himself.] --there that
+I usually live during the summer.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Mastering herself.]  So you and--and the other one live out there now?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[With a touch of defiance.]  Yes.  When my wife and I are not
+travelling--as we are this year.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looking far before her.]  Life was beautiful, beautiful by the Lake
+of Taunitz.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[As though looking back into himself.]  And yet, Irene---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Completing his thought.]  --yet we two let slip all that life and
+its beauty.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Softly, urgently.]  Does repentance come too late, now?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Does not answer, but sits silent for a moment; then she points over
+the upland.]  Look there, Arnold,--now the sun is going down behind
+the peaks.  See what a red glow the level rays cast over all the
+heathery knolls out yonder.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks where she is pointing.]  It is long since I have seen a sunset
+in the mountains.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Or a sunrise?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+A sunrise I don't think I have ever seen.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Smiles as though lost in recollection.]  I once saw a marvellously
+lovely sunrise.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Did you?  Where was that?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+High, high up on a dizzy mountain-top.--You beguiled me up there by
+promising that I should see all the glory of the world if only I---
+
+    [She stops suddenly.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+If only you--?  Well?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I did as you told me--went with you up to the heights.  And there I
+fell upon my knees and worshipped you, and served you.  [Is silent
+for a moment; then says softly.]  Then I saw the sunrise.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Turning at him with a scornful smile.]  With you--and the other woman?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Urgently.]  With me--as in our days of creation.  You could open all
+that is locked up in me.  Can you not find it in your heart, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Shaking her head.]  I have no longer the key to you, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+You have the key!  You and you alone possess it!  [Beseechingly.]
+Help me--that I may be able to live my life over again!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Immovable as before.]  Empty dreams!  Idle--dead dreams.  For the
+life you and I led there is no resurrection.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Curtly, breaking off.]  Then let us go on playing.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, playing, playing--only playing!
+
+    [They sit and strew leaves and petals over the brook, where they
+       float and sail away.
+
+    [Up the slope to the left at the back come ULFHEIM and MAIA in
+       hunting costume.  After them comes the SERVANT with the leash
+       of dogs, with which he goes out to the right.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Catching sight of them.]  Ah!  There is little Maia, going out with
+the bear-hunter.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Your lady, yes.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Or the other's.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looks around as she is crossing the upland, sees the two sitting by
+the brook, and calls out.]  Good-night, Professor!  Dream of me.  Now
+I am going off on my adventures!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Calls back to her.]  What sort of an adventure is this to be?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Approaching.]  I am going to let life take the place of all the rest.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Mockingly.]  Aha!  So you too are going to do that, little Maia?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes.  And I've made a verse about it, and this is how it goes:
+
+    [Sings triumphantly.]
+
+              I am free!  I am free!  I am free!
+              No more life in the prison for me!
+              I am free as a bird!  I am free!
+              For I believe I have awakened now--at last.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+It almost seems so.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Drawing a deep breath.]  Oh--how divinely light one feels on waking!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Good-night,  Frau Maia--and good luck to---
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Calls out, interposing.]  Hush, hush!--for the devil's sake let's
+have none of your wizard wishes.  Don't you see that we are going
+out to shoot---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+What will you bring me home from the hunting, Maia?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+You shall have a bird of prey to model.  I shall wing one for you.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Laughs mockingly and bitterly.]  Yes, to wing things--without knowing
+what you are doing--that has long been quite in your way.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Tossing her head.]  Oh, just let me take care of myself for the
+future, and I wish you then--!   [Nods and laughs roguishly.]
+Good-bye--and a good, peaceful summer night on the upland!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Jestingly.]  Thanks!  And all the ill-luck in the world over you and
+your hunting!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Roaring with laughter.]  There now, that is a wish worth having!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Laughing.]  Thanks, thanks, thanks, Professor!
+
+    [They have both crossed the visible portion of the upland, and go
+       out through the bushes to the right.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[After a short pause.]  A summer night on the upland!  Yes, that would
+have been life!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Suddenly, with a wild expression in her eyes.]  Will you spend a
+summer night on the upland--with me?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Stretching his arms wide.]  Yes, yes,--come!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+My adored lord and master!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh, Irene!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Hoarsely, smiling and groping in her breast.]  It will be only an
+episode--  [Quickly, whispering.]  Hush!--do not look round, Arnold!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Also in a low voice.]  What is it?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+A face that is staring at me.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Turns involuntarily.]  Where!  [With a start.]  Ah---!
+
+    [The SISTER OF MERCY's head is partly visible among the bushes
+       beside the descent to the left.  Her eyes are immovably fixed
+       on IRENE.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Rises and says softly.]  We must part then.  No, you must remain
+sitting.  Do you hear?  You must not go with me.  [Bends over him
+and whispers.]  Till we meet again--to-night--on the upland.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+And you will come, Irene?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, surely I will come.  Wait for me here.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Repeats dreamily.]  Summer night on the upland.  With you.  With you.
+[His eyes meet hers.]  Oh, Irene--that might have been our life.--And
+that we have forfeited--we two.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+We see the irretrievable only when--
+
+    [Breaks off.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Looks inquiringly at her.]  When---?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+When we dead awaken.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Shakes his head mournfully.]  What do we really see then?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+We see that we have never lived.
+
+    [She goes towards the slope and descends.
+
+    [The SISTER OF MERCY makes way for her and follows her.  PROFESSOR
+       RUBEK remains sitting motionless beside the brook.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Is heard singing triumphantly among the hills.]
+
+               I am free!  I am free!  I am free!
+               No more life in the prison for me!
+               I am free as a bird!  I am free!
+
+
+
+
+ACT THIRD.
+
+
+[A wild riven mountain-side, with sheer precipices at the back.
+   Snow-clad peaks rise to the right, and lose themselves in drifting
+   mists.  To the left, on a stone-scree, stands an old, half-ruined
+   hut.  It is early morning.  Dawn is breaking.  The sun has not
+   yet risen.
+
+[MAIA comes, flushed and irritated, down over the stone-scree on the
+   left.  ULFHEIM follows, half angry, half laughing, holding her
+   fast by the sleeve.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Trying to tear herself loose.]  Let me go!  Let me go, I say!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Come, Come!  are you going to bite now?  You're as snappish as a wolf.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Striking him over the hand.]  Let me, I tell you?  And be quiet!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+No, confound me if I will!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Then I will not go another step with you.  Do you hear?--not a single
+step!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Ho, ho!  How can you get away from me, here, on the wild mountain-side?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+I will jump over the precipice yonder, if need be---
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+And mangle and mash yourself up into dogs'-meat!  A juicy morsel!
+[Lets go his hold.]  As you please.  Jump over the precipice if you
+want to.  It's a dizzy drop.  There's only one narrow footpath down
+it, and that's almost impassable.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Dusts her skirt with her hand, and looks at him with angry eyes.]
+Well, you are a nice one to go hunting with!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Say rather, sporting.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh!  So you call this sport, do you?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Yes, I venture to take that liberty.  It is the sort of sport I like
+best of all.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Tossing her head.]  Well--I must say!  [After a pause; looks
+searchingly at him.]  Why did you let the dogs loose up there?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Blinking his eyes and smiling.]  So that they too might do a little
+hunting on their own account, don't you see?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+There's not a word of truth in that!  It wasn't for the dogs' sake
+that you let them go.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Still smiling.]  Well, why did I let them go then?  Let us hear.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+You let them go because you wanted to get rid of Lars.  He was to run
+after them and bring them in again, you said.  And in the meant-time--.
+Oh, it was a pretty way to behave!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+In the meantime?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Curtly breaking off.]  No matter!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[In a confidential tone.]  Lars won't find them.  You may safely swear
+to that.  He won't come with them before the time's up.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looking angrily at him.]  No, I daresay not.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Catching at her arm.]  For Lars--he knows my--my methods of sport,
+you see.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Eludes him, and measures him with a glance.]  Do you know what you
+look like, Mr. Ulfheim?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+I should think I'm probably most like myself.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, there you're exactly right.  For you're the living image of
+a faun.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+A faun?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, precisely; a faun.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+A faun!  Isn't that a sort of monster?  Or a kind of a wood demon, as
+you might call it?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, just the sort of creature you are.  A thing with a goat's beard
+and goat-legs.  Yes, and the faun has horns too!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+So, so!--has he horns too?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+A pair of ugly horns, just like yours, yes.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Can you see the poor little horns _I_ have?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, I seem to see them quite plainly.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Taking the dogs' leash out of his pocket.]  Then I had better see
+about tying you.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Have you gone quite mad?  Would you tie me?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+If I am a demon, let me be a demon!  So that's the way of it!  You
+can see the horns, can you?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Soothingly.]  There, there, there!  Now try to behave nicely, Mr.
+Ulfheim.  [Breaking off.]  But what has become of that hunting-castle
+of yours, that you boasted so much of?  You said it lay somewhere
+hereabouts.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Points with a flourish to the hut.]  There you have it, before your
+very eyes.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looks at him.]  That old pig-stye!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Laughing in his beard.]  It has harboured more than one king's
+daughter, I can tell you.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Was it there that that horrid man you told me about came to the king's
+daughter in the form of a bear?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Yes, my fair companion of the chase--this is the scene.  [With a
+gesture of invitation.]  If you would deign to enter---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Isch!  If ever I set foot in it--!  Isch!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Oh, two people can doze away a summer night in there comfortably
+enough.  Or a whole summer, if it comes to that!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Thanks!  One would need to have a pretty strong taste for that kind of
+thing.  [Impatiently.]  But now I am tired both of you and the hunting
+expedition.  Now I am going down to the hotel--before people awaken
+down there.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+How do you propose to get down from here?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+That's your affair.  There must be a way down somewhere or other, I
+suppose.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Pointing towards the back.]  Oh, certainly!  There is a sort of way--
+right down the face of the precipice yonder---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+There, you see.  With a little goodwill---
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+--but just you try if you dare go that way.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Doubtfully.]  Do you think I can't?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Never in this world--if you don't let me help you.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Uneasily.]  Why, then come and help me!  What else are you here for?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Would you rather I should take you on my back---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Nonsense!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+--or carry you in my arms?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Now do stop talking that rubbish!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[With suppressed exasperation.]  I once took a young girl--lifted her
+up from the mire of the streets and carried her in my arms.  Next my
+heart I carried her.  So I would have borne her all through life--
+lest haply she should dash her foot against a stone.  For her shoes
+were worn very thin when I found her---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+And yet you took her up and carried her next your heart?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Took her up out of the gutter and carried her as high and as carefully
+as I could. [With a growling laugh.]  And do you know what I got for
+my reward?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+No.  What did you get?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Looks at her, smiles and nods.]  I got the horns!  The horns that you
+can see so plainly.  Is not that a comical story, madam bear-murderess?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh yes, comical enough!  But I know another story that is still more
+comical.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+How does that story go?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+This is how it goes.  There was once a stupid girl, who had both a
+father and a mother--but a rather poverty-stricken home.  Then there
+came a high and mighty seigneur into the midst of all this poverty.
+And he took the girl in his arms--as you did--and travelled far, far
+away with her---
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Was she so anxious to be with him?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, for she was stupid, you see.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+And he, no doubt, was a brilliant and beautiful personage?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Oh, no, he wasn't so superlatively beautiful either.  But he pretended
+that he would take her with him to the top of the highest of mountains,
+where there were light and sunshine without end.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+So he was a mountaineer, was he, that man?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, he was--in his way.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+And then he took the girl up with him---?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With a toss of the head.]  Took her up with him finely, you may be
+sure!  Oh no! he beguiled her into a cold, clammy cage, where--as it
+seemed to her--there was neither sunlight nor fresh air, but only
+gilding and great petrified ghosts of people all around the walls.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Devil take me, but it served her right!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, but don't you think it's quite a comical story, all the same?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Looks at her moment.]  Now listen to me, my good companion of the
+chase---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Well, what it is now?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Should not we two tack our poor shreds of life together?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Is his worship inclined to set up as a patching-tailor?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Yes, indeed he is.  Might not we two try to draw the rags together here
+and there--so as to make some sort of a human life out of them?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+And when the poor tatters were quite worn out--what then?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[With a large gesture.]  Then there we shall stand, free and serene--
+as the man and woman we really are!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Laughing.]  You with your goat-legs yes!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+And you with your--.  Well, let that pass.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, come--let us pass--on.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Stop!  Whither away, comrade?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Down to the hotel, of course.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+And afterward?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Then we'll take a polite leave of each other, with thanks for pleasant
+company.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Can we part, we two?  Do you think we can?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Yes, you didn't manage to tie me up, you know.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+I have a castle to offer you---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Pointing to the hut.]  A fellow to that one?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+It has not fallen to ruin yet.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+And all the glory of the world, perhaps?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+A castle, I tell you---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Thanks!  I have had enough of castles.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+--with splendid hunting-grounds stretching for miles around it.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Are there works of art too in this castle?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Slowly.]  Well, no--it's true there are no works of art; but---
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Relieved.]  Ah! that's one good thing, at any rate!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Will you go with me, then--as far and as long as I want you?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+There is a tame bird of prey keeping watch upon me.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Wildly.]  We'll put a bullet in his wing, Maia!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Looks at him a moment, and says resolutely.]  Come then, and carry me
+down into the depths.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Puts his arm round her waist.]  It is high time!  The mist is upon us!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Is the way down terribly dangerous?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+The mountain is more dangerous still.
+
+    [She shakes him off, goes to the edge of the precipice and looks
+       over, but starts quickly back.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Goes towards her, laughing.]  What?  Does it make you a little giddy?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Faintly.]  Yes, that too.  But go and look over.  Those two, coming
+up---
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Goes and bends over the edge of the precipice.]  It's only your bird
+of prey--and his strange lady.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+Can't we get past them--without their seeing us?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Impossible!  The path is far too narrow.  And there's no other way
+down.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Nerving herself.]  Well, well--let us face them here, then!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Spoken like a true bear-killer, comrade!
+
+    [PROFESSOR RUBEK and IRENE appear over the edge of the precipice
+       at the back. He has his plaid over his shoulders; she has a
+       fur cloak thrown loosely over her white dress, and a swansdown
+       hood over her head.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Still only half visible above the edge.]  What, Maia!  So we two meet
+once again?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[With assumed coolness.]  At your service.  Won't you come up?
+
+    [PROFESSOR RUBEK climbs right up and holds out his hand to IRENE,
+       who also comes right to the top.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Coldly to MAIA.]  So you, too, have been all night on the mountain,--
+as we have?
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+I have been hunting--yes.  You gave me permission, you know.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Pointing downward.]  Have you come up that path there?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+As you saw.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+And the strange lady too?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Yes, of course.  [With a glance at MAIA.]  Henceforth the strange lady
+and I do not intend our ways to part.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Don't you know, then, that it is a deadly dangerous way you have come?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+We thought we would try it, nevertheless.  For it did not seem
+particularly hard at first.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+No, at first nothing seems hard.  But presently you may come to a tight
+place where you can neither get forward nor back.  And then you stick
+fast, Professor!  Mountain-fast, as we hunters call it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Smiles and looks at him.]  Am I to take these as oracular utterances,
+Mr. Ulfheim?
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+Lord preserve me from playing the oracle!  [Urgently, pointing up
+towards the heights.]  But don't you see that the storm is upon us?
+Don't you hear the blasts of wind?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Listening.]  They sound like the prelude to the Resurrection Day.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+They are storm-blasts form the peaks, man!  Just look how the clouds
+are rolling and sinking--soon they'll be all around us like a winding
+-sheet!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a start and shiver.]  I know that sheet!
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Drawing ULFHEIM away.]  Let us make haste and get down.
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[To PROFESSOR RUBEK.]  I cannot help more than one.  Take refuge in
+the hut in the mean-time--while the storm lasts.  Then I shall send
+people up to fetch the two of you away.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[In terror.]  To fetch us away!  No, no!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Harshly.]  To take you by force if necessary--for it's a matter of
+life and death here.  Now, you know it.  [To MAIA.]  Come, then--and
+don't fear to trust yourself in your comrade's hands.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+[Clinging to him.]  Oh, how I shall rejoice and sing, if I get down
+with a whole skin!
+
+
+ULFHEIM.
+
+[Begins the descent and calls to the others.]  You'll wait, then, in
+the hut, till the men come with ropes, and fetch you away.
+
+    [ULFHEIM, with MAIA in his arms, clambers rapidly but warily down
+       the precipice.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looks for some time at PROFESSOR RUBEK with terror-stricken eyes.]
+Did you hear that, Arnold?--men are coming up to fetch me away!  Many
+men will come up here---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Do not be alarmed, Irene!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[In growing terror.]  And she, the woman in black--she will come too.
+For she must have missed me long ago.  And then she will seize me,
+Arnold!  And put me in the strait-waistcoat.  Oh, she has it with her,
+in her box.  I have seen it with my own eyes---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Not a soul shall be suffered to touch you.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a wild smile.]  Oh no--I myself have a resource against that.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+What resource do you mean?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Drawing out the knife.]  This!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Tries to seize it.]  Have you a knife?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Always, always--both day and night--in bed as well!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Give me that knife, Irene!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Concealing it.]  You shall not have it.  I may very likely find a use
+for it myself.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+What use can you have for it, here?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looks fixedly at him.]  It was intended for you, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+For me!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+As we were sitting by the Lake of Taunitz last evening---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+By the Lake of---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+--outside the peasant's hut--and playing with swans and water-lilies---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+What then--what then?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+--and when I heard you say with such deathly, icy coldness--that I was
+nothing but an episode in your life---
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+It was you that said that, Irene, not I.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Continuing.]  --then I had my knife out.  I wanted to stab you in the
+back with it.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Darkly.]  And why did you hold your hand?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Because it flashed upon me with a sudden horror that you were dead
+already--long ago.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Dead?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Dead.  Dead, you as well as I.  We sat there by the Lake of Taunitz,
+we two clay-cold bodies--and played with each other.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+I do not call that being dead.  But you do not understand me.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Then where is the burning desire for me that you fought and battled
+against when I stood freely forth before you as the woman arisen from
+the dead?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Our love is assuredly not dead, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+The love that belongs to the life of earth--the beautiful, miraculous
+earth-life--the inscrutable earth-life--that is dead in both of us.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Passionately.]  And do you know that just that love--it is burning
+and seething in me as hotly as ever before?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+And I?  Have you forgotten who I now am?
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Be who or what you please, for aught I care!  For me, you are the woman
+I see in my dreams of you.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+I have stood on the turn-table-naked--and made a show of myself to many
+hundreds of men--after you.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+It was I that drove you to the turn-table--blind as I then was--I, who
+placed the dead clay-image above the happiness of life--of love.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looking down.]  Too late--too late!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Not by a hairsbreadth has all that has passed in the interval lowered
+you in my eyes.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With head erect.]  Nor in my own!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Well, what then!  Then we are free--and there is still time for us to
+live our life, Irene.
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Looks sadly at him.]  The desire for life is dead in me, Arnold.  Now
+I have arisen.  And I look for you.  And I find you.--And then I see
+that you and life lie dead--as I have lain.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+Oh, how utterly you are astray!  Both in us and around us life is
+fermenting and throbbing as fiercely as ever!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Smiling and shaking her head.]  The young woman of your Resurrection
+Day can see all life lying on its bier.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Throwing his arms violently around her.]  Then let two of the dead--
+us two--for once live life to its uttermost--before we go down to our
+graves again!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[With a shriek.]  Arnold!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+But not here in the half darkness!  Not here with this hideous dank
+shroud flapping around us---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Carried away by passion.]  No, no--up in the light, and in all the
+glittering glory!  Up to the Peak of Promise!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+There we will hold our marriage-feast, Irene--oh, my beloved!
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[Proudly.]  The sun may freely look on us, Arnold.
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+All the powers of light may freely look on us--and all the powers of
+darkness too.  [Seizes her hand.]  Will you then follow me, oh my
+grace-given bride?
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+[As though transfigured.]  I follow you, freely and gladly, my lord
+and master!
+
+
+PROFESSOR RUBEK.
+
+[Drawing her along with him.]  We must first pass through the mists,
+Irene, and then---
+
+
+IRENE.
+
+Yes, through all the mists, and then right up to the summit of the
+tower that shines in the sunrise.
+
+    [The mist-clouds close in over the scene--PROFESSOR RUBEK and
+       IRENE, hand in hand, climb up over the snow-field to the right
+       and soon disappear among the lower clouds.  Keen storm-gusts
+       hurtle and whistle through the air.
+
+    [The SISTER OF MERCY appears upon the stone-scree to the left.
+       She stops and looks around silently and searchingly.
+
+
+MAIA.
+
+               I am free!  I am free!  I am free!
+               No more life in the prison for me!
+               I am free as a bird!  I am free!
+
+    [Suddenly a sound like thunder is heard from high up on the snow-
+       field, which glides and whirls downwards with headlong speed.
+       PROFESSOR RUBEK and IRENE can be dimly discerned as they are
+       whirled along with the masses of snow and buried in them.
+
+
+THE SISTER OF MERCY.
+
+[Gives a shriek, stretches out her arms towards them and cries.] Irene!
+
+    [Stands silent a moment, then makes the sign of the cross before
+       her in the air, and says.
+
+Pax vobiscum!
+
+    [MAIA's triumphant song sounds from still farther down below.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of When We Dead Awaken, by Henrik Ibsen
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN ***
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