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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Dramas, by Björnstjerne M. Björnson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Three Dramas
+       The Editor--The Bankrupt--The King
+
+Author: Björnstjerne M. Björnson
+
+Commentator: R. Farquharson Sharp
+
+Release Date: April, 2005  [EBook #7844]
+Posting Date: August 11, 2009
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE DRAMAS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nicole Apostola
+
+
+
+
+
+THREE DRAMAS
+
+THE EDITOR--THE BANKRUPT--THE KING
+
+
+By Björnstjerne Björnson
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     THE EDITOR
+     THE BANKRUPT
+     THE KING
+
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+The three plays here presented were the outcome of a period when
+Björnson's views on many topics were undergoing a drastic revision and
+he was abandoning much of his previous orthodoxy in many directions. Two
+of them were written during, and one immediately after, a three years'
+absence from Norway--years spent almost entirely in southern Europe.
+[Note: Further details respecting Björnson's life will be found in the
+Introduction to Three Comedies by Björnson, published in Everyman's
+Library in 1912.] For nearly ten years previous to this voluntary
+exile, Björnson had been immersed in theatrical management and political
+propagandism. His political activities (guided by a more or less
+pronounced republican tendency) centred in an agitation for a truer
+equality between the kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, his point of view
+being that Norway had come to be regarded too much as a mere appanage
+of Sweden. Between that and his manifold and distracting cares as
+theatrical director, he had let imaginative work slide for the time
+being; but his years abroad had a recuperative effect, and, in addition,
+broadened his mental outlook in a remarkable manner. Foreign travel, a
+wider acquaintance with differing types of humanity, and, above all,
+a newly-won acquaintance with the contemporary literature of other
+countries, made a deep impression upon Björnson's vigorously receptive
+mind. He browsed voraciously upon the works of foreign writers. Herbert
+Spencer, Darwin, John Stuart Mill, Taine, Max-Müller, formed a portion
+of his mental pabulum at this time--and the result was a significant
+alteration of mental attitude on a number of questions, and a
+determination to make the attempt to embody his theories in dramatic
+form. He had gained all at once, as he wrote to Georg Brandes, the
+eminent Danish critic, "eyes that saw and ears that heard." Up to this
+time the poet in him had been predominant; now it was to be the
+social philosopher that held the reins. Just as Ibsen did, so Björnson
+abandoned historical drama and artificial comedy for an attempt at
+prose drama which should have at all events a serious thesis. In this
+he anticipated Ibsen; for (unless we include the satirical political
+comedy, _The League of Youth_, which was published in 1869, among
+Ibsen's "social dramas") Ibsen did not enter the field with _Pillars of
+Society_ [Note: Published in _The Pretenders and Two Other Plays_, in
+Everyman's Library, 1913.] until 1877, whereas Björnson's _The Editor_,
+_The Bankrupt_, and _The King_ were all published between 1874 and 1877.
+Intellectual and literary life in Denmark had been a good deal stirred
+and quickened in the early seventies, and the influence of that
+awakening was inevitably felt by the more eager spirits in the other
+Scandinavian countries. It is amusing to note, as one Norwegian writer
+has pointed out, that this intellectual upheaval (which, in its turn,
+was a reflection of that taking place in outer Europe) came at a time
+when the bulk of the Scandinavian folk "were congratulating themselves
+that the doubt and ferment of unrest which were undermining the
+foundations of the great communities abroad had not had the power to
+ruffle the placid surface of our good, old-fashioned, Scandinavian
+orthodoxy." Björnson makes several sly hits in these plays (as does
+Ibsen in _Pillars of Society_) at this distrust of the opinions and
+manners of the larger communities outside of Scandinavia, notably
+America, with which the Scandinavian countries were more particularly in
+touch through emigration.
+
+Brandes characterises the impelling motive of these three plays as a
+passionate appeal for a higher standard of truth--in journalism, in
+finance, in monarchy: an appeal for less casuistry and more honesty.
+Such a motive was characteristic of the vehement honesty of Björnson's
+own character; he must always, as he says in one of his letters, go
+over to the side of any one whom he believed to "hold the truth in his
+hands."
+
+_The Editor_ (_Redaktören_) was written while Björnson was in Florence,
+and was published at Copenhagen in 1874. It was at first not accepted
+for performance at Christiania or Copenhagen, though an unauthorised
+performance of it was given at one of the lesser Christiania theatres
+in 1875, Meanwhile a Swedish version of it had been produced,
+authoritatively, at Stockholm in February of that year. The play
+eventually made its way on the Norwegian and Danish stage; but, before
+that, it had been seen in German dress at Munich and Hamburg. As an
+inevitable result of his recent activities as a political speaker and
+pamphleteer, Björnson had come in for a good deal of vituperation in the
+press, a fact which no doubt added some gall to the ink with which he
+drew the portrait of the journalist in this play. The Stockholm critics,
+indeed, had condemned _The Editor_ as merely a pamphleteering attack on
+the editor of a well-known journal. In answer to this criticism
+Björnson wrote from Rome in March, 1875: "It is said that my play is a
+pamphleteering attack on a certain individual. That is a deliberate lie.
+I have studied the journalist type, which is here represented, in many
+other countries besides my own. The chief characteristic of this type
+is to be actuated by an inordinate egotism that is perpetually being
+inflamed by passion; that makes use of bogeys to frighten people,
+and does this in such a way that, while it makes all its honest
+contemporaries afraid of any freedom of thought, it also produces the
+same result on every single individual by means of reckless persecution.
+As I wished to portray that type, I naturally took a good deal of the
+portrait from the representative of the type that I knew best; but, like
+every artist who wishes to produce a complete creation, I had to build
+it up from separate revelations of itself. There can, therefore, be no
+question of any individual being represented in my play except in so far
+as he may partially agree with the type."
+
+However much Björnson may have written _The Editor_ with a "purpose,"
+his vivid dramatic sense kept him from becoming merely didactic. The
+little tragedy that takes place amongst this homely group of people
+makes quite a moving play, thanks to the skill with which the types
+are depicted--the bourgeois father and mother, with their mixture of
+timidity and self-interest; the manly, straightforward young politician,
+resolute to carry on the work that has sapped his brother's life; the
+warped, de-humanised nature of the journalist; the sturdy common-sense
+of the yeoman farmer; and the doctor, the "family friend," as a sort of
+mocking chorus. Besides its plea for a higher regard for truth, the play
+also attacks the precept, preached by worldly wisdom, that we ought to
+harden our natures to make ourselves invulnerable; a proposition
+which was hateful to one of Björnson's persistently impressionable
+and ingenuous nature. The fact remains, as Brandes grimly admits, that
+"nowadays we have only a very qualified sympathy with public characters
+who succumb to the persecution of the press." Brandes sees in the play,
+besides its obvious motive, an allegory. Halvdan Rejn, the weary and
+dying politician, is (he says) meant for Henrik Wergeland, a Norwegian
+poet-politician who had similar struggles, sank under the weight of
+similar at tacks, died after a long illness, and was far higher reputed
+after his death than during his life. In Harald Rejn, with his honest
+enthusiasm and misjudged political endeavours Brandes sees Björnson
+himself; while the yeoman brother, Haakon, seems to him to typify the
+Norwegian people.
+
+_The Bankrupt_ (_En Fallit_: literally _A Bankruptcy_) was partly
+written in Rome, partly in Tyrol, and published at Copenhagen in 1875.
+It was a thing entirely new to the Scandinavian stage for a dramatist
+to deal seriously with the tragi-comedy of money, and, while making
+a forcible plea for honesty, to contrive to produce a stirring and
+entertaining play on what might seem so prosaic a foundation as business
+finance. Some of the play's earliest critics dismissed it as "dry,"
+"prosaic," "trivial," because of the nature of its subject; but it made
+a speedy success on the boards, and very soon became a popular item in
+the repertories of the Christiania, Bergen and Copenhagen theatres. It
+was actually first performed, in a Swedish translation, at Stockholm, a
+few days before it was produced at Christiania. Very soon, too, the play
+reached Berlin, Munich, Vienna, and other German and Austrian theatres.
+It was played in Paris, at the Théâtre Libre in 1894. The character of
+Berent, the lawyer, which became a favourite one with the famous Swedish
+actor Ernst Possart, was admittedly more or less of a portrait of a
+well-known Norwegian lawyer, by name Dunker. When Björnson was writing
+the play, he went to stay for some days with Dunker, who was to instruct
+him as to the legal aspect of bankruptcy. Björnson took the opportunity
+of studying the lawyer as well as the law.
+
+_The King_ (_Kongen_) was written at Aulestad, the Norwegian home in
+which Björnson settled after his return from abroad, and was published
+at Copenhagen in 1877. It is perhaps not surprising that the play, with
+its curious blend of poetry and social philosophy, and its somewhat
+exuberant (though always interesting) wordiness, was not at first
+a conspicuous success on the stage; but the interest aroused by
+the published book was enormous. It was widely read and vigorously
+discussed, both in Scandinavia and abroad; and while, on the one hand,
+it brought upon Björnson the most scurrilous abuse and the harshest
+criticism from his political opponents, on the other hand a prominent
+compatriot of his (whose opinion was worth having) gave it as his
+verdict, at a political meeting held soon after the play's publication,
+that "the most notable thing that has happened in Norway of late--or at
+any rate, one of the most notable--in my opinion is this last book of
+Björnson's--_The King_."
+
+The idea of a "democratic monarchy"--a kind of reformed constitutional
+monarchy, that should be a half-way house on the road to
+republicanism--was not entirely new; Björnson's success was in
+presenting the problem as seen from the _inside_--that is to say, from
+the king's point of view. His opponents, of course, branded him as a
+red-hot republican, which he was not. In a preface he wrote for a later
+edition of the play, he says that he did not intend the play mainly as
+an argument in favour of republicanism, but "to extend the boundaries of
+free discussion"; but that, at the same time, he believed the republic
+to be the ultimate form of government, and all European states to be
+proceeding at varying rates of speed towards it.
+
+_The King_ is composed of curiously incongruous elements. The railway
+meeting in the first act is pure comedy of a kind to compare with the
+meeting in Ibsen's _An Enemy of Society_; the last act is melodrama
+with a large admixture of remarkably interesting social philosophy; the
+intervening acts betray the poet that always underlay the dramatist
+in Björnson. The crudity, again, of the melodramatic appearance of the
+wraith of Clara's father in the third act, contrasts strangely with the
+mature thoughtfulness of much of the last act and with the tender charm
+of what has gone before: And--strangest incongruity of all in a play
+so essentially "actual"--there is in the original, between each act,
+a mysterious "mellemspil," or "interlude," in verse, consisting of
+somewhat cryptic dialogues between Genii and Unseen Choirs in the
+clouds, between an "Old Grey Man" and a "Chorus of Tyrants" in a
+desolate scene of snow and ice, between Choruses of Men, Women, and
+Children in a sylvan landscape, and so forth--their utterances being of
+the nature of the obscurest choruses in the Greek dramatists, but for
+the most part with a less obvious relevance to the play itself. Such
+a device leads the present-day reader's thoughts inevitably to the use
+made of the "unseen chorus," in a similar way, by Thomas Hardy in _The
+Dynasts_; but Hardy's interludes are closely relevant to his drama and
+help it on its way, which Björnson's do not. They have been entirely
+omitted in the present translation, on the ground of their complete
+superfluity as well as from the extreme difficulty of retaining their
+"atmosphere" in translation.
+
+None of the three plays in the present volume have previously been
+translated into English. German, French, and Swedish versions of _The
+Editor_ are extant; German, Swedish, Finnish, French, and Hungarian of
+_The Bankrupt_; French and Spanish of _The King_.
+
+R. FARQUHARSON SHARP.
+
+
+
+The following is a list of the works of Björnstjerne Björnson:--
+
+DRAMATIC AND POETIC WORKS.--Mellem Slagene (Between the Battles), 1857.
+Halte-Hulda (Lame Hulda), 1858. Kong Sverre (King Sverre), 1861. Sigurd
+Slembe (Sigurd the Bastard), 1862; translated by W. M. Payne, 1888.
+Maria Stuart i Skotland, 1864. De Nygifte (The Newly-Married Couple),
+1865; translated by T. Soelfeldt, 1868; by S. and E. Hjerleid, 1870; as
+A Lesson in Marriage, by G. I. Colbron, 1911. Sigurd Jorsalfar (Sigurd
+the Crusader), 1872. Redaktören (The Editor), 1874. En Fallit (A
+Bankruptcy), 1874. Kongen (The King), 1877. Leonarda, 1879. Det
+ny System (The New System), 1879. En Hanske, 1883; translated as A
+Gauntlet, by H. L. Braekstad 1890; by Osman Edwards 1894. Over AEvne
+(Beyond our Strength), Part I., 1883; translated as Pastor Sang, by
+W. Wilson, 1893; Part II., 1895. Geografi og Kaerlighed (Geography and
+Love), 1885; Paul Lange og Tora Parsberg, 1898; translated by H. L.
+Braekstad, 1899. Laboremus, 1901; translation published by Chapman and
+Hall, 1901. Paa Storhove (At Storhove), 1904; Daglannet, 1904; Naar
+den ny Vin blomstrer (When the Vineyards are in Blossom), 1909; The
+Newly-Married Couple, Leonarda, and A Gauntlet, translated by R.
+Farquharson Sharp (Everyman's Library), 1912.
+
+Digte og Sange (Poems and Songs), 1870; Arnljot Gelline, 1870.
+
+
+FICTION.--Synnöve Solbakken 1857; translated as Trust and Trial, by Mary
+Howitt, 1858; as Love and Life in Norway, by Hon. Augusta Bethell and A.
+Plesner, 1870; as The Betrothal, in H. and A. Zimmern's Half-hours with
+Foreign Novelists, 1880; also translated by Julie Sutter, 1881; by R. B.
+Anderson, 1881. Arne, 1858; translated by T. Krag, 1861; by A. Plesner
+and S. Rugeley-Powers, 1866; by R. B. Anderson, 1881; by W. Low (Bohn's
+Library), 1890. Smaastykker (Sketches), 1860. En glad Gut, 1860;
+translated as Ovind, by S. and E. Hjerleid 1869; as The Happy Boy, by
+R. B. Anderson, 1881; as The Happy Lad (published by Blackie), 1882.
+Fiskerjenten, 1868 translated as The Fisher Maiden, by M. E. Niles,
+1869; as The Fishing Girl, by A. Plesner and F. Richardson, 1870; as The
+Fishing Girl, by S. and E. Hjerleid, 1871; as The Fisher Maiden, by R.
+B. Anderson, 1882. Brude-Slaatten, 1873; translated as The Bridal March,
+by R. B. Anderson, 1882; by J. E. Williams, 1893. Fortaellinger (Tales),
+1872. Magnhild, 1877; translated by R. B. Anderson, 1883. Kaptejn
+Mansana, 1879; translated as Captain Mansana by R. B. Anderson, 1882.
+Det flager i Byen og paa Havnen (Flags are Flying in Town and Port),
+1884; translated as The Heritage of the Kurts, by C Fairfax 1892. Paa
+Guds Veje, 1889; translated as In God's Way, by E. Carmichael, 1890.
+Nye Fortaellinger (New Tales), 1894; To Fortaelinger (Two Tales), 1901;
+Mary, 1906. Collected edition of the Novels, translated into English,
+edited by E. Gosse, 13 vols., 1895-1909.
+
+[See Life of Björnson by W. M. Payne, 1910; E. Gosse's Study of the
+Writings of Björnson, in edition of Novels, 1895; H. H. Boyesen's Essays
+on Scandinavian Literature, 1895; G. Brandes' Critical Studies of Ibsen
+and Björnson, 1899.]
+
+
+
+
+
+THE EDITOR
+
+A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS
+
+DRAMATIS PERSONAE
+
+     EVJE, a prosperous distiller.
+     MRS. EVJE. GERTRUD, their daughter, engaged to
+     HARALD REJN.
+     The DOCTOR.
+     The EDITOR.
+     HAAKON REJN, a yeoman farmer.
+     HALVDAN REJN and HARALD REJN, his brothers.
+     The DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT.
+     INGEBORG, maid to the Evjes.
+     JOHN, coachman to the Evjes.
+     HALVDAN REJN's HOUSEKEEPER.
+     HALVDAN REJN's MAID.
+     A Lamplighter.
+
+The action takes place in a town in Norway.
+
+
+
+
+ACT I
+
+(SCENE.--The breakfast-room at the EVJES' house. A glass-cupboard, in
+two partitions, stands against the left-hand wall, well forward. On the
+top of it stand a variety of objects. Beyond it, a stove. At the back of
+the room, a sideboard. In the middle of the room a small round folding
+table, laid for four persons. There is an armchair by the stove; a sofa
+on the right; chairs, etc. A door at the back of the room, and another
+in the left-hand wall. There are paintings on the walls, and the general
+impression of the room is one of snug comfort. EVJE, MRS. EVJE, and
+GERTRUD are seated at the table. INGEBORG is standing by the sideboard.
+Breakfast is proceeding in silence as the curtain rises. INGEBORG takes
+away EVJE'S cup and re-fills it. As she brings it back to him, a ring is
+heard at the bell. GERTRUD gets up.)
+
+Evje. Sit still; John will go to the door. (GERTRUD sits down again.
+Directly afterwards, another ring is heard.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. What can John be doing?
+
+Ingeborg. I will go. (Goes out. She comes back, showing in HARALD REJN,
+who hangs up his hat and coat in the hall before coming in.)
+
+Harald. Good morning!
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. Good morning! (HARALD shakes hands with them.)
+
+Harald (to GERTRUD, who is sitting on the right). Good morning, Gertrud!
+Am I a bit late to-day? (GERTRUD, who has taken his hand, looks lovingly
+at him but says nothing.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, I suppose you have been for a long constitutional,
+although the weather is none of the best.
+
+Harald. It is not; I expect we shall have a thick fog by the afternoon.
+
+Evje. Did you have breakfast before you went out?
+
+Harald. I did, thanks. (To INGEBORG, who has come forward with a cup of
+coffee.) No, thank you. I will sit down here while you are finishing.
+(Sits down on the sofa behind GERTRUD.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. How is your brother Halvdan?
+
+Harald. A little better to-day, thanks--but of course we cannot build on
+that.
+
+Evje. Is your eldest brother coming to see him?
+
+Harald. Yes, we expect him every day. Probably his wife has come with
+him, and that has been the reason of the delay; she finds it difficult
+to get away.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Halvdan so often talks of her.
+
+Harald. Yes, I believe she is the best friend he has.
+
+Evje. No wonder, then, that she wants to come and say good-bye to him.
+By the way, have you seen how the paper bids him good-bye to-day?
+
+Harald. Yes, I have seen it.
+
+Mrs. Evje (hurriedly). I hope Halvdan has not seen it?
+
+Harald (smiling). No, it is a long time now since Halvdan read a
+newspaper. (A pause.)
+
+Evje. Then I suppose you have read what they say about you too?
+
+Harald. Naturally.
+
+Mrs. Evje. It is worse than anything they have said about you before.
+
+Harald. Well--of course, you know, my election meeting comes on this
+evening.
+
+Evje. I can tell you it has upset _us_.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Day after day we wake up to find our house invaded by these
+abominations. That is a nice thought to begin your day's work with!
+
+Harald. Is it so indispensable, then, to educated people to begin their
+day by reading such things?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Well--one must have a paper.
+
+Evje. And most people read it. Besides, one can't deny that a lot of
+what is in it is true, although its general tendency is to run everyone
+down.
+
+Harald (getting up). Quite so, yes. (Leans over GERTRUD'S shoulder.)
+Gertrud, have you read it?
+
+Gertrud (does not look at him, and hesitates for a moment; then says
+gently): Yes.
+
+Harald (under his breath). So that is it! (Walks away from her.)
+
+Evje. We have had a little bit of a scene here, I must tell you.
+
+Harald (walking up and down). Yes, I can understand that.
+
+Evje. I will repeat what I have said already: they write about _you_,
+and _we_ have to suffer for it.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, and Gertrud especially.
+
+Gertrud. No--I don't want anyone to consider me in the matter at all.
+Besides, it is not what they say of you in the paper that hurts me--.
+(Stops abruptly.)
+
+Harald (who has come up to her). But what your parents are feeling about
+it? Is that it? (GERTRUD does not answer.)
+
+Evje (pushing back his plate). There, I have finished! (They rise from
+the table. MRS. EVJE helps INGEBORG to clear away the things, which
+INGEBORG carries out of the room.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. Couldn't you wash your hands of politics, Harald? (GERTRUD
+goes out to the left.)
+
+Evje (who has followed GERTRUD with his eyes). We cannot deny that it
+pains us considerably that in our old age our peaceful home should be
+invaded by all this squabbling and abomination.
+
+Mrs. Evje (who rung for INGEBORG to move the table). You have no need
+to do it, either, Harald! You are a grown man, and your own master.
+(INGEBORG comes in. HARALD helps her to move the table.)
+
+Evje (to his wife). Don't let Ingeborg hear. Come along, we will go into
+my room.
+
+Mrs. Evje. You forget, all the windows are open there. I have had the
+fire lit here, so that we could stay here.
+
+Evje. Very well--then we will sit here. (Sits down by the fire.) Will
+you have a cigar?
+
+Harald. No, thanks. (INGEBORG goes out.)
+
+Evje (taking a cigar and lighting it). As my wife said just
+now--couldn't you wash your hands of politics, Harald? You, who have
+both talent and means, need not be at a loss for a vocation in life.
+
+Harald (sitting down on the sofa). If I have any talent, it is for
+politics--and so I intend to devote my means to that.
+
+Evje. What do you propose to gain by it?
+
+Harald. What any one who believes in a cause hopes to gain--that is to
+say, to help it on.
+
+Evje. And to become a cabinet minister?
+
+Harald. I certainly can't do that any other way; well, I admit--that
+_is_ my idea.
+
+Evje. You will not be elected now.
+
+Harald. That we shall see.
+
+Evje. But suppose you are not re-elected to-morrow?
+
+Harald. Then I must find some other way.
+
+Evje. Always with the same object?
+
+Harald. Always with the same object. (EVJE sighs.)
+
+Mrs. Evje (who has taken her sewing and sat down by the fire). Oh, these
+politics!
+
+Harald. At any rate, they are the most prominent factors in life just
+now.
+
+Evje. We do not suppose we can exercise any influence over you. But
+at any rate it is possible that you yourself have not considered the
+position into which you have put the whole of us. (Both he and his wife
+avoid looking at HARALD during this discussion.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. Say what you really mean, dear--that he is making us all
+thoroughly unhappy, and that is the truth!
+
+Harald (getting up, and walking up and down). Well, look here--I have
+a proposal to make. It is, that you should abandon all opposition to
+Gertrud's marrying me at once. To-day again my brother has expressed the
+wish that we should be married by his bedside; so that he should be able
+to take part in it. I scarcely need add how happy it would make me.
+
+Evje. But whether she is here at home or married to you, you know, her
+parents' distress would be just as great every time their child was
+persecuted.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Surely you can appreciate that!
+
+Harald. But what answer am I to give to my brother's request?--most
+likely the last he will ever--. (Stops.)
+
+Evje (after a pause). He is very kind to wish it, as he always is.
+Nothing would make us happier; but we who are her parents do not
+consider that you could make our daughter happy as long as you remain in
+politics and on the lines on which you are now travelling.
+
+Harald (after a pause, during which he has stood still). That is to say,
+you contemplate breaking off our engagement?
+
+Evje (looking at him quickly). Far from it!
+
+Mrs. Evje (at the same time). How can you say such a thing?
+
+Evje (turning towards the fire again). We have spoken about it to
+Gertrud to-day--as to whether it would not be possible to induce you to
+choose some other career.
+
+Mrs. Evje. You understand now, why you found Gertrud upset. You must
+listen to us now, as she did, in all friendliness.
+
+Evje (getting up and standing with his back to the fire). The first
+thing I do in the morning is to read my paper. You know what was in it
+to-day--the same as is in it now every day.
+
+Mrs. Evje. No; I am sure it has never been as bad as to-day.
+
+Harald (walking up and down again). The election is just at hand!
+
+Evje. Well--it is just as painful to us, her father and mother, whether
+it is before or after the election. We are not accustomed to associate
+with any one who has not first-class credentials--and now we have to
+endure seeing doubt cast upon our own son-in-law's. Do not misunderstand
+me; to my mind, for credentials to be first-class they must not only
+actually be so, but must also be considered to be so by people in
+general. (HARALD begins to walk up and down again.) The second thing I
+do in the morning is to open my letters. Amongst to-day's were several
+from friends we had invited to a party we thought of giving--if, that
+is to say, your brother's illness took no sudden turn for the worse. No
+fewer than ten of them refuse our invitation--most of them making some
+excuse, and a few with a little more show of a real reason; but one of
+them speaks straight out, and I have his letter here. (Takes it from his
+pocket.) I have kept it for you. It is from my father's old friend,
+the bishop. I haven't my spectacles--and for me to have mislaid my
+spectacles will show you what a state of mind I am in. I don't think I
+have done such a thing for--. Here, read it yourself! Read it aloud!
+
+Harald (taking the letter). "My dear Mr. Evje. As you are my poor dear
+friend's son, you must listen to the truth from me. I cannot willingly
+come to your house while I might meet there a certain person who,
+certainly, is one of you, but nevertheless is a person whom I cannot
+hold in entire respect."
+
+Mrs. Evje. Well, Harald, what do you think our feelings must be when we
+read things like that?
+
+Evje. Do not imagine that, in spite of that, _we_ do not hold you in
+entire respect. We only ask you to ensure our daughter's happiness. You
+can do that with a word.
+
+Mrs. Evje. We know what you are, whatever people say--even if they are
+bishops. But, in return, you ought to have confidence in our judgment;
+and our advice to you is, have done with it! Marry Gertrud at once, and
+go away for your honeymoon; by the time you come back, people will have
+got something else to talk about--and you will have found something else
+to occupy you as well.
+
+Evje. You must not misunderstand us. We mean no coercion. We are
+not insisting on this alternative. If you wish to be married, you
+shall--without feeling yourself obliged to change your vocation for
+_our_ sakes. We only want to make it clear that it would pain us--pain
+us very deeply.
+
+Mrs. Evje. If you want to take time to think it over, or want to talk it
+over with Gertrud or with your brother, do! (GERTRUD comes in and goes
+about the room looking for something.)
+
+Evje. What are you looking for, dear?
+
+Gertrud. Oh, for the--.
+
+Mrs. Evje. I expect it is the newspaper; your grandfather has been
+asking for it.
+
+Evje. Surely there is no need for _him_ to read it?
+
+Mrs. Evje. He asked me for it, too. He knows quite well what has made us
+all unhappy.
+
+Evje. Can't you tell him? No, that wouldn't do.
+
+Mrs. Evje (to GERTRUD). I suppose you have had to confess to him what is
+the matter?
+
+Gertrud (trying to conceal an emotion that is almost too much for her).
+Yes. (Finds the paper, and goes out.)
+
+Mrs. Evje (when GERTRUD has gone). Poor child!
+
+Evje. Does not what she is carrying to him, with all that it says about
+you and about your brother, seem to you like an omen? I will tell you
+how it strikes me. Your brother is a very much more gifted man than I
+am; and although it is true, as that paper says, that nothing of all
+that he has worked for has ever come to anything, still perhaps he may
+nevertheless have accomplished more than either you or me, although we
+have done a good deal between us to increase the prosperity of our town.
+I feel that to be so, although I cannot express what I mean precisely.
+But consider the reputation he will leave behind him. All educated
+people will say just what that paper says to-day--and to-morrow he will
+be forgotten. He will scarcely find a place in history, for history only
+concerns itself with the great leaders of men. What does it all come
+to, then? Neither present nor posthumous fame; but death--death all the
+time. He is dying by inches now, dying of the most horrible persecution;
+and the emotion that his end will cause among a few individuals cannot
+be called posthumous fame. (HARALD begins to speak, but checks himself.)
+Can _you_ hope to make a better fight of it? You think you are stronger?
+Very well; perhaps you may have the strength to endure it until other
+times come and other opinions with them. But there will be one by
+your side who will not have the strength to endure it. Gertrud is not
+strong--she could never stand it; indeed now--already--. (Is stopped by
+his emotion.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. She hides it from you, but she cannot hide it from us.
+Besides, a friend of ours--our dear doctor--said only yesterday--.
+(Breaks off in tears.)
+
+Evje. We never told you, but he warned us some time ago; we had no
+idea it was so serious, or that it had anything to do with this.
+But yesterday he frightened us; he said she--. Well, you can ask him
+yourself. He will be here directly. (HARALD fills a glass of water and
+raises it to his lips, but sets it down again untasted.)
+
+Mrs. Evje (going to him). I am so sorry for you, Harald! To have this
+come on you just now--when your splendid brother is at the point of
+death, and you yourself are being persecuted! (A ring is heard at the
+bell.)
+
+Evje. But it should be a warning to you! Sometimes a single movement
+will change the course of a whole life.
+
+Mrs. Evje. And do have a little confidence in us! (A ring is heard
+again.)
+
+Evje. What on earth has become of John to-day? That is the second time
+the bell has rung.
+
+Mrs. Evje. One of the maids is opening the door, I can hear.
+
+Evje. I expect it is the doctor.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, it is he--I know his ring. (A knock is heard at the
+door.)
+
+Evje. Come in! (The DOCTOR comes in.)
+
+The Doctor. Good morning! (Lays down his hat and stick.) Well, so I hear
+John has been up to his pranks again? The rascal is in bed.
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. In bed?
+
+The Doctor. Came home at four o'clock in the morning, drunk. Ill to-day,
+naturally. Ingeborg asked me to go in and see him.
+
+Evje. Well!--I am determined to put an end to it!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, I have never been able to understand why you were so
+lenient with John.
+
+Evje. He has been with us five years; and, besides, it makes people talk
+so, if you have to send your servants away.
+
+Mrs. Evje. But surely this sort of thing makes them talk much worse!
+
+Evje. Well--he shall leave this very day.
+
+The Doctor (to HARALD). How are you, Rejn?--Oho! I understand. I have
+come at an inopportune moment with my complaints of John? You have all
+got something more serious on your minds?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, we have had it out, as we agreed yesterday.
+
+The Doctor. You must forgive me, my dear Rejn, for having told my old
+friends the whole truth yesterday. She (pointing to MRS. EVJE) was an
+old playfellow of mine, and her husband and I have been friends from
+boyhood; so we have no secrets from each other. And Gertrud's condition
+makes me very uneasy.
+
+Harald. Why have you never told me that before?
+
+The Doctor. Goodness knows I have often enough given her parents hints
+that she was not well; but they have only made up their minds that her
+happiness in her engagement would quite cure her. They are a considerate
+couple, these two dear people, you know; they didn't want to seem
+interfering.
+
+Harald. Their consideration--which I appreciate and have lately had
+constant reason to be grateful for--has all at once become a more
+powerful weapon than open opposition. It makes a duty of what I should
+otherwise have felt to be unfair coercion. But now the situation is such
+that I can neither go forward nor back. After what I have gone through,
+you must see that I cannot withdraw on the very eve of the election--and
+after the election it will be too late. On the other hand--(with
+emotion)--I cannot, I dare not, go on with it if it is to cost me--.
+(Breaks off.)
+
+Evje (standing in front of the fire). There, there! Take time to think
+it over, my dear boy; talk it over with her and with your brother.
+
+The Doctor (who has sat down on a chair to the left, a little away from
+the others). I have just been to see your brother. A remarkable man! But
+do you know what occurred to me as I sat there? He is dying because he
+_is_ a man. The only people that are fit for political life nowadays are
+those whose hearts have been turned to stone. (Picks up something from
+the table and gets up.) Ah, just look here! Here is a fine specimen
+of petrifaction. It is a fragment of palm leaf of some kind, found
+impressed in a bit of rock from Spitzbergen. I sent it you myself, so
+I know it. That is what you have to be like to withstand arctic
+storms!--it will take to harm. But your brother--well, his life had been
+like that of the original palm tree, with the air sighing through its
+branches; the change of climate was too sudden for him. (Goes up to
+HARALD.) You have still to try it. Shall you be able to kill all the
+humanity that is in you? If you can make yourself as insensate a thing
+as this stone, I daresay you will be able to stand the life. But are you
+willing to venture upon political life at such a price? If you are--so
+be it; but remember that in that case you must also kill all humanity
+in Gertrud--in these two--in every one that is dear to you. Otherwise no
+one will understand you or follow you. If you cannot do that, you will
+never be more than a dabbler in politics--a quarter, an eighth part, of
+a politician--and all your efforts, in what you consider your vocation,
+will be pitiable!
+
+Mrs. Evje (who has been occupied at the back of the room, but now sits
+down by the fare). That is quite true! I know cases of petrifaction like
+that--and God preserve anyone that I love from it!
+
+Evje (coming forward towards HARALD). I don't want to say anything to
+hurt your feelings--least of all just now. But I just want to add my
+warning, because I believe I have discovered that there is a danger that
+persecution may make you hard.
+
+Harald. Yes!--but do you suppose it is only politics that offer that
+dangerous prospect?
+
+The Doctor. You are quite right! It is all the cry nowadays, "Harden
+yourself!" It isn't only military men and doctors that have to be
+hardened; commercial men have to be hardened, civil servants have to be
+hardened, or dried up; and everybody else has to be hardened for life,
+apparently. But what does it all mean? It means that we are to drive out
+all warmth from our hearts, all desire from our imaginations. There is a
+child's heart at the bottom of every one of our hearts-ever young, full
+of laughter and tears; and that is what we shall have killed before we
+are "fitted for the battle of life," as they put it. No, no--that is
+what we ought to preserve; we were given it for that! (HARALD hides his
+face in his hands, and sits so for some time.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. Any mother or any wife knows that.
+
+Evje (standing with his back to the fire). You want to bring back the
+age of romance, doctor!
+
+The Doctor (with a laugh). Not its errors--because in those days unclean
+minds brought to birth a great deal that was unclean. (Seriously.) But
+what is it, when all is said and done, but a violent protest on the
+part of the Teutonic people against the Romanesque spirit and school--a
+remarkable school, but not _ours_. To us it seems a barren, merely
+intellectual school--a mere mass of formulas which led to a precocious
+development of the mind. And that was the spirit it bred--critical and
+barren. But these schools of thought are now all we have, and both of
+them are bad for us! They have no use for the heart or the imagination;
+they do not breed faith or a longing for high achievement. Look at _our_
+life! Is our life really our own?
+
+Mrs. Evje. No. You have only to think of our language, our tastes, our
+society, our--
+
+The Doctor (interrupting her). Those are the externals of our life,
+merely the externals! No, look within--look at such a view of life as
+we were talking about, clamouring for "hardening"--is that ours? Can we,
+for all our diligence, make as much way in it as, for instance, a born
+Parisian journalist?--become like a bar of steel with a point at each
+end, a pen-point and a sword-point? _We_ can't do that; the Teutonic
+temperament is not fitted for it.
+
+Evje. Oh, we are well on the way towards it. Look at the heartless
+intolerance in our politics; it will soon match what you were
+describing.
+
+Harald. Everyone that disagrees with you is either an ambitious
+scoundrel, or half mad, or a blockhead.
+
+The Doctor (laughing). Yes, and here in the north, in our small
+communities, where a man meets all his enemies in the same barber's
+shop, we feel it as keenly as if we were digging our knives into each
+other! (Seriously.) We may laugh at it, but if we could add up the sum
+of suffering that has been caused to families and to individuals--if we
+could see the concrete total before us--we should be tempted to believe
+that our liberty had been given to us as a curse! For it _is_ a cursed
+thing to destroy the humanity that is in us, and make us cruel and hard
+to one another.
+
+Harald (getting up, but standing still). But, my good friends, if you
+are of the same mind about that, and I with you--what is the next thing
+to do?
+
+The Doctor. The next thing to do?
+
+Harald. Naturally, to unite in making an end of it.
+
+Mrs. Evje (as she works). What can _we_ do?
+
+Evje. I am no politician and do not wish to become one.
+
+The Doctor (laughing, and sitting down). No, a politician is a
+principle, swathed round with a printed set of directions for use. I
+prefer to be allowed to be a human being.
+
+Harald. No one can fairly insist on your taking up any vocation to which
+you do not feel you have a calling.
+
+The Doctor. Of course not.
+
+Harald. But one certainly might insist on your not helping to maintain a
+condition of affairs that you detest.
+
+All. We?
+
+Harald. This newspaper, which is the ultimate reason of all this
+conversation we have had--you take it in.
+
+Evje. Why, you take it in yourself!
+
+Harald. No. Every time there is anything nasty in it about me or mine,
+it is sent to me anonymously.
+
+The Doctor (with a laugh). I don't take it in; I read my hall-porter's
+copy.
+
+Harald. I have heard you say that before. I took an opportunity to ask
+your hall-porter. He said _he_ did not read it, and did not take it in
+either.
+
+The Doctor (as before). Then I should like to know who does pay for it!
+
+Evje. A newspaper is indispensable to a business man.
+
+Harald. An influential business man could by himself, or at any rate
+with one or two others, start a paper that would be as useful again to
+him as this one is.
+
+Evje. That is true enough; but, after all, if we agree with its
+politics?
+
+Harald. I will accept help from any one whose opinions on public affairs
+agree with my own. Who am I that I should pretend to judge him? But I
+will not give him my help in anything that is malicious or wicked.
+
+The Doctor. Pshaw!
+
+Harald. Everyone who subscribes to, or contributes to, or gives any
+information to a paper that is scurrilous, is giving his help to what
+is wicked. And, moreover, every one who is on terms of friendship with a
+man who is destroying public morality, is helping him to do it.
+
+The Doctor (getting up). Does he still come here? (A silence.)
+
+Evje. He and I are old schoolfellows--and I don't like breaking with old
+acquaintances.
+
+Mrs. Evje. He is a most amusing man, too--though I can't deny that he is
+malicious. (The DOCTOR sits down again, humming to himself.)
+
+Harald. But that is not all. Both you and the Doctor have--with some
+eloquence--
+
+The Doctor (with a laugh). Thank you!
+
+Harald.--expressed your abhorrence of certain political tendencies with
+which neither you nor I have any sympathy--which affront our ideas of
+humane conduct. You do not feel called upon to enter actively into the
+lists against them; but why do you try to prevent those who do feel so
+called upon? You lament the existing state of things--and yet you help
+to maintain it, and make a friend of the man who is its champion!
+
+The Doctor (turning his head). Apparently we are on our defence, Evje!
+
+Harald. No--I am. I was told a little while ago that I was in a fair way
+to become hardened and callous, and that I must abandon my career--and
+that I must do so for Gertrud's sake, too, because she would never be
+able to share the fight with me. I was told this at one of the bitterest
+moments in my life. And that made me hesitate for a moment. But now I
+have turned my face forward again, because you have enlightened me! (A
+short, sharp cough is heard in the hall.)
+
+Mrs. Evje (getting up). That is he! (A knock is heard at the door; the
+DOCTOR gets up and pushes his chair back. The EDITOR comes in.)
+
+The Editor. Good morning, my children! How are you?
+
+Mrs. Evje (sitting down). I did not hear the bell.
+
+The Editor. I don't suppose you did--I came in by the back door. I took
+you by surprise, eh? Discussing me, too--what? (Laughs.)
+
+Evje. You have given us enough reason to, to-day, any way.
+
+The Editor. Yes, haven't I? Such a thing for a man to do to his best
+friends--eh?
+
+Evje. That is true.
+
+The Editor. To his old schoolfellows--his neighbours--eh? I expect it
+has disturbed your natural moderation--eh?
+
+Evje. I pride myself on my moderation.
+
+The Editor. As much as on your brandy!
+
+Evje. Are you going to begin your nonsense again?
+
+The Editor. Good-morning, Doctor! Have you been making them a fine
+speech this morning?--about my paper? or about humanity?--romanticism?
+or catholicism?--eh? (Laughs.)
+
+The Doctor (laughing). Certainly one of us two has made a fine speech
+this morning!
+
+The Editor. Not me; mine was made yesterday!--How is your hall-porter?
+
+The Doctor (laughing). Quite well, I am ashamed to say.
+
+The Editor. There's a faithful subscriber to my paper, if you like! (The
+DOCTOR laughs.) Well, Mrs. Evje, I can give you news of your man, Master
+John!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Can you? It is more than I can.
+
+The Editor. Yes--he is in bed still. That is why I came in the back
+way--to enquire after his health.
+
+Mrs. Evje. But how--?
+
+The Editor. How is he after last night?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Really, I believe you know everything. We had no idea he was
+out last night.
+
+The Editor. Oh, that is the very latest intelligence! He has been
+figuring as a speaker--he was drunk, of course--before the Association
+founded by his master's future son-in-law. And he made a most effective
+speech--indeed, the speakers at that Association always make most
+effective speeches! It was all about a Sliding Scale of Taxation,
+Profit-Sharing for Workers, the necessity for a Labour majority in
+Parliament, etc., etc., all the usual Socialist rhodomontade. You see
+how infectious intellectual ideas are!
+
+Evje. Well!--I shall turn him out of the house to-day!
+
+The Editor. But that is not in accordance with your love of moderation,
+Evje!
+
+Evje. It is a scandal.
+
+The Editor (to EVJE). But not the worst. Because, if you want to avoid
+that sort of thing, there are others you must turn out of the house.
+(Glances towards HARALD.)
+
+Evje. You seem determined to quarrel to-day?
+
+The Editor. Yes, with your "moderation."
+
+Evje. You would be none the worse of a little of it.
+
+The Editor. "Brandy and Moderation" is your watchword--eh?
+
+Evje. Do stop talking such nonsense!--I know one thing, and that is that
+you seem to find the brandy from my distillery remarkably to your taste!
+
+The Doctor (interrupting them). When you are in these provoking moods
+there is always some grievance lurking at the back of your mind. Out
+with it! I am a doctor, you know; I want to get at the cause of your
+complaint!
+
+The Editor. You were not very successful in that, you know, when you
+said my maid had cholera, and she really only was--. (Laughs.)
+
+The Doctor (laughing). Are you going to bring that story up again? Every
+one is liable to make mistakes, you know--even you, my boy!
+
+The Editor. Certainly. But before making a mistake this time--ahem!--I
+wanted first of all to enquire whether--
+
+The Doctor. Ah! now it is coming!
+
+The Editor--whether you have any objection to my mentioning John in my
+paper?
+
+Mrs. Evje. What has John to do with us?
+
+The Editor. Just as much as the Association, where he delivered his
+speech, has; it--ahem!--is one of the family institutions!
+
+Evje. I have had no more to do with making John what he is than I have
+had with making that Association what it is.
+
+The Editor. Your future son-in-law made the Association what it is, and
+the Association has made John what he is.
+
+The Doctor. Or, to put it the other way round: John is Mr. Evje's
+servant; John has become an active member of the Association; therefore
+Mr. Evje is a patron of the Association.
+
+The Editor. Or this way: John, being the well-known Mr. Evje's servant,
+has for that reason become an active member of the Association which--as
+he expressed it--his employer's future son-in-law "has had the honour to
+found!"
+
+Mrs. Evje. Surely you never mean to put that in the paper?
+
+The Editor (laughing). They are John's own words.
+
+Mr. Evje. Of course, he would never put a tipsy man's maunderings into
+the paper. (To his wife.) Don't you understand that he is joking?
+
+The Editor (clearing his throat). It is already in type.
+
+The Doctor. Oh, nonsense!
+
+The Editor. The scene afforded an opportunity for an extremely amusing
+sketch, without mentioning any names.
+
+Mr. Evje. I sincerely hope that
+
+The Doctor (to EVJE). Oh, he is only teasing you! You know him.
+
+The Editor. What do you think of this? "Those who indirectly support
+so dangerous an institution will have to face exposure."--I quite agree
+with it.
+
+Mrs. Evje (getting up). What do you mean? Do you mean that my husband--?
+
+The Editor. A little fright will be a good discipline for him!
+
+Evje. Is what you quoted meant as an accusation against us--whether you
+are serious or whether you are joking?
+
+The Doctor. He is only trying to frighten you with a bogey; it is not
+the first time, you know!
+
+Evje. Yes, but what have _I_ to be frightened of? I don't belong to the
+Association.
+
+The Editor. But persons who do belong to it frequent your house. A man
+is known by the company he keeps.
+
+Mrs. Evje. I really begin to think he _does_ mean it seriously.
+
+The Editor. It is too ugly a thing to jest about, you mean?
+
+Evje. Is it possible that you seriously mean to allude to John as my
+servant?
+
+The Editor. Isn't he your servant?
+
+Evje. And to put that in the paper for every one to read?
+
+The Editor. No--only for those who read the paper.
+
+Evje. And you have come here to tell us that?
+
+The Editor. Do you suppose I would do it without telling you?
+
+Mrs. Evje. It is perfectly shameless!
+
+The Editor. It certainly is.
+
+Evje. Is it your intention to quarrel with me?
+
+The Editor. Of course!
+
+Evje. With your own schoolfellow?--one who has been it true friend to
+you in all your ups and downs? It is abominable!
+
+The Editor. Perhaps it was to ensure my holding my tongue that you have
+been my friend!
+
+Mrs. Evje. You _couldn't_ behave in such a fashion to a friend!
+
+The Editor (drily). To my own brother, if he stood in my way!
+
+Harald (to himself). This is too much! (Comes forward.) Is your hatred
+for me so bitter that on my account you must persecute even my future
+parents-in-law, your own old friends?
+
+The Editor (who, as soon as HARALD came forward, has turned away to
+the DOCTOR). Have you heard how people are being beaten up to go to
+the meeting of electors to-night? The last political speeches of the
+campaign must be made with red fire burning at the wings! (Laughs.)
+
+Mrs. Evje (coming up to him). No, you are not going to get out of it by
+changing the subject. Is it really your intention to put my husband in
+your paper?
+
+The Editor. He is putting himself there.
+
+Evje. I, who all my life have avoided being drawn into any political
+party?
+
+The Doctor. What has Evje to do with Harald Rein's politics?
+
+The Editor. He endorses them!
+
+Mrs. Evje. No!--a thousand times no!
+
+Evje. Why, only to-day
+
+The Doctor. I can bear witness to that!
+
+The Editor. It is no use protesting!
+
+Evje. But you must believe our protestations!
+
+The Editor. Bah! You will see something more to-morrow--
+
+Evje. Something more?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Against my husband?
+
+The Editor. That scandal about the Stock Exchange Committee. No
+less than three Letters to the Editor about it have been lying in my
+pigeon-holes for some time.
+
+Evje (in bewilderment). Are you going to put nonsense of that sort in
+your paper? The most respected men on the Exchange--?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Members of the Committee--?
+
+The Editor. They are only respected men so long as they respect
+themselves. When their chairman enters into connections which offend
+public opinion, the whole crew of them must be made to feel what sort of
+a man it is they are associating with.
+
+The Doctor. So on Mr. Rejn's account you are going to expose Evje, and
+on Evje's account the Stock Exchange Committee? I suppose my turn will
+come soon!
+
+The Editor. It will come.
+
+The Doctor. Indeed!
+
+The Editor. The letters that have been sent to me are all from highly
+respected men. That shows that public opinion has turned round; and
+public opinion must be obeyed! (Throws out his hands.)
+
+Evje (in a troubled voice). It is quite true that I have noticed in
+several little ways that their temper--. (Looks round him, and checks
+himself. Then speaks more confidently.) But it was just at such a time
+that I looked for help from you, my friend. That is why I did not bother
+myself much about it.
+
+The Editor (to EVJE). But you know it is you that are attacking me now!
+
+Evje. I?
+
+Mrs. Evje. He?
+
+The Editor. And, besides, I have no choice in the matter. You have made
+your bed, and must lie on it.
+
+Evje (growing angry again). But do you really mean that you don't feel
+yourself how shocking such behaviour in an old friend is?
+
+The Editor. "Old friend," "old schoolfellow," "neighbour,"--out with the
+whole catalogue!
+
+Mrs. Evje. I am sure you don't deserve to be either one or the other!
+(The EDITOR laughs.) Think what you wrote to-day about Halvdan Rejn, who
+is dying. A man could only write that who--who--
+
+The Editor. Well?--who?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Who has not an atom of heart.
+
+The Editor. Ha, ha! "The natural affections!"--"family considerations!"
+Truth, my dear lady, has no family ties; it has no respect even for a
+"dying man."
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, indeed--every decent man has some respect for suffering,
+and even wicked men are silent in the presence of death!
+
+The Editor. "Sufferer"--"dying man"--"martyr," I suppose! Oh, we know
+all that old story!
+
+Harald (coming forward). Let me tell you that you are a--person with
+whom I will not condescend to argue. (Walks away from him.)
+
+The Editor (who has at once crossed the room). This theatrical flaunting
+of the "dying man" before people's eyes, that a calculating brother has
+permitted himself, is of course what is really shocking in the whole
+affair. But I will tear the mask off him.
+
+The Doctor (following him). Listen to me, now; listen! We are
+gentlefolk, you know! And even if Mr. Rejn has let himself be so carried
+away as to mention his dying brother on a public occasion--well, I am
+not going to say that I approve of it, but surely it is excusable and--
+
+Harald (coming forward). I want none of your defence, thank you!
+
+The Doctor. The one of you is just as mad as the other! (To the EDITOR.)
+But what has all this to do with Evje, seeing that, after all, the whole
+of this affair of the Rejns'--
+
+Evje (to the EDITOR, eagerly). I give you my word of honour that I have
+never approved of Harald's utterances about his brother, either. I am a
+man of moderation, as you know; I do not approve of his politics. Only
+to-day--
+
+Mrs. Evje. And what on earth have politics to do with the Stock Exchange
+Committee?
+
+The Doctor. Or with Evje's coachman!
+
+Evje. You might just as well take it into your head to write about my
+clerks, or my workmen, or--
+
+The Doctor. His carpenters, or his brewers--or his horses!
+
+The Editor (stands suddenly still and says, drily): You may assure
+yourselves that things are quite sufficient as they are! (Begins to
+button up his coat.)
+
+Evje. Is it so bad as all that!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Good gracious!--what is it then?
+
+The Editor (taking up his hat). You will be able to read it to-morrow,
+together with some more about the "dying man." Good-bye!
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje (together.) But before you go--
+
+The Doctor. Hush, hush! Let us remember we are gentlefolk! What will you
+bet that the whole thing is not just a bogey to frighten you?
+
+The Editor (holding out his hand towards the DOCTOR). I hold Mr. Evje's
+position in the town in the hollow of my hand!
+
+Evje (fuming). Is your object to ruin _that_, then?
+
+Mrs. Evje. You will never succeed in that!
+
+The Doctor. Hush, hush! let us remember we are gentlefolk!
+
+Evje. In my own house--my old schoolfellow--that he should have the
+audacity--!
+
+The Editor. I have told you the truth openly. And, as far as that goes,
+you have stood more than that from me in your own house, my boy. Because
+the misfortune is that you are a coward.
+
+Evje. _I_ a coward?
+
+The Doctor (laughing). Hush, hush! Let us remember we are gentlefolk!
+
+Evje. Yes, I have been weak enough to be afraid of scandal, especially
+in the newspapers, it is true; that is why I have put up with you too
+long! But now you shall see that I am not a coward. Leave my house!
+
+Mrs. Evje. That's right!
+
+The Doctor. But you must part like gentlefolk, you know.
+
+The Editor. Pooh! You will be sending me a message directly, to call me
+back!
+
+Evje. You have the face to say that?
+
+Mrs. Evje (to EVJE). Come, dear, don't provoke him any more!
+
+The Editor (turning to go). You daren't do otherwise.
+
+The Doctor. But part like gentlefolk--!
+
+Evje (following the EDITOR). No, as sure as I live--
+
+The Editor. You will be sending a message to call me back! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Evje. Never, never!
+
+Mrs. Evje. My dear--!
+
+The Editor. Yes, you will--directly--this very day! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+The Doctor. Don't part like that! Part like gentle--
+
+Evje. No, I tell you!
+
+The Editor (laughing all the time). Yes!
+
+Mrs. Evje. My dear-remember you may bring on one of your attacks!
+
+The Editor (at the door). You are too much of a coward! Ha! ha! (Goes
+out.)
+
+Evje (in a rage). No!
+
+The Editor (sticking his head in at the door). Yes! (Goes away.)
+
+The Doctor. What a visit! I cannot help laughing, all the same! Ha, ha,
+ha, ha!
+
+Evje. Do you dare to laugh at that?
+
+The Doctor. "Old schoolfellows"--ha, ha! "Moderation"--ha, ha! "The same
+party"--ha, ha, ha!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Oh, my husband is ill!
+
+Evje (faintly). Yes--a little water!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Water, water, Harald!
+
+The Doctor. One of his attacks--that is another affair altogether. Here
+(takes a bottle from his pocket)--smell this! That's it! Now, a little
+water! (Gives him some.) No danger this time. Cheer up, old boy!
+
+Evje. What a scandal!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, you will never be able to bear it, dear; I told you so.
+
+Evje. To think of _my_ name appearing in the papers, when all my life I
+have--
+
+Mrs. Evje.--done everything you could to keep clear of such things! And
+you such a dear, good, upright man!--Oh, these politics are the curse of
+the world!
+
+The Doctor (laughing). As I told you, you must go through a special
+process of hardening before you can stand them.
+
+Evje. And think of public opinion--my position--my connections! It is
+more than I can bear!
+
+Mrs. Evje (to the Doctor). I am sure the first time he reads something
+about himself in the paper, it will make him really ill! He won't be
+able to stand it, I know.
+
+The Doctor. Oh, he will get over it.
+
+Mrs. Evje. No, he won't. I am frightened at the mere thought of it. He
+will never be able to bear it, never!
+
+Evje. When all my life I have tried to keep clear of such things--!
+
+Mrs. Evje. And now in your old age, though you deserve it no more than
+a child does, to be dragged into it! If I could prevent that, I would
+willingly take on my own shoulders whatever--
+
+Evje. No, no--not you! Not you!
+
+The Doctor. But the thing is not necessarily done because he threatened
+he would do it.
+
+Evje. Do you think--?
+
+The Doctor. He is so dreadfully hot-headed, but I am sure he will think
+twice--
+
+Mrs. Evje.--before he attacks a lifelong friend! Yes, that is so, isn't
+it!
+
+Evje. Do you really think that there is any possibility then--?
+
+The Doctor. I really can't say!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Nothing in the world is impossible!
+
+Evje. We were both so hot-headed.
+
+The Doctor. Yes, it will have to be a more peaceable conversation than
+that of a few minutes ago!
+
+Evje. I don't know how it is--there is something so provoking about him.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, and you have not been very well lately, either. I have
+often said so to you.
+
+Evje. No, I haven't. It has been just one thing after another! And all
+my life I have tried to keep clear of such things!
+
+The Doctor. I will tell you what, old friend; I am sure the best thing
+to do would be--
+
+Evje. What?
+
+The Doctor. I am sure you will not be easy in your mind until someone
+has talked to him.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, couldn't that be done? Good gracious, that is not
+sending a message to him!
+
+Evje. But who would--? (A short silence.)
+
+The Doctor. I don't know who would be best.
+
+Mrs. Evje. All our old friends have deserted us; we shall soon have
+none.
+
+The Doctor. Well, at all events, you have me.
+
+Evje. Would you really be willing to--? Do you mean it? (Grasps his
+hand.)
+
+The Doctor. Of course I will! He can't eat me!
+
+Mrs. Evje. How good you are! Of course you only need tell him--what is
+quite true--that my husband would never be able to bear it! He, who all
+these years--
+
+Evje.--have put up with an incredible amount for his sake, both from
+himself and from others!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, that is true! And now you will go, dear friend--our only
+friend!--and talk to him quite amicably and sensibly, won't you?
+
+Evje. But don't delay! He is so hot-headed that we must find him
+before--
+
+The Doctor. Oh, I will find him; he is always about the town.
+
+Evje. And tell him--ask him--
+
+The Doctor. Oh, I know what to say to him.
+
+Mrs. Evje. That is right!
+
+Evje. Thank you! I shall never forget how, at a moment when everything
+threatened to overwhelm me, you were the only one to stand by me! Ah, I
+feel as if a load had fallen off my shoulders! I feel all at once quite
+happy again!
+
+The Doctor. That's right. You pull yourself together! I will see to
+everything else.
+
+Evje. Thanks, thanks! But make haste!
+
+The Doctor. I am off! My hat? (Turns, and sees HARALD, and says to
+himself.) A-ha! He looks as if he had had about enough of this. It would
+have been a joke to--
+
+Evje. Oh, do make haste, my friend!
+
+The Doctor. Yes, yes--if only I could find my hat.
+
+Mrs. Evje. It is on the table.
+
+The Doctor. So it is!
+
+Evje. Good luck to you!
+
+Mrs. Evje. And do it very tactfully!
+
+The Doctor (meaningly). And I hope you three will enjoy yourselves!
+(Goes out.)
+
+Evje. What a morning!
+
+Mrs. Evje. We, who have always endeavoured to take everything quietly
+and indulgently--
+
+Evje. Yes, and to conduct our family affairs peaceably and
+affectionately! (Jumps up and turns to HARALD.) The whole thing is
+_your_ fault!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, it is Harald's fault! From the day this unfortunate
+engagement came about, we have scarcely had a moment's peace here.
+
+Evje. No, no, that is not the case! We must be reasonable. At first,
+when Mr. Rejn had a fine future before him, when people vied with one
+another to catch him, then the engagement was an honour to us as well
+as to our daughter. But from the moment he took up these wretched
+politics--that is to say, from the time his brother fell ill--well, he
+can see for himself what the result has been to us!
+
+Mrs. Evje. And he certainly must admit that it is not what we have
+deserved; indeed it is more than a respected and well-bred family can
+put up with.
+
+Harald. I quite agree that it is more than a respected and well-bred
+family _ought_ to put up with.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Oh, so _you_ feel that too?
+
+Harald. Certainly. And the only excuse I can see is that there are many
+more in the same case. It is only in that way that such things become
+possible.
+
+Evje. I do not understand. Many more like--?--like whom?
+
+Harald. Like you!
+
+Mrs. Evje. In what respect?
+
+Harald. I will explain. Most of the successful politicians nowadays have
+not gained their position by means of any greatness of their own, but
+by the pitiable weakness of others. Another age will form a different
+estimate of them--see them in their proper perspective, and find them to
+be much smaller men!
+
+Evje. But what has that to do with us?
+
+Harald. Well, just try to size up that man whom a little while ago you
+turned out of your house and afterwards sent a message to--
+
+Evje. We sent _no_ message to him!
+
+Mrs. Evje. A friend of ours has gone to talk to him. That is quite a
+different thing!
+
+Harald. Well, take his measure by yours and yours by his! He went away,
+and he will come back like a conquering hero. Will that be thanks to
+his greatness, or his talent--to the loftiness of his opinions or his
+feelings? No,--it will be thanks to your pitiable weakness.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Upon my word!
+
+Evje. Well, I--!
+
+Harald. Do you think any one who has any pluck in his disposition would
+consent to be a party to such a contemptible state of things? Think of
+your own daughter, educated by that good old man who lies in there, but
+an obedient child to you; think how she must be perpetually torn between
+what she loves and respects and what she sees going on here! No wonder
+she is ill! But remember this--she is not ill because she sticks to me;
+she is ill because of your pitiable weakness!
+
+Mrs. Evje. How can you dare to say such things! So you too--!
+
+Evje. Such an absolute want of respect!
+
+Harald. Listen to me, once for all. I intend, God helping me, to take
+up the fight that has killed my brother, the noblest man I know! And
+Gertrud is going to take up _her_ share in the fight, as I do mine. But
+to come to this house as long as _he_ comes here--to go through what I
+have gone through to-day--sullies my self-respect to such an extent,
+and offends my better feelings so deeply, that either he never sets foot
+here again, or I do not!
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. But--!
+
+Harald (quietly). When I came here to-day, I thought we should be able
+to arrange matters without my speaking out; but there is nothing else
+for it, so good-bye! (Goes out. A moment's silence follows.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. Is _he_ giving _us_ our dismissal? Or does he not really mean
+to break with us?--My dear, what is the matter? (Goes to her husband's
+side.)
+
+Evje (without moving). Tell me, my dear--am I a bad man?
+
+Mrs. Evje. You, a bad man?
+
+Evje. Because, if I were not a bad, wicked man, they could not behave in
+such a way to me, one after the other.
+
+Mrs. Evje. But, my dear, you are the best and dearest and most
+considerate of men! And they are shameless traitors to you, my dear
+husband!
+
+Evje. But how on earth, then, could it come about that I, who all my
+life have tried to keep clear of such things--for I have, haven't I?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Every one knows that, that knows anything about you.
+
+Evje. How could it come about that in my old age I should be despised
+and forsaken by everybody? Surely it is no crime to want to live in
+peace, apart from all that sort of thing?
+
+Mrs. Evje. No, indeed; that is what all decent people want to do.
+
+Evje. Yes, I thought so too. But now you see!
+
+Mrs. Evje. But _you_ have been dreadfully unfortunate.
+
+Evje. Why should I have been just the one to be dreadfully unfortunate?
+Most people escape such things altogether.
+
+Mrs. Evje (starting). Here is Gertrud.
+
+Evje. Poor child!
+
+Mrs. Evje. What on earth are we to say to her?
+
+Evje. Be careful, my dear! be careful! (GERTRUD comes in quietly and
+comes forward to them.)
+
+Gertrud. Did I see Harald go away?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, my child, he--he went away.
+
+Gertrud. Without saying good-bye to me?
+
+Evje. That's true, he didn't say good-bye to you.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Were you expecting him to come into grandfather's room to say
+good-bye to you?
+
+Gertrud. Yes. Tell me how things went here?
+
+Evje. Why were you not here, dear?
+
+Gertrud (in astonishment). I here? You said you did not want me to be
+present--
+
+Evje. I remember, yes; we thought it would not be advisable.
+
+Gertrud (still speaking quietly, but in growing alarm). But how did
+things go, then?
+
+Evje. How did they go? Badly.
+
+Mrs. Evje (hurriedly). That is to say, he did not behave at all well.
+You must prepare yourself for the worst, my child!
+
+Gertrud. Is it something very bad, then?
+
+Evje. You know he is a little hasty just now, when he has so much on his
+hands. He lacks a proper sense of moderation--but he will learn it, sure
+enough.
+
+Gertrud (almost inaudibly). But what does it mean? Is he never coming
+back?
+
+Evje. Never coming back? What an extraordinary question! Of course he
+will come back. He was only a little over-hasty, you know--
+
+Gertrud. And said he would never come back?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Come, come, my dear--you mustn't be alarmed.
+
+Evje. He talked such a lot, you know, that we must not attach any
+particular importance to anything he said.
+
+Gertrud. So that is how it is!
+
+Mrs. Evje. We must make allowances for all that he is going through just
+now--
+
+Evje (suddenly). My child, you look so pale--
+
+Mrs. Evje (going to her). Gertrud!
+
+Gertrud (with a quiet movement of protest). I must give grandfather his
+drink; that was really what I came for. And that was how I happened to
+see Harald through the window. I will take grandfather his drink. (The
+curtain falls as she goes out of the room.)
+
+
+
+
+ACT II
+
+(SCENE.--A street in the "villa quarter" of the town. Between it and
+another street running parallel with it in the background, are two
+houses standing in gardens, half of the facade of one of them projecting
+into the stage on the right. On the left a third street runs at right
+angles to the others, to the back of the stage. The left side of this
+third street opens onto a well-wooded park. The house in the foreground
+on the right is in two stories. There is a narrow strip of garden in
+front of it, enclosed by an iron railing with a gate in it. The gate is
+standing open. The entrance door to the house is immediately behind this
+gate. There is light in a small window by the door; the ground floor
+windows are in darkness; in those of the upper floor, light is visible
+through heavy curtains. It is a wintry evening, and everything is
+swathed in an unusually thick fog, in which the gas lamps in the streets
+show dimmer and dimmer as they recede in the distance. As the curtain
+goes up, a lamplighter is seen descending his ladder from a lamp-post,
+where he has just lit the lamp at the corner of the house.)
+
+The Lamplighter (as he reaches the ground). It's all one whether the
+lamps are lit or not, in such a fog as this. (MRS. EVJE is seen drawing
+back the curtain at a window on the first floor. She opens the window
+and looks out.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. The fog is so thick, my dear, that I can't see across the
+street.
+
+Evje (coming to the window, with fur coat and cap on). So it is!--Well,
+so much the better, my dear! (They withdraw into the room; the window is
+shut and the curtains drawn. Two passers-by come along the street from
+the right, talking.)
+
+First Passer-by. The Land of Fogs--the old idea of the land of Fogs was
+that of a vision of confused and faint sensation, with the light of the
+intelligence dimmed and blurred like these gas lamps in the fog.
+
+Second Passer-by. It would be that, if our hearts did not often act as
+guiding lights to our befogged intelligences. Look at this house behind
+us--the brandy distiller's. The devilish workings of his intelligence
+have befogged the whole country--befogged it with brandy--and some such
+guiding light is much needed there.
+
+First Passer-by. Ah, well,--the old idea of the Land of Fogs was that
+fogs were--. (The sound of their conversation dies away as they pass
+into the park on the left. GERTRUD, closely veiled and wrapped in furs,
+comes slowly out of the park. She stops at the corner and looks down the
+street, then passed slowly along to the right, looking up at the house
+as she goes. She is scarcely out of sight when the house-door opens and
+EVJE comes out.)
+
+Evje. This is about the time he comes home--I daren't go to his house
+and ask for him; I don't know if he would admit me. I daren't trust to
+the Doctor alone.--This uncertainty is dreadful! (He starts at seeing
+GERTRUD, whom he does not recognise in the fog, walking towards him. She
+turns suddenly and walks back the way she came.) Who was that? She gave
+me quite a fright in this fog! Her furs seemed rather like--no, no,
+it couldn't be. I must not let any one recognise me. (Puts up the high
+collar of his coat, so that only his nose is visible.) Both of them
+called me a coward, but they are very much mistaken. It is not cowardice
+for a man who is respected and honoured to try and avoid scandal. Hm!
+Naturally those who trade in scandals think otherwise!--To act without
+attaching weight to the opinion of others, to disregard one's own
+predilections, to put up with being laughed at--all for the sake of
+preventing a scandal--that is to be strong and courageous. And it _is_
+admirable, too; for it is admirable to act fearlessly in the interest
+of one's family, and of one's business, and of propriety. (Starts as he
+hears his door opened. JOHN has come along the street and gone into the
+house.) Is that some one coming out of my house? No, it is a man going
+in. And then to think of Harald Rejn beginning that nonsense about my
+being a coward, because I refused to become a party man! Every one
+ought to take sides in politics--that is their cry. Hm! I should say it
+required rather more courage nowadays to _refrain_ from taking sides.
+(Starts again.) Who is that? Oh, only that woman again. She is waiting
+for some one too. I expect we shall both catch bad colds. (Walks up and
+down.) It is an odd sensation to be walking up and down on the watch
+outside one's own house. Cowardice? Pshaw! To let one's self be abused
+in a public street without stirring a finger to prevent it, _that_ would
+be cowardice. I only hope he has not gone round the other way? There is
+much more traffic in that street, and some one might easily--. I think I
+will take a turn towards the town, and turn back when I am a little way
+from here; it will look less suspicious. I must catch him, because his
+paper will be going to press. (Looks up at his house.) My poor wife,
+sitting up there dreadfully alarmed on my account! (Goes out to the
+right. As soon as he has gone, the house-door opens and JOHN comes
+warily out.)
+
+JOHN. So he has gone out, has he! Oh, well, he is bound to come in
+again! I will wait and catch him, that I will! Tra, la, la, la, la! I
+can play about here in the fog till he comes back; I have nothing to
+lose! And it will be best to catch him in the street; he will make less
+fuss, and can't run away from me! Tra, la, la, la, la! (Lounges out to
+the right. A moment later, HARALD comes out of the park. He is dressed
+much as EVJE is, but has not his coat-collar turned up.)
+
+Harald. There is a light in her window! Then she is alone in her room.
+What am I going to do now? Twice already I have come to look at that
+light; now I have seen it--and must go away! Good-bye, my darling! Be
+patient, and wait! I know your thoughts are with me now; and I know you
+feel that mine are with you! (As he turns away from the house he sees
+the veiled figure of GERTRUD, who, as soon as she has come nearer,
+rushes to him, throws up her veil, and falls into his arms in a glad
+embrace.)
+
+Gertrud. I was certain that, if you could not go into the house again,
+you would be out here! I knew you would not go away from me, dear!
+
+Harald. No--neither now nor ever.
+
+Gertrud. And, while I was walking up and down here in the fog, I felt
+that though there might be all this gloom tend cold around us outside,
+there was the brightness and warmth of certainty in our hearts.
+
+Harald. Yes, our love is the one certainty for me! Fog may obscure the
+goal I aim at, the road I have to I read, the very ground I stand on;
+doubts may even for a while attack my faith; but my love for you shines
+clear through it all!
+
+Gertrud. Thank you, my darling! If that is so, there is nothing that we
+cannot overcome!
+
+Harald. Of course, you know what took place to-day?
+
+Gertrud. I can guess.
+
+Harald. Is it true that you are ill? Why did you never tell me?
+
+Gertrud. No, the doctor is not telling the truth; I am not ill! Even
+if I were, what matter? I should go on living as long as I could--and
+should have done my duty before I gave in!
+
+Harald. That is the way to look at it!
+
+Gertrud. But I am not ill! I suffer, it is true--and am likely to--every
+time you are persecuted, or my parents on my account. Because _I_ have
+drawn them into all this that, they are so unfitted for, and that is why
+it pains me so to see how unprepared it finds them--most of all when,
+out of tenderness for me, they try to conceal it. But I can't alter
+things. We are fighting for a cause that you believe to be right, and
+so do I; surely that is better than never to suffer at all in any good
+cause. Try me! Let me share the fight with you! I am not weak; it is
+only that my heart is sore for those I love.
+
+Harald. You splendid, loyal creature!--and you are mine! (Embraces her.)
+
+Gertrud. You should hear what grandfather says!
+
+Harald. Yes, how is the dear old gentleman?
+
+Gertrud. Pretty well, thanks, though he never gets out now. But he is
+following your work, and he says that what you are aiming at is right,
+if you ask for God's guidance on your way. Harald--you will always be
+the same as you are now--good and genuine--won't you, dear? Not like
+the rest of them--nothing but bitterness and malice, always talking of
+principles and consequences and all the rest of it, and always attacking
+others? If one were obliged to be like that, it would be a curse to be a
+politician.
+
+Harald. I will be what you make me! I think that behind every man's
+public life you can see his private life--whether he has a real home,
+and what it is like, or whether he only has a place he lives in--that is
+to say, no real home.
+
+Gertrud. With God's help I shall try to make a bright, snug and cosy
+home for you! And this fog is delightful, because it only makes the
+thought of such a home all the cosier and snugger! It makes us seem so
+alone, too; no one is out driving or walking; and we can talk as loud as
+we please, because the fog deadens the sound of our voices. Oh, I
+feel so happy again now! Do you know, I think it is rather nice to be
+persecuted a little; it makes our meetings so much more precious!
+
+Harald. But, you know dear, to meet you like this--and just now--
+
+Gertrud (as they walk up and down together). Yes, of course! I had
+altogether forgotten how much you have to bear just now; I have been
+chattering away--. Oh, I don't know how I could feel so happy, because
+I am really dreadfully distressed. But, you know, I sit the whole
+play beside grandfather, thinking, without even being able to talk.
+I generally read aloud to him; now and then he makes a remark, but he
+really lives more in the next world than in this one now. (They hear a
+cough in the distance, and give a start, because they recognise it. The
+EDITOR and EVJE, walking along together, EVJE apparently talking very
+earnestly, are seen, indistinctly through the fog, in the street running
+parallel with the one HARALD and GERTRUD are in. JOHN is seen following
+them cautiously. They disappear into the park.)
+
+Harald. I hear the enemy! I am sure I caught a glimpse of him over there
+through the fog, talking to another man.
+
+Gertrud. Is he always about the streets even in weather like this?
+
+Harald. Well, we won't let him disturb us. (They begin walking up and
+down again in front of the house.)
+
+Gertrud. Do you know whom I met out here? Father!
+
+Harald. Really? Then it is as I thought; the other man over there was
+your father!
+
+Gertrud. Do you think it was? Poor father!
+
+Harald. Yes, he is weak.
+
+Gertrud. But you must be good to him. He is so good himself. Think how
+mother loves him; she is absolutely wrapped up in him, because he is so
+good!
+
+Harald. He is a good man, and an able man. But, but, but--
+
+Gertrud. They have lived a very tranquil life. We of the younger
+generation try to undertake heavier duties and greater responsibilities
+than the older generation did. But we must not be angry with them.
+
+Harald. I am afraid it is only too easy to feel angry with them.
+
+Gertrud. No, do as grandfather does! If he thinks any one is going to
+be amenable to it, he talks to them quietly; if not, he only behaves
+affectionately to them. Do you understand, dear?--just affectionately.
+
+Harald. Well, to-day--ought I to have put up with their allowing
+themselves to be treated in such an unseemly way, and their treating me
+in such an unseemly way?
+
+Gertrud. Was it really as bad as that?
+
+Harald. You would not believe what it was like, I assure you!
+
+Gertrud (standing still). Poor father! Poor father! (Throws her arms
+round HARALD'S neck.) Be good to them, Harald!--just because of
+their faults, dear! We are their children, you know, and it is God's
+commandment, even if we were not their children.
+
+Harald. If only I could take you up in my arms and carry you off home
+with me now! Your love takes possession of my heart and my will, and
+purifies both of them. I am at a crisis in my life now--and now you
+should be on my side!
+
+Gertrud. Listen!--to begin with, I will go with you to your meeting
+to-night!
+
+Harald. Yes, yes,--I will come and fetch you!
+
+Gertrud. Down at the door here!
+
+Harald. Yes!
+
+Gertrud. And, in the next place, I am going to walls into the town with
+you now.
+
+Harald. But then I shall have to see you home again.
+
+Gertrud. Do you object?
+
+Harald. No, no! And you shall teach me a lot of things on the way!
+
+Gertrud. Yes, you will be so wise before we get back! (They go out to
+the right.)
+
+(The EDITOR and EVJE come out of the park. JOHN follows them, unseen by
+them, and slips past them to the right when they stop for a moment. The
+following conversation is carried on in hurried tones, and every time
+the EDITOR raises his voice EVJE hushes him, and speaks himself in a
+persistently lowered voice.)
+
+Evje. But what concern of yours--or of the public's--are my private
+affairs? I don't want to have anything to do with politics.
+
+The Editor, Well, then, you ought not to have had anything to do with
+_him_.
+
+Evje. When I first made his acquaintance he was not a politician.
+
+The Editor. Then you ought to have dropped him when he became one.
+
+Evje. Ought I to have dropped you too, when you became one?
+
+The Editor. Let me repeat, for the last time, that we are not talking
+about me!
+
+Evje. Hush, hush! What a fellow you are! You get into a rage if any one
+chaffs you. But you want to hit out at everybody all round!
+
+The Editor. Do you suppose I am myself?
+
+Evje. Who the devil are you, if you are not yourself?
+
+The Editor. I am merely the servant of the public.
+
+Evje. The public executioner, that is to say?
+
+The Editor. Well, yes, if you prefer it. But you shall pay for that word
+some day.
+
+Evje. There--you see! Always talking of paying for things!--of revenge!
+
+The Editor. You shall pay for it, I tell you!
+
+Evje. You are absolutely mad!--Poof! I am sweating as if it were the dog
+days! (Changes his tone.) Think of the time when we used to go to school
+together--when you never could go to bed without first coming to thank
+me for the jolly times we were having together!
+
+The Editor. None of that nonsense! I am accustomed to be hated,
+despised, spit upon, scourged; if any one speaks kindly to me, I do not
+trust them!
+
+Evje. You must trust me!
+
+The Editor. No--and, besides, I observed very clearly to-day that you
+had counted on having me in reserve if ever you got into a scrape.
+
+Evje. Well, who doesn't count on his friends? Doesn't every one take
+them into his reckoning?
+
+The Editor. I don't; I have no friends.
+
+Evje. Haven't you me? Do you think I would leave you in the lurch?
+
+The Editor. That is hypocrisy! At times when I have needed it, the very
+last thing you have thought of has been to give me any help!
+
+Evje. Have I not helped you?
+
+The Editor. That is hypocrisy, too-to pretend you think I am speaking
+of money. No; when I have been accused of being dishonourable--of
+lying--you, the "old schoolfellow," the "old friend," the "neighbour,"
+have never once had the courage to come forward on my behalf.
+
+Evje. I never meddle with politics.
+
+The Editor (with rising temper). More hypocrisy! Another of your damned
+evasions!
+
+Evje. Hush, hush, hush!
+
+The Editor. You try to excuse yourself with a lie! You are doubly a
+traitor!--And then you expect me to have compassion on you!
+
+Evje. As sure as I stand here, I have never thought of deserting you,
+however bad things were.
+
+The Editor. And you have the face to take credit to yourself for that?
+It is all calculation from beginning to end! You thought it would be the
+best way of making me remember your loyalty, and reward you for it.
+
+Evje. This is abominable!
+
+The Editor. Oh, you are cunning enough! You represent wealth of another
+kind, which at first was not entirely irreproachably come by--
+
+Evje. There you go again!
+
+The Editor.--and want to give it the cachet of good society; so you take
+care to keep friends with a newspaper that may be able to give you a
+helping hand in gaining what you want. Can you deny it?
+
+Evje. There may be a slight tinge of calculation even in our highest
+purposes. But the misfortune about you is that you can see nothing but
+the calculation, though it may be only an infinitesimal part of the
+whole thing.
+
+The Editor. Oho--I have had experience of you!
+
+Evje. Then you must have had experience of your party's loyalty, too.
+
+The Editor. My party's loyalty!
+
+Evje. Well, after all, it keeps you where you are to-day.
+
+The Editor. _It_ keeps me there?
+
+Evje. And you have friends in that party-myself amongst others--who
+certainly would rather stand outside altogether, but nevertheless give
+you their advice and support when you are in difficulties. You cannot
+deny that.
+
+The Editor. I have friends in the party? Oh yes; and if we lose a fight
+these fine counsellors are the first to run away! They are always egging
+me on and egging me on; but only let public opinion once get tired of
+me, and they will throw me overboard without more ado! By that sort of
+treachery they manage to fill the sails of the party craft with a new
+breeze--and leave me to shift the best way I can!--they, for whom I
+have fought with all my might and main! I despise my opponents--they are
+either scoundrels and thieves, or they are blockheads and braggarts.
+But my supporters are lick-spittles, fools, cravens. I despise the whole
+pack of them, from first to last! If any one would give me the assurance
+that if, as a pledge that I would never use a pen again, I were to chop
+off my right hand I should thereby gain the prospect of a peaceful life
+a thousand miles away from here, I believe I would do it!--I despise the
+whole pack of them--oh, how I despise them!
+
+Evje. But this is horrible! Do you find no comfort in religion? Or, at
+all events, you have your paper!
+
+The Editor. My paper, yes--but what good do you suppose that is to me?
+And do you think I give the impression of being a religious man?
+
+Evje. Then what do you work for?
+
+The Editor. Perhaps you think I work for your sake?--or for the sake of
+prosperity, or order, or whatever it is you cowards or self-seekers like
+to imagine it is that you personify? No, the whole human race is not
+worth the powder and shot that they are holding at each other's heads.
+
+Evje. Then why do you come and almost threaten my life, if the whole
+thing seems so worthless to you?
+
+The Editor. Do you seriously suppose that I would give in, so as to
+spare you or some other shopkeeper?--so that you should be able to
+say triumphantly, "You see he didn't dare! He didn't dare quarrel with
+Capital!"--or, "You see he has given in--he has turned tail!" No; what
+I should like to do would be to lay a mine underground, and blow myself
+and the whole lot of you sky high!
+
+Evje. And I and all the happiness of my family life are to be sacrificed
+in order that you shall not have to give in on a side issue of no
+importance!--Oh, I am chilled to the bone!
+
+The Editor. Ha, ha! It is good to hear you speaking like yourself again,
+because it reminds me that it is time to put an end to this solemn
+nonsense! (Looks at his watch.) A quarter past! You must be quick!
+
+Evje. Are you really in earnest?
+
+The Editor. I often play off jokes on you, it is true. But I don't know
+how you will like this one to-morrow morning.
+
+Evje. Then let me tell you that I solemnly refuse! I will not break off
+the engagement! Put me in your paper, if you like; I am a free man.
+
+The Editor. Bah! nobody is that. Then you refuse? Good-bye! (Walks away
+from EVJE.)
+
+Evje (going after him). No, no--where are you going?
+
+The Editor (stopping). Nowhere--or rather, I am going home.
+
+Evje. But you won't really do what you said?
+
+The Editor. Ha! ha! ha! (Moves away.)
+
+Evje (following him). No, listen! Listen to me for a minute.
+
+The Editor (turning back). Do you think I have time to stop at all
+the stations your vanity or your fright will invent on the way? (Moves
+away.)
+
+Evje. You mad creature--listen to me! (The EDITOR stops.) Tell me
+exactly what you mean to do?
+
+The Editor. Fiddlesticks! (Moves on.)
+
+Evje (following him). Do you mean to put in the paper that I have broken
+off this match?
+
+The Editor (stopping). Better than that--I shall spread the news in the
+town; then it will get about, and all the journalists will get a hold of
+it.
+
+Evje. Give me a day or two to think it over!
+
+The Editor. Oh, no--you are not going to catch me like that! It is
+election time, and the other side must be made to feel that all decent
+people have deserted them.
+
+Evje. But it is a lie, you know!
+
+The Editor. What is lying, and what is truth? But your resignation from
+the Stock Exchange Committee and your subsequent failure to be elected
+to any public position will be no lies, I can assure you! Public opinion
+is not to be trifled with, you know!
+
+Evje. And this from you!
+
+The Editor. Bah! Public opinion is a very faithless friend.
+
+Evje. But who, after all, constitute public opinion?
+
+The Editor. Oh, no--you are not going to lead me into a trap again!
+Besides--it would be very difficult to say exactly who does constitute
+it.
+
+Evje. This is really--! Then you won't put that in the paper?
+
+The Editor. The news of a broken engagement travels quickest by
+foot-post--ha, ha, ha! (Coughs; then adds seriously:) But won't you,
+of your own accord, break off what are really absolutely inadmissible
+relations with a man who scandalises all your acquaintances?
+
+Evje. Lay the blame on me, of course! I know his credentials are no
+longer first class; but my daughter--ah, you would not be able to
+understand that. The circumstances are quite exceptional, and--. Look
+here, shall we go up and talk it over with my wife?
+
+The Editor. Ha, ha!--you turned me out of the house this morning!
+
+Evje. Oh, forget all about that!
+
+The Editor (looking at his watch). Half past! Now, without any more
+evasions--will you, or will you not?
+
+Evje (with a struggle). No! I repeat, no! (The EDITOR moves away.) Yes,
+yes!--It nearly kills me to do it!
+
+The Editor. "The Capitalist, secure in his position, who needs pay no
+regard to," etc., etc.--that is the "common form," isn't it, you man of
+first-class credentials? Ha, ha! Good-bye. I am going home to send the
+boy to the printers; he has waited long enough. (Moves away.)
+
+Evje (following him). You are the cruellest, hardest, most reckless--
+
+The Editor (who has been laughing, suddenly becomes serious). Hush! Do
+you see?
+
+Evje (turning round). What? Where?
+
+The Editor. Over there!
+
+Evje. Those two?
+
+The Editor. Yes--your daughter and Mr. Harald Rejn.
+
+Evje. But he swore this morning that he would never set foot in my house
+again!
+
+The Editor. But he will stay _outside_ your house, as you see! These
+gentlemen of the Opposition, when they give any assurance, always do it
+with a mental reservation! You can't trust the beggars! Come round the
+corner. (They do so.)
+
+Evje. An assignation in the street in the fog! To think my daughter
+would let herself be induced to do such a thing!
+
+The Editor. Evil communications corrupt good manners! You are a mere
+bungler in delicate matters, Evje. You made a bad choice in that
+quarter!
+
+Evje. But he seemed to be--
+
+The Editor. Yes, yes, I know! A real gentleman would have guessed what
+he would develop into. He has a brother, you know! (HARALD and GERTRUD
+come in slowly, arm-in-arm.)
+
+Gertrud. While your brother has been ill you have received many
+gratifying proofs of the good feeling and goodwill that there is in this
+town-haven't you?
+
+Harald. Yes, I have. I have found no ill-will against him, nothing but
+kindness on all sides--with the exception of one person, of course.
+
+Gertrud. But even he has a heart! It has often seemed to me as if I
+heard a cry of yearning and disappointment from it--and that just when
+he spoke most bitterly.
+
+Harald. Yes, it needs no very sharp sight to see that he, who makes so
+many unhappy, is himself the unhappiest of all.
+
+The Editor. What the deuce are they talking about?
+
+Evje. We cannot hear from here. And the fog deadens their voices.
+
+The Editor. Go a bit nearer, then!
+
+Evje. Not before they separate. You only understand _him_!
+
+Harald (to GERTRUD). What are you holding there?
+
+Gertrud (who has taken off her glove and then a ring from her finger).
+The ring they gave me when I was confirmed. Give me your hand! No, take
+your glove off!
+
+Harald. Do you want me to try your ring on? I shall not be able to get
+it on.
+
+Gertrud. On the little finger of your left hand? Yes!
+
+Harald (putting it on). So I can. Well?
+
+Gertrud. You mustn't laugh at me. I have been beating up my courage
+to do this all this time. It was really why I wanted to walk a little
+farther with you first! I wanted to bring the conversation round to it,
+you see! I am so convinced that your happiness, and consequently mine,
+depends on your being able to be kind. You have got this meeting before
+you to-night. It will be a decisive moment for you. If you, when you are
+facing all this horrible persecution, can be a kind boy, you will win
+all along the line! (Pulls at his buttons in an embarrassed way.) So I
+wanted you to wear this ring to remind you. The diamonds in it sparkle;
+they are like my tears when you are hard and forget us two. I know it
+is stupid of me (wipes her eyes hastily), but now, when it comes to the
+point, I can't say what I--. But do wear it!
+
+Harald (kissing her). I will wear it! (Gently.) Its pure rays shall shed
+a light on my life.
+
+Gertrud. Thank you! (Throws her arms round him and kisses him.)
+
+The Editor. What they are doing now is all right! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Evje. I won't stand it! (The EDITOR coughs loudly.) What are you doing?
+(The EDITOR goes to the neighbouring house and rings the bell. The door
+is opened and he goes in, laughing as he goes.)
+
+Gertrud (who has started from HARALD'S arms at the sound of the cough).
+That is--!
+
+Harald. It sounds like him! (Turns, and sees Evje.)
+
+Gertrud. Father! (Turns to run away, but stops.) No, it is cowardly to
+run away. (Comes back, and stands at HARALD'S side. EVJE comes forward.)
+
+Evje. I should not have expected my daughter, a well-brought-up girl, to
+make an assignation in the street with--with--
+
+Gertrud. With her fiancé.
+
+Evje.--with a man who has made a mock of her father and mother, and of
+his own doing has banished himself from our house.
+
+Harald. From your house, certainly; but not from my future wife.
+
+Evje. A nice explanation! Do you suppose we will consent to have as our
+son-in-law a man who spurns her parents?
+
+Gertrud. Father!
+
+Evje. Be quiet, my child! You ought to have felt that yourself.
+
+Gertrud. But, father, you surely do not expect him to submit to your
+being abused and himself ill-treated in our house?
+
+Evje. Are you going to teach your parents--?
+
+Gertrud (putting her arm round his neck). I don't want to teach you
+anything; because you know yourself, dear, that Harald is worth far
+more--and far more to us--than the man who went away just now! (At this
+moment the printer's boy, who has come out of the EDITOR'S house, runs
+past them towards the town.)
+
+Evje (seeing the boy, tries to get away). Go in now, Gertrud! I have
+something I wish to talk to Mr. Rejn about.
+
+Gertrud. You have nothing to talk to Harald about that I cannot hear.
+
+Evje. Yes, I have.
+
+Harald. But why may she not hear it? What you want is to break off our
+engagement.
+
+Gertrud. Father--! (Moves away from him.) Is that true?
+
+Evje. Well-since it cannot be otherwise-it is true; that is to say, for
+the moment. (Aside.) Good Lord, they can make it up right enough when
+this is all over!
+
+Gertrud (who is standing as if thunderstruck). I saw you with him!--Ah!
+that is how it is! (Looks at her father, bursts into tears and rushes to
+the door of their house, pulls the bell and disappears into the house.)
+
+Evje. What is it? What is the matter with her?
+
+Harald. I think I know. She realises that her life's happiness has been
+bought and sold. (Bows to EVJE.) Good-bye! (Goes out to the right.)
+
+Evje (after standing dumb for some moments). Bought and sold?
+Some people take everything so dreadfully solemnly. It is only a
+manoeuvre--to get out of this difficulty. Why is it that I cannot get
+free of it! They both of them exaggerate matters so absurdly; first of
+all this crazy fellow, and then Harald with his "Good-bye," spoken as if
+the ground were giving way beneath his feet! I--I--feel as if every one
+had deserted me. I will go in to my wife--my dear, good wife; she will
+understand me. She is sitting up there, full of anxiety about me. (He
+turns towards his house; but, on reaching the garden gate, sees JOHN
+standing there.)
+
+John (touching his hat respectfully). Excuse me, Mr. Evje--
+
+Evje. You, John! Go away! I told you never to set foot in my house
+again.
+
+John (very respectfully). But won't you allow me to stand outside your
+house either, sir?
+
+Evje. No!
+
+John (standing in EVJE'S way, but still with a show of great respect).
+Not at the door here?
+
+Evje. What are you standing in my way for, you scoundrel?
+
+John. Shall I assist you to call for help, sir? (Calls out.) Help!
+
+Evje. Be quiet, you drunken fool! Don't make a disturbance! What do you
+want? Be quick!
+
+John. I want, with all respect, to ask you, sir, why you have sent me
+away.
+
+Evje. Because you are a swine that gets drunk and then talks nonsense.
+You don't know what a dilemma you have put me in.--Now go away from
+here, quietly!
+
+John. I know all about it! I was following you and the Editor all the
+time, you know!
+
+Evje. What?
+
+John. These articles, that were to go in the paper--the printing was at
+a standstill, waiting for them.
+
+Evje. Hush, hush, John! So you overheard that, did you? You are too
+clever; you ought never to have been a servant.--Now, be off with you!
+Here is a shilling or two for you. Good-bye.
+
+John. Thank you very much, sir.--This was how it was, sir. You see,
+I thought of the number of times I had run over to the printer's with
+messages when that nice Editor gentleman was spending an evening with
+you--and so I thought I might just as well run over with this one.
+
+Evje (starting back in alarm). What? What have you done?
+
+John. Just to do you a good turn, sir, I ran along and told them they
+might print those articles.
+
+Evje. What articles?
+
+John. The ones about you, sir. "Print away," I said--and they printed
+away. By Jove, how they worked, and then off to the post with the
+papers!
+
+Evje. You had the impudence, you--! Ah, it's not true! I saw the
+printer's boy myself, running to the office to countermand the
+instructions.
+
+John. I caught him up outside here and told him that a message had been
+sent from Mr. Evje's house. And I gave him sixpence to go to the theatre
+with; but he must have had to run for it, to be in time, because I am
+sure it was after seven. Excuse me, sir, but it _is_ after seven now,
+isn't it?
+
+Evje. You scoundrel! You vindictive brute!
+
+John. You can have a look at the paper, sir, if you like.
+
+Evje. Have _you_ got a copy?
+
+John. Yes, sir, the first copy struck off is always sent to the Editor,
+so I volunteered to bring it to him. But you must be anxious to see it,
+sir! (Holds it out to EVJE.)
+
+Evje (snatching it from him). Give it to me! Let me see--. (Moves
+towards his door, but stops.) No, my wife mustn't--. Here, under the
+gas-lamp! This filthy fog! I can't--. (Feels in his pocket for his
+glasses, and pasts them on.) Ah, that's better! (Holds the paper under
+the light.) What a mischance! The blackguard--! Where is the article,
+then? Oh, here--I can't see properly, my heart is beating so!
+
+John. Shall I run for the doctor, sir?
+
+Evje. Will you go away, you--! (Holds the paper first up, and then down,
+in his attempts to see better.) Ah, here it is! "The Stock Exchange
+Committee"--oh! (Lowers the paper.)
+
+John (mimicking him). Oh!
+
+Evje (trying to read). What a vile thing to do!
+
+John. Oh, go on! go on!
+
+Evje (as he reads). This beats everything I ever--Oh!
+
+John. Oh! We _are_ in a bad way!
+
+Evje (wiping his forehead). What a different thing it is to read
+libellous attacks on others--and on one's self! (Goes on reading.) Oh!
+Oh! What horrible, revolting rascality! What is it he says here? I must
+read through it again! Oh, oh!
+
+John. And often of a morning, when you have been reading the paper, I
+have heard you laughing till the bed shook under you!
+
+Evje. Yes, I who have so often laughed at others! (Reads.) No, this is
+beyond belief! I can't read any more! This will ruin my position in the
+town; I can hear every one laughing at me--he knows all my weaknesses,
+and has managed to make it all so hideously ludicrous! (Tries to go on
+reading.) Why, here is some more! (Reads.) It begins even worse than the
+other! (Lowers the paper, panting, then tries to go on reading.) No, I
+can't--I can't! I must wait! Everything seems going round and round--and
+my heart is beating so violently that I know I shall have one of my
+attacks! What a devil it is that I have been making a friend of! What a
+creature to have broken bread with!--an unprincipled scoundrel! And the
+disgrace of it!--the disgrace! What will they say at the Exchange? What
+will--? I shall not dare to go out of my house, at least for some weeks!
+And then people will only say I have taken to my bed! Oh, oh! I feel as
+if it were the end of everything!
+
+John (solicitously). Can I help you, sir?
+
+Evje. Will you leave me alone--! No, I will have my revenge on him
+immediately! I will go and ring his bell, and go into his house and call
+him a scoundrel and spit in his face--! Did I bring my stick out with
+me? Where is my stick? I will send my man for it, and then I will thrash
+him round and round his own room!
+
+John (eagerly). I will fetch it for you, sir!
+
+Evje (without hearing him). No, it would only make more scandal!--How
+can I take my revenge? I must do him some injury--some real injury that
+will seem to poison his food for him and rob him of his rest. Scoundrels
+like that don't deserve sleep! It must be something, too, that will
+make his family every bit as unhappy as mine will be when they have
+read this--something that will make them hide their heads for
+shame--something that will make them terrified every time their
+door-bell rings, out of shame for what their servants may hear! No, no,
+I am getting as evil-minded as he is, now!--What a horrible trade--for
+ever sowing the seeds of sin and reaping a crop of curses! Now I
+understand what Harald Rejn meant by saying that no one ought to give
+his help to such things!--Heavens, hear my vow: never again will I give
+my help to such things!--What am I to say to my wife--my dear, good
+wife, who has no suspicion how disgraced I am! And Gertrud, our good
+Gertrud--ah, at all events I can give her some pleasure at once. I
+cannot conceal it from them; but I will tell them myself, so that they
+shall not read it.
+
+John. Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?
+
+Evje (almost screaming at him). Once for all, can't you let me alone!
+
+Mrs. Evje (leaning out of a window she has opened). The sound must have
+come from the street, all the same. Are you there, my dear?
+
+Evje (drawing back in alarm). There she is! Shall I answer?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Are you there, my dear?
+
+Evje. Yes, dear, here I am!
+
+Mrs. Evje. So you are! I heard your voice, and looked all over the
+house. What is the matter, dear?
+
+Evje. Oh, I am so unhappy!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Good heavens, are you, dear? Come along in--or shall I come
+down to you?
+
+Evje. No, I will come in. Shut the window, or you will catch cold.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Do you know, Gertrud is sitting up here, crying?
+
+Evje. Good gracious, is she? I will come up--I will come up!
+
+John. I will help him up, ma'am! (Pretends to be doing so.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. Is that you, John?
+
+Evje (in a low voice). Will you be off!
+
+John. Yes, it is me, ma'am. He is so unwell.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Is he! Heavens, it is one of his attacks! Help him, John!
+
+Evje (as before). Don't you dare!
+
+John (who has rung the bell loudly). I do hope you will moon be better,
+sir! (Calls up to the window.) I can leave him now, ma'am! (To EVJE, as
+he goes.) This has been a bit of luck, for me; but you shall have some
+more of it! (Disappears into the fog as EVJE goes into his house. The
+two Passers-by, that were seen at the beginning of the scene, are now
+indistinctly seen returning along the street at the back.)
+
+First Passer-by. Well, the land of Fogs used to be thought by the
+ancients to lie in the north, where all confused ideas come from--
+
+Second Passer-by (who does not seem to be able to get a word in). But,
+listen to me for a moment-do you think it means--?
+
+[Curtain]
+
+
+
+
+ACT III
+
+(SCENE.--A room in HALVDAN REJN's house. He is lying, supported on
+pillows, on a sofa on the left-hand side of the room. There is a table
+in the background, and another near the sofa. A lamp is hanging from the
+ceiling, and another standing on the table at the back. HAAKON REJN, his
+dress proclaiming him to be a well-to-do yeoman farmer, is sitting on a
+chair by the sofa.)
+
+Halvdan. So she couldn't come?
+
+Haakon. No; there are the youngsters, you know--she finds it difficult
+to get away.
+
+Halvdan (after a moment's silence). Remember to thank her for all her
+kindness to me. The happiest moments of my life have been those Sundays
+and evenings that she and you and I spent together at your house. (A
+pause.)
+
+Haakon. She wanted very much to know how you were feeling--whether you,
+who have suffered so much, are at peace now.
+
+Halvdan. At peace? A man who has to die with all his work unfinished,
+cannot easily root out all thoughts of that from his heart.
+
+Haakon. You should try to lay in God's hands all that you have striven
+for.
+
+Halvdan. That is what I struggle daily to do. (A pause.)
+
+Haakon. A sister of my wife's, who was a widow and badly off, died
+leaving three young children. But she was glad to die. "Their Heavenly
+Father will help them better when I am out of the way," she said. "I
+took up too much room," she said; "I know I have often stood in their
+way." (A pause.)
+
+Halvdan. You tell that just as your wife would; she told me that story
+once.
+
+Haakon. I was to tell you from her that she believes you are to die in
+order that what you have worked for may come to its fullest fruit. She
+thinks that when you are gone, people will appreciate better what your
+aims were.
+
+Halvdan. There is some comfort in the thought that I may be dying
+in order that what I have loved may live. I have already given up
+happiness-even honour-for it; I gladly give my life for it now. (A
+pause.)
+
+Haakon. Do you bear ill-will to any of those who have opposed you so
+cruelly?
+
+Halvdan. To no one.
+
+Haakon. Not even to those whose doing it is that you are lying here?
+
+Halvdan. No, to no one. (A pause.)
+
+Haakon. Could you bear to read something hateful about yourself to-day?
+
+Halvdan. I don't know.
+
+Haakon. Then you have not done with it all yet.
+
+Halvdan. No, I know I have not. It is only sometimes that the busy
+world outside seems to me like a ship sailing idly before the wind. More
+often, I am back in the midst of it again--planning, hoping, praying! I
+am young, you know, and have had to suffer so much--there was so much I
+wanted to do. (Lifts a handkerchief to his forehead. HAAKON helps him to
+wipe his face with it. A pause.)
+
+Haakon. But it must be a comfort to you, too, that Harald is taking up
+what you are laying down. There is good stuff in him.
+
+Halvdan. Yes.
+
+Haakon. And he never says more than is necessary. The country folk will
+understand him all the better for it.
+
+Halvdan. I hope so. As soon as he comes into my room I feel as if the
+atmosphere were charged with electricity--I feel as if I _must_ have
+a part in what he is doing--and so I work, and tire myself out. Ah, it
+often seems very hard to have to die, and leave undone a great work that
+one has failed to accomplish!
+
+Haakon. But you have made him what he is, you know--and many others.
+
+Halvdan. I have started the fight, that is all. It is hard to have to
+desert at the beginning of it!--But God is good, and will understand; He
+will not be surprised at what my thoughts are full of, when I go to Him.
+(A ring is heard at the bell.)
+
+Haakon. I expect that is Harald.
+
+Halvdan. No, he never rings. Besides, I expect he is taking a walk, to
+think over what he is going to say to-night.
+
+Haakon. Yes, I suppose it will be a big meeting. (The HOUSEKEEPER comes
+in.)
+
+The Housekeeper. Mr. Evje is here, sir, asking for Mr. Harald. I told
+him we were expecting him every moment. Shall I ask him to come in?
+
+Halvdan. Yes, show him in. (HAAKON gets up, as EVJE is shown in.)
+
+Evje (to HALVDAN). Good evening! (Sees HAAKON.) Ah, good evening! So you
+have come? That is splendid. Is your wife with you?
+
+Haakon. No, she couldn't leave the children.
+
+Evje. I see. (To HALVDAN.) And how are you? About the same? Of course,
+yes.--Where is your brother?
+
+Halvdan. He has his meeting to-night, you know.
+
+Evje. His momentous meeting--I know! I am going to it myself!
+
+Halvdan (turns his face towards him). You?
+
+Evje. My object in coming here was to take him home with me, so that we
+could all go together to the meeting. We mean to go on to the platform
+with him; I mean people to see that we are with him!
+
+Halvdan (turning his face away). Really!
+
+Evje (to HAAKON). You never answered my letter, Mr. Rejn.
+
+Haakon. No, I knew I was coming in to town.
+
+Evje. Well--will you sell?
+
+Haakon. No.
+
+Evje. But, my dear Mr. Rejn, you have not sold a single potato to my
+distillery for five years! And with a farm like yours! This year you had
+the best crop in the whole valley.
+
+Haakon. Oh, yes--it wasn't so bad.
+
+Evje. Not so bad! It was an extraordinary crop; and, everywhere else
+round about, the crops were very middling.
+
+Haakon. Oh, yes--it might have been worse.
+
+Evje (laughing). I should think so! But then why won't you sell? (Turns
+to HALVDAN.) I hope you will excuse our talking business in a sick-room;
+a business man has to seize every opportunity, you know! (To HAAKON.)
+You have never got higher prices elsewhere than you have from me.
+
+Haakon. No, so I believe; but I have my own reasons.
+
+Evje. Your own reasons? What are they?
+
+Haakon. I had a servant once--it is about five years ago now--a good,
+capable fellow. He used to take potatoes for me to the distillery every
+day, and every evening came back drunk. So I spoke to him seriously
+about it; and his answer was: "How do you suppose our brandy-merchants
+are to grow rich, if chaps like me don't drink pretty hard?" You know
+the man; he went into your service afterwards. But from that day I have
+never sold a potato to a distillery.
+
+Evje. But, my dear Mr. Rejn, we cannot be held responsible for the use
+to which such rascals put God's gifts!
+
+Haakon. No--no--I suppose not; still, I am not going to have anything
+more to do with it.
+
+Evje (to HALVDAN). Do you think your brother will not be home before the
+meeting?
+
+Halvdan. I should think he would; there is plenty of time yet.
+
+Evje. There is; but I should have liked to take him home with me first.
+The fact is (laughs) I have promised my wife and daughter not to go home
+without him. You know what women are! Shall I just go into his room and
+wait for him? There is something I want to talk to him about, you know.
+
+Halvdan. I don't think there is a fire in there.
+
+Evje. Oh, well, never mind--I will sit here. I have got a newspaper to
+read, and you two must go on with your talk just as if I were not here!
+I shall hear nothing, because I have something to read that interests
+me. (He pulls a chair up to the table on the right with its back to
+HALVDAN. HAAKON brings the lamp from the table at the back.) Ah, thank
+you very much! Now, just talk away as if I were not here! (Takes the
+paper from his pocket and sits down.)
+
+Haakon (sitting down again beside his brother). I should have liked to
+go to the meeting, too.
+
+Halvdan. Of course you must go! You will hear Harald tell them how each
+nation has its own appointed task in the world; that is why it _is_ a
+nation. But, as long as it does not realise the fact, its politics
+will be nothing but wrangling between the various class-interests--a
+haphazard struggle for power. Our nation has never got beyond that
+point! I have shouted myself to death over what is a mere market.
+
+Evje (to himself, striking the table with his fist). The whole
+commercial community is insulted in this insult to me! I will stir them
+up at the meeting, and insist on our taking our revenge in common!
+
+Haakon. I don't think things will be any better until we are better
+Christians. Men think of nothing nowadays but themselves and their
+position.
+
+Evje (to himself). No, no-that wouldn't do. What would people say? They
+would only say I was badly hit by this.
+
+Halvdan (half to himself). A Christian nation, thinking of nothing but
+its own interests--that is to say, power! Equality and Liberty have no
+meaning for it. Haakon, it surely will be bliss for a wounded soul to
+be taken into the Everlasting Love, high above all this so-called
+Christianity of the world! For my soul is sorely wounded!
+
+Evje (to himself ). If only I could strike him dead!
+
+Halvdan. But may they all be forgiven!--You asked just now whether I
+could bear to read something hateful about myself to-day. I think I
+could.
+
+Haakon. Then I can tell you the other message she gave me for you.
+I have been a little shy of telling you that. It was that you should
+remember that you must do more than forgive; you must pray for them. (A
+pause.)
+
+Halvdan (with his hand over his eyes). I do.
+
+Evje (crumpling up the paper and throwing it on the floor). No, I won't
+stand it! If the blackguard--. (Gets up in alarm, as he realises what
+he has done, and is just going to pick up the paper; but at that moment
+turns round facing the others, and lets it lie.) No, I won't touch it
+again--never, as long as I live! (To the others.) You must forgive me,
+but I was reading something that upset me very much. Your brother will
+tell you all about it in the morning, no doubt. Poof--it is very warm in
+here! But, of course, that is natural in a sick-room. I don't think he
+can be coming now. I think, too, that I will go on, so as not to be late
+for the meeting; there is sure to be a difficulty in getting seats. I
+will get him to go home with me after the meeting, instead. That will be
+better, after all.
+
+Haakon. I was thinking of going to the meeting. Would you mind if I went
+with you?--for I do not know the way myself.
+
+Evje. You will come with me, Mr. Rejn? (To himself.) That will be
+splendid--to make my entrance in the company of one of our yeomen
+farmers! (Aloud.) By all means let us go together! I feel flattered by
+the opportunity, because I have always maintained that our yeomen are
+the pick of the nation. Well, then--(to Halvdan) I hope you will soon be
+feeling better, Mr. Rejn. God bless you!
+
+Halvdan (raising himself on his elbow, and looking at him with a smile).
+Something must have gone amiss with you to-day.
+
+Evje. Why do you say that?
+
+Halvdan. Because as a rule you appear so composed so aloof from all this
+squabbling.
+
+Evje (impetuously). But, do what I like, I am not allowed to keep aloof
+from it! I have no greater wish in the world than to do so, I can assure
+you. Oh, well, your excellent brother--my future son-in-law,
+as I am proud to call him--he will tell you all about it.
+Good-bye!--and--and--God bless you!
+
+Haakon. Shall I tell your housekeeper to come to you?
+
+Halvdan. Oh, no; but you might tell her to come in a little while.
+
+Haakon. Good-bye for the present, then!
+
+Halvdan. Thank you for coming! Good-bye. (Sinks back on to the sofa. The
+others go out, HAAKON turning round once at the door.)
+
+Halvdan. It is something in the paper that has disturbed his equanimity.
+What can it be? The same thing that made Harald so gloomy to-day, I
+wonder? (Gets half up.) It is lying there.--No! What interest have I in
+all their petty spite now? (Sinks back again.) "Could you bear to read
+something hateful about yourself to-day?" Haakon asked. Then I suppose
+there is something about me in it to-day. (Puts his hand over his
+heart.) My heart doesn't seem to be beating any the faster for my
+knowing that. (Gets half up.) There it lies! (Sinks back again.) No, I
+am only trying to tempt myself. All the same, I should like to know how
+many stations I have passed on my journey to the great City of
+Peace! Can their malice affect me still? Surely I have passed _that_
+station?--It would be worth trying, to see. There it lies! (Takes up
+a stick that is standing by the sofa.) Surely I can get over there by
+myself? (Gets up from the sofa with the help of the stick, and smiles.)
+I have not much strength left. (Takes a few steps.) Scarcely enough
+to get across the floor. (A few more steps.) To think that I should
+have--so much vanity--my weak point--. (His breath fails him, but he
+gets as far as the chair on which EVJE was sitting, and sits down.) One
+ought to have done with all that before the soul can get quite away from
+the dust that--. (Begins to rake the paper towards him with his stick.)
+And here am I, sitting here raking more of it towards me!--No, let the
+thing lie! I won't soil my wings any more.--Poor Harald! He has to
+take up the burden now! What a horrible bungle it is, that we should
+be brought into the world to give each other as much pain as possible!
+(Decidedly.) Well, I am going to see what legacy of unhappiness I
+am leaving him! I want to have a vivid impression of the misery I am
+escaping from. There is a certain comfort even in that. (Bends down and
+picks up the paper, rests for a moment, and then unfolds the paper.) But
+this is not to-day's paper; it is dated for to-morrow! How can Evje have
+got hold of it? Yes, here is the date--Sunday. "Remember that thou keep
+holy the Sabbath Day!" On that day men's souls should turn to God--and
+they offer Him _this_! It is after reading _this_ that these fine ladies
+and gentlemen go to church! (Pushes the paper away from him.) Suppose
+these "Christians" were to be brought to judgment one day without
+warning?--Let us think of ourselves and not of others! (Lets his eye
+rest on the paper.) Does that mean me? (Reads.) "Not yet actually dead,
+but already canonised by a calculating brother--." (Checks himself.)
+God forgive them! (Reads on.) "His teachings will no doubt obtain him
+a paean of praise, but this will be--or, at least, so it is to be
+hoped--from within the closely locked doors of the state's prisons and
+houses of correction"--(checks himself a little)--"for that is whither
+he leads his followers."--Good God, to think that they can say such
+things!--And yet, they said worse things of _Him_! Peace! (Reads.) "No
+doubt he talks against Socialism; no doubt he coquets with Christianity;
+but it is by these very means that he has become so expert a seducer of
+men's opinions-which was his aim all along." (Puts his hands before his
+face.) I should not have read it; forgive me! I am too weak still!--Ah!
+I feel--what is it? (Puts his hands suddenly to his heart, still
+unconsciously grasping the newspaper in them.) I must get into my
+room--get to bed! (Gets up with the help of his stick.) If only I can
+get there! Oh, I feel it coming on!--I must--. (Tries to hurry, but when
+he is halfway across the floor he stumbles, throws out his hands but
+finds no support, staggers on for a few steps, and falls full length on
+the threshold of his bedroom, so that half his length lies within the
+door and half without. A moment later, the HOUSEKEEPER comes in.)
+
+The Housekeeper (not observing that he is not still on the sofa). Won't
+you go to bed now, sir? You can't stand so much in one day. (Goes to the
+sofa.) Where is he? Surely he has not tried to walk in alone? (Hurries
+across to the bedroom door and almost falls over his body. She starts
+back with a scream.) Where is--? (Catches up the lamp, hurries back, and
+bends over him; then calls out, screaming:) Help! Help! (Rings the bell
+wildly. A MAID appears.) Mr. Halvdan is lying here! Heaven knows whether
+he is dead or alive! Run for the Doctor! Leave the door open behind you,
+and beg the first man you meet in the street to come up here at once and
+help me. Tell them it is a matter of life and death!
+
+Maid. Yes!
+
+The Housekeeper. Hurry!
+
+Maid (going out). Yes, yes!
+
+The Housekeeper (coming back into the room). Is he alive or dead? I
+haven't the courage to find out. And both his brothers away! (Cries.)
+God grant some one comes soon!--Poor man, alone in his death as he was
+in his life! But what was he doing _there_? Why did he get up from the
+sofa? (Sees the paper.) Surely that can't be--? (Puts the lamp on the
+floor and unfolds the paper.) Yes, it is the paper, right enough! Who
+can have given it him? I can't look at it now; but if it is like the
+number I read the other day (lets the paper fall, and gets up with the
+lamp) then I understand everything--and may God requite those that do
+such things! (The EDITOR rushes in.)
+
+The Editor. Is it here?
+
+The Housekeeper (holds the lamp to him, then starts back). What do _you_
+want here?
+
+The Editor. Where am I? A girl came running down the street and told me
+I must come up here and help some one that was dying. What do you want
+me to do?--or is it not here?
+
+The Housekeeper. And it was _you_ she met? It is the hand of God!
+
+The Editor. What are you babbling about? If it is not here, say so at
+once.
+
+The Housekeeper. Yes, it is here. There he lies!
+
+The Editor. Then oughtn't we to get him into bed?
+
+The Housekeeper. Yes. But do you know who it is you are helping?
+
+The Editor (to himself). She is not very polite. (Aloud.) No; but what
+does that matter?
+
+The Housekeeper. This much--that it is you that have killed him.
+
+The Editor. I--? She is mad.
+
+The Housekeeper. The man lying there is Halvdan Rejn. And he had been
+reading about himself in your paper.--Come, now, and carry him in. (She
+goes into the bedroom with the lamp. Her voice is heard from inside the
+room.) Now, take hold of him and lift him. You can think afterwards.
+
+The Editor (stoops to lift the body, but gets up again). I don't think
+he is dead yet.
+
+The Housekeeper. All the more reason to make haste.
+
+The Editor (stoops down again, but gets up once more.) Let me take his
+head.
+
+The Housekeeper. Why?
+
+The Editor. So that--if he should open his eyes
+
+The Housekeeper.--he won't see you. (Comes out of the bedroom). Go in
+there, then, and take his head. (He goes in.) What was that?
+
+The Editor (from inside the room). I slipped. There is something wet
+here.
+
+The Housekeeper. Yes, he has had a hemorrhage. Carefully, now. (They
+carry him in. The stage remains empty for a moment. Then the EDITOR
+comes back, wiping his forehead. He walks backwards and forwards,
+treading on the paper as he goes, but without noticing it.)
+
+The Editor. What a horrible thing to happen!--Newspapers are not meant
+for dying people.--It is not my fault.--Is this blood on my hand? It
+is! (Wipes it with his handkerchief.) And now it is on my handkerchief!
+(Throws it away.) No, it has my name on it. (Picks it up again.) No one
+can say it is my fault. (Sits down, then gets up, wiping his forehead
+with his handkerchief without noticing what he is doing.) Ah, I hope I
+haven't put blood on my forehead? I seem to feel it there! (Feels
+with his hand to see if his brow is wet.) No. (Sits down, then gets up
+again.) Let me get away from here. (Stops.) To think that I should be
+the one to come up! that it should just happen to-night that I did not
+receive my paper, and so went out! It almost seems more than accident.
+Indeed, I often had a foreboding that it would happen. (Stands opposite
+the bedroom door.) But is he dead? I think I will go and fetch the
+Doctor. Oh no, of course the maid has gone for him. He hasn't long
+to live, anyway; I could see that. (Walks forward, pointing with
+his finger.) "There goes the man that killed Halvdan Rejn! And his
+punishment was that he had to lift up his bloodstained body himself."
+That is what they will say; and they will look at me as if--. (Sits
+down.) No, let me get away! (Takes a few steps, then stops suddenly.)
+That article in to-morrow's paper! It is worse than the others! (Pulls
+out his watch.) Too late--the post has gone! I would have given--.
+(Checks himself.) I have nothing worth giving. In the morning It will
+be known all over the town just as everyone is reading my fresh article.
+There will be a riot; I shall be hunted like a wild beast. What shall I
+do? I might sneak out of the town? Then they will gloat over me! I won't
+allow them that pleasure! No, I cannot stay my hand utter a failure;
+only after a victory. That is the cursed part of it-never, never to be
+able to end it. Oh, for some one that could end it--end it, end it! Oh,
+for one day of real peace! Shall _I_ ever get that? (Sits down.) No,
+no, I must get away! (Gets up.) To-morrow must take care of itself.
+(Starts.) There is the paper he was reading! (Steps over it.) I will
+take it away--and burn it. (Takes it up.) I cannot burn it here; some
+one might come. (Is just going to put it into his pocket, as it is, but
+takes it out again to fold it better.) A Sunday's paper, apparently!
+Then it is _not_ to-day's? An old number, I suppose. Then the whole
+thing is a mistake! (Sighs with relief.) Let me look again! (Opens the
+paper, tremblingly.) I don't deserve it, but--. (Reads.) Sunday, the--.
+_To-morrow's_ paper? _Here_? How in all the world did it get here?
+(Appears horrified.) Here are the articles about Evje! How on earth did
+they get in? Didn't I send a message? Didn't I write? This on the top of
+everything else! Are even my printers conspiring against me? Well, even
+if it ruins me, I shall go on! They shall find out what I can do. How on
+earth can I be expected to help it if a weak-minded fellow dies, or if
+my printers are drunk or my manager has delirium tremens! I shall pursue
+my end through all chances and in spite of all their tricks, and I shall
+crush them, crush them--I shall--. (Gives way to a paroxysm of rage.
+At this moment the MAID comes in with the DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT. The MAID
+rushes into the bedroom. The EDITOR starts up.) Who is that? What do you
+want?
+
+The Doctor's Assistant (coldly). What do _you_ want here?
+
+The Editor. I? Oh, I was called up to help the sick man into his bed.
+
+The Doctor's Assistant (as before). Ah!--so it was _you_! (A pause.)
+
+The Editor. Have you ever seen me before?
+
+The Doctor's Assistant. Yes. I have heard you grind your teeth before
+this. (Goes into the bedroom.)
+
+The Editor (after standing for a moment looking after him). They will
+all look at me to-morrow like that-with those cold eyes. "Every man's
+hand against him, and his hand against every man;" there can only be one
+end to that. To-night, the meeting--and Harald Rejn will take them
+by storm. To-morrow, his brother's death--and my new article in the
+paper--and, in addition to that, those about Evje, who at present is
+only angry. And the election in two days! Oh, yes, he will be elected
+now. So I may as well give it all up at once. I would change places with
+any wolf that has a lair to hide in. Those cold eyes of his! (Shudders.)
+That is how every one will look at me to-morrow! They have pierced
+through my armour! (The DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT comes back, and the EDITOR
+makes an effort to resume his former confident manner.)
+
+The Doctor's Assistant. I don't know whether you will be glad to hear
+that it is all over.
+
+The Editor (under his breath). You brute!
+
+The Doctor's Assistant. His old housekeeper does not feel equal to
+coming here to tell you what his last words were. They were: "Forgive
+him!" (Goes out.)
+
+The Editor (sitting down, then getting up again). No, I mustn't be found
+here. (Walks about the room on tiptoe, as if he were afraid of waking
+some one. When he comes opposite to the bedroom door, he turns towards
+it, stretches out his arms and says:) Give me your forgiveness too!
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV
+
+(SCENE.--A large and handsomely furnished sitting-room at the EVJE'S.
+The room is brightly lit and the fire burning. The entrance door is on
+the right, and beyond it a door leading to the dining-room. INGEBORG
+is busy taking the covers off the chairs, folding them carefully as she
+does so. After a little, the bell rings. She goes to open the door, and
+returns, showing in the DOCTOR.)
+
+The Doctor. Oho! Is it to be in here to-night?
+
+Ingeborg (who has resumed her work of making the room ready). Yes, sir.
+
+The Doctor. Where are they all?
+
+Ingeborg. At the meeting, sir.
+
+The Doctor. All of them?
+
+Ingeborg. Yes, all of them. Miss Gertrud went first--
+
+The Doctor. Yes, I saw her well enough!
+
+Ingeborg. And then the master, and a farmer gentleman with him, came in
+to fetch the mistress.
+
+The Doctor (to himself). Something has happened here, then. (Aloud.)
+Tell me, Ingeborg--has _he_ been here again? You know who I mean.
+(Coughs in imitation of the EDITOR'S cough.)
+
+Ingeborg. Oh, the Editor; no, sir.
+
+The Doctor (to himself). I wonder what has happened. (Aloud.) Well,
+evidently there is to be a festivity here to-night; and, as I see the
+chairs are getting their covers taken off, I may as well take mine off
+too. (Takes off his coat and gives it to INGEBORG, who carries it out.)
+I don't blame Evje for wanting to celebrate Harald's success after a
+meeting like that! He is not exactly eloquent in the ordinary sense
+of the word--doesn't bother about his antitheses and climaxes and
+paradoxes, and all that sort of nonsense; but he is a _man_! He goes
+bail for what he says, and he says what he likes--ha, ha! And that dear
+Gertrud, too! Follows him into the hall, and, as there isn't a single
+seat left there, goes up on to the platform among the committee, and
+sits there looking at him with those trustful blue eyes of hers, as if
+there was no one else in the room! And _we_ were all looking at _her_!
+She helped him more than ten good speakers would have done, I am sure.
+Her faith in him bred it in others, whether they liked it or no. She
+is one who would die for her faith! Yes, yes! The man that gets her--.
+(INGEBORG comes back.) Well! (Rubs his hands together.) Look here,
+Ingeborg. (Very politely.) Do you know what is meant by the Rights of
+Man?
+
+Ingeborg (going on with her work). No, sir. Something we have earned, I
+suppose.
+
+The Doctor. Yes, you earn them every day.
+
+Ingeborg. Our meals, perhaps?
+
+The Doctor (laughing). No, it isn't something to eat, unfortunately.
+(Politely.) Do you ever read papers, Ingeborg?
+
+Ingeborg. Papers? Oh, you mean the price-lists they leave at the kitchen
+door. Yes, sir; every day, before we go to market, I--
+
+The Doctor. No, I don't mean papers of that sort. I mean--
+
+Ingeborg. Oh, you mean the newspaper I take in to master's room every
+morning. No, Sir, I don't read that. I am told there are such horrors in
+it.
+
+The Doctor. Quite so. Don't you care to read about horrors, then?
+
+Ingeborg. Oh, we poor folk see enough of them in our everyday lives,
+without reading about them!--But perhaps the gentry enjoy it.
+
+The Doctor. You are a very wise woman. Let me tell you, though, that
+there is a fight going on, about--oh, well, never mind what it is about.
+And the Editor and Mr. Rejn, who both come to this house, are the two
+chief fighters. Don't you want to know what they are fighting about?
+
+Ingeborg (going on unconcernedly with her work). Oh, so they are
+fighting, are they? No, I don't care the least bit, sir!
+
+The Doctor (to himself). Ha, ha--the difference between Ingeborg and
+me is that I am interested in the fight merely as a student of human
+nature, and she is not interested in it at all. I wonder which is
+farthest from any genuine belief in politics?--from our "duty as a
+citizen," as they call it? (To INGEBORG.) Ingeborg, do you know what
+your "duty as a citizen" means?
+
+Ingeborg. My "duty as a citizen"? That mean; paying fines, doesn't it,
+sir?
+
+The Doctor. Yes; and a very heavy fine, into the bargain!
+
+Ingeborg. The master was fined because the pavement was not swept. John
+was ill.
+
+The Doctor. Quite right, that was one of his duties as a citizen.--Tell
+me, Ingeborg, are they expecting a lot of people here to-night?
+
+Ingeborg. No, sir, I have only laid table for quite a few.
+
+The Doctor. And what are they going to have?
+
+Ingeborg. Oh, one or two dishes and one or two sorts of wine--.
+
+The Doctor. Aha! (A ring is heard at the bell. INGEBORG goes to the
+door.) There they are! Now we shall have a fine time!
+
+Ingeborg (coming back with a letter). It is a note for you, sir.
+
+The Doctor. Oh, bother I
+
+Ingeborg. The man who brought it was not sure whether you would be at
+the meeting or here.
+
+The Doctor. How could he know--? (Putting on his glasses.) Oh, from my
+assistant--that is quite another thing. Of course he wants my help or my
+advice. Well, he shan't have it! I have run about quite enough to-day.
+Tell the messenger that I haven't time! I have my Duties as a Citizen
+to attend to! (Calls after her.) And my Manhood's Rights too! (Opens the
+envelope.) No, I won't read it; if I do, the matter will worry me all
+the evening. I know what I am. (Puts the note in his pocket.) I mean to
+enjoy this evening! (Suddenly.) I wonder how our friend the Editor is
+enjoying this evening! Was he at the meeting, I wonder? A remarkable
+personality--but malignity itself! Lion-hearted, though! He would fight
+till the last drop of his blood! But what is it, really, that he is
+fighting for? That question has always interested me, for I can't make
+it out. (To INGEBORG, who has comeback.) Well?
+
+Ingeborg. The messenger has gone.--Yes, sir, I told him everything you
+told me to.
+
+The Doctor. Of course. You would! Why the deuce does any one pay any
+attention to what I say! (The bell rings.) Here they are at last! Now
+we shall have a delightful evening! (EVJE and MRS. EVJE come in.) I am
+first, you see!
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. Were you at the meeting, too?
+
+The Doctor. Where else should I be?
+
+Evje. Did you see me?
+
+Mrs. Evje. There were so many people there, dear.
+
+Evje. But I was standing on a seat.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes, he was standing on a seat!
+
+The Doctor. There were plenty of people doing that.
+
+Evje. I wanted to be seen!--There _have_ been goings on here to-day, my
+friend!
+
+Mrs. Evje. You will never guess what has happened!
+
+The Doctor. Anyway I can see that something has happened.
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. Oh--!
+
+The Doctor. What is it, then?
+
+Evje. Those articles will be in to-morrow's paper.
+
+The Doctor. In the paper?--Yes, I didn't find him.
+
+Evje. But I found him!
+
+The Doctor (impatiently). Well?
+
+Evje. I will tell you all about it another time. But I have read them--
+
+Mrs. Evje. And he has told me all about them!
+
+The Doctor. Are they very bad?
+
+Evje. Oh--oh!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Oh--oh--oh!
+
+The Doctor (with a look of pleased curiosity.) As bad as all that?
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. Oh--oh--oh--oh!
+
+The Doctor. And _that_ was why you went to the meeting!
+
+Evje. Of course--tit for tat! It was my wife's idea.
+
+Mrs. Evje. It was the obvious thing to do, dear.
+
+Evje. Our whole family at the meeting!--So that all the town should know
+that it was nothing but the meanest political persecution because I had
+joined my son-in-law's party.
+
+Mrs. Evje. We are party people now, you know!
+
+Evje. Do you know, there is something exciting about being mixed up with
+such things--something invigorating, something--
+
+The Doctor (stepping back). Are _you_ bitten with it, too?
+
+Evje. Yes, if I can't be left in peace, I shall become a party man.
+
+The Doctor (enthusiastically). Did you see Gertrud?
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje (with emotion). Our Gertrud! Yes, indeed we did!
+
+The Doctor. Did you see her coming in with him!
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje (as before). Yes, we saw her coming in with him!
+
+The Doctor. I suppose you did not know she was going?
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. Oh, yes!
+
+Mrs. Evje. She had said she would go with us--
+
+Evje. But when we went to fetch her, the bird had flown!
+
+The Doctor. How pretty she looked, too! All the men were looking at her.
+And how she looked at him!
+
+Mrs. Evje. It made me want to cry. I had quite a job to prevent myself.
+
+Evje. You need not have minded, dear! God has given us great happiness.
+Her faith in him and her love shone to from her eyes that it went to my
+heart. I felt quite upset! (Wipes his eyes.)
+
+The Doctor. And what about _him_--eh? I don't fancy any one will think
+about stopping his career. We have been a pack of fools.
+
+Evje. That we have!
+
+The Doctor. He is not exactly eloquent, but--
+
+Evje. That is precisely what I was saying to my wife! He is not exactly
+eloquent, but he is--
+
+The Doctor.--a man!
+
+Evje. A man! My very words, weren't they, my dear?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Yes.--And I say he is so strong a man that he can afford to
+be tender-hearted. For he certainly has been that.
+
+Evje. Yes, he has been that!
+
+The Doctor (laughing). In spite of his strength!
+
+Evje. Oh, you may make the most of your--. Aha! (Loud ringing at the
+bell is heard.) Here they are!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Let us go and meet them!
+
+The Doctor. No; look here--let us wait for them at the other side of the
+room, so that they may make a triumphal progress up to us!
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje, Yes! (They go to the opposite end of the room, while
+HARALD comes in rather quickly, with GERTRUD on his arm. As they cross
+the room, the others cry out: "Bravo! Bravo!" and clap their hands.)
+
+Gertrud (still holding to HARALD's arm). And he is my man! My man!
+(Throws her arms round his neck, crying with happiness, and kisses him;
+then does the same to her mother, and then to her father, to whom she
+whispers: Thank you!)
+
+The Doctor. Oh--me too!
+
+Gertrud (after a moment's hesitation). Yes--you too!
+
+(The DOCTOR helps her to take off her cloak, and talks to her,
+whispering and laughing.)
+
+Harald (shaking EVJE's hand). Good evening!
+
+Evje. Forgive me!
+
+Harald. With all my heart!
+
+Mrs. Evje. And now everything is all right!
+
+Harald. For good!
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. For good!
+
+Harald. And, thank you for coming to the meeting.
+
+Evje. It was no more than our duty! Look here--did you see me?
+
+Harald. The whole time! But, tell me, was it a delusion, or was it my
+brother Haakon that was standing on the floor beside you, rather in the
+shadow?
+
+Evje and Mrs. Evje. It _was_ he!
+
+Evje. I fetched him from your brother Halvdan's.
+
+Harald. I am so glad! It must have pleased Haakon. Gertrud and I at
+first thought of going in to see Halvdan before we came on here; but we
+saw all his lights were out. He must be asleep.
+
+Evje. I can give you news of him. He is all right.
+
+Harald. And Haakon?
+
+Evje. Very well, too. A fine fellow! I wanted him to come home with us
+now; but he said he was tired after his journey.
+
+Mrs. Evje (to INGEBORG, who has come in from the dining room). Is it
+ready?
+
+Ingeborg. Yes, ma'am.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Then come along. (INGEBORG opens the dining-room door.)
+
+The Doctor and Evje. Yes, come along!
+
+The Doctor. But we must go ceremoniously! Let us make a little festivity
+of it to-night! You must head the procession, Evje--and then the two
+young people Gertrud (taking HARALD's arm). Yes!
+
+The Doctor. And Mrs. Evje and I will bring up the rear! (Offers her his
+arm.)
+
+Evje. Forward!(The bell rings. He stops.) Who can it be--as late as
+this?
+
+The Doctor. Probably some friends on their way back from the meeting.
+
+Mrs. Evje. We must wait a moment!(To INGEBORG, who is going to open the
+door.)Put a leaf in the table, and lay places for as many as come.
+
+Ingeborg. Yes, ma'am. (The bell rings again, as she goes to open the
+door.)
+
+The Doctor. They are impatient! So much the better--it shows they are in
+a good humour after the meeting! (A knock is heard at the door.)
+
+All. Come in!(The EDITOR comes in, with no overcoat on, but wearing his
+hat, which he forgets to take of till he is well into the room. He goes
+straight up to EVJE, who has crossed over to the left-hand side of the
+room.)
+
+All (when they see him in the doorway). You! (GERTRUD clings closer to
+HARALD.)
+
+The Editor. I wanted once more, as in the old days, not to go to bed
+without--this time it is not a question of thanking you for the happy
+time we have had together but without begging your pardon!(He speaks
+quietly, but with suppressed emotion.)There has been some unfortunate
+misunderstanding. Those articles have been printed, in spite of my
+express instructions to the contrary--I do not know how.
+
+Evje. I have read them.
+
+The Editor. You have read them?
+
+Evje. Yes, the copy of the paper that was meant for you came into my
+hands.
+
+The Editor. So that was it!--Forgive me, old friend! Won't you give me
+your hand?
+
+Mrs. Evje (coming forward). That he shall never do!
+
+The Editor (glancing over his shoulder at her). Let no one come between
+us at a moment like this! You don't know--. A hundred times in my life
+I would have done what I am doing now, had I not been afraid that people
+would call it affectation on my part and repulse me. Don't _you_ do
+that!--least of all now! Give me your hand, Evje! I beg you, in the
+sight and hearing of you all--. (EVJE seems to vacillate.)
+
+Mrs. Evje. No, you shan't!--not while he has anything to do with a
+newspaper. Otherwise it will all begin over again to-morrow. He is not
+his own master, you know.
+
+The Editor. I have done with it all.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Oh, you have said that so often! Nobody believes it. No; when
+a man can push political hatred so far as to write about an old friend,
+in whose house he has been a daily guest, as if he were a criminal--and
+all because he doesn't like his son-in-law, or his servant--one doesn't
+shake hands with him the very day his attacks appear in the paper.
+
+The Editor (who, all the tinge, has kept his back turned to MRS. EVJE,
+and has not looked at her). Evje, you are a good-hearted fellow, I know.
+Don't listen to what others say, now. This is a very bitter hour for me.
+You would be doing a good deed! Give me your hand--or a word! I am
+in such a state now that I must have visible signs of _some one's_
+forgiveness, or I shall--!
+
+Mrs. Evje (emphatically). Yes, a little repentance will do you good!
+But it will do you no good if you obtain forgiveness easily! You want
+to learn, just for once, what it is to be wounded at heart. You are only
+accustomed to deal with people whom you can flog one day and have at
+your feet--either from fear or from vanity--the next. And have we--God
+forgive us!--ever thought seriously the worse of you for it? No; because
+we never understood what it was till we were hit by it ourselves. But
+that is all the more reason why we should do our duty now! Hatred shall
+be met with hatred!
+
+The Doctor (at the back of the room, to GERTRUD and HARALD). She is her
+father's daughter, after all, when it comes to the point!
+
+The Editor (turns upon MRS. EVJE, with his fist clenched, but restrains
+himself from answering her). Then you won't shake hands, Evje? Not a
+word of forgiveness?
+
+Evje. I think my wife is right.
+
+The Editor (controlling himself with difficulty). You are a weak man, I
+know--
+
+Evje. What do you mean?
+
+The Editor.--but do not be weak this time! If you knew everything,
+you would know you _must_ not refuse me what I ask. There are others
+concerned--and for that reason--
+
+The Doctor. Let us go!
+
+Mrs. Evje. No, stay! He shall not have his way again.
+
+The Editor. Well, of all--! It is certainly true that those who are
+hardest on sinners are those who have never been tempted themselves--and
+the most merciless creature in the world is an injured woman.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Now he is coming out in his true colours!
+
+The Doctor (not without glee). Yes, that he is!
+
+The Editor (controlling himself once more). Evje--you, who know me, know
+what it must cost me to do this--and you can form some idea of the need
+I am in. I have never--
+
+Evje. I believe you; but I never can feel sure what your next move will
+be. You have so many.
+
+The Editor. My next move is to have done with it all, as sure as--
+
+Mrs. Evje. Don't believe him! A man who can ask for your sympathy
+one moment and abuse you the next is not fit to promise anything--and
+certainly not fit to be forgiven, either.
+
+The Editor (with an outburst of passion). Then may everything evil
+overtake me if I ever ask you or any one else for sympathy again! You
+have succeeded in teaching me that I can do without it! I can rise
+above your cowardly cruelty. (To EVJE.) You are a miserable, weak
+creature--and have always been, for all your apparent good-natured
+shrewdness! (To MRS. EVJE.) And as for you, who have often laughed so
+heartily at my so-called malice, and now all at once have become so
+severely virtuous--why, you are both like part-proprietors of my paper!
+You have taken all the profit you could from me, as long as it served
+your purpose--I have seen that for a long time! And all my pretended
+friends are like you--secret holders of shares in me, so as to secure
+their own safety and the persecution of others!--every bit as guilty as
+I am, only more prudent, more timid, more cowardly--!
+
+Evje. Once more--leave this house, which you have outraged!
+
+Mrs. Evje. And how dare you set foot in here again?
+
+The Editor. No, I am not going until all the anger that is in my heart
+has turned into fear in yours! Because now I will _not_ have done with
+it all! No--it is just through _his_ death that respect for me will
+revive--it will be like a rampart of bayonets round me! "There goes
+one who can kill a man with a word, if he likes!" _That_ will make them
+treat me respectfully!
+
+Harald and the Doctor. What does he mean?
+
+The Editor (as he hears HARALD'S voice). And you--you mountebank, who
+can stand up in public and seek applause before your brother's corpse
+is cold--don't come talking rant to me! You are more contemptible than I
+am! I couldn't have done that; I couldn't stand there, as you are doing
+now, impatient to get to your champagne and pretty speeches!--Oh, how I
+despise all such lying and heartlessness! (They all look at him and at
+each other with a questioning expression.)
+
+Harald. Is my brother dead?
+
+Mrs. Evje. Is his brother dead?
+
+Gertrud. Good God, is Halvdan dead?
+
+Evje. Is he dead? Impossible!
+
+The Doctor. Is Rejn dead--and I--?
+
+Evje. I saw him only a couple of hours ago, looking quite well.
+
+The Editor (in a broken voice). Didn't you know?
+
+All (except the DOCTOR). No!
+
+The Doctor. Ah, that letter, that letter! (Looks in his pocket for it
+and his glasses.)
+
+The Editor. I am the wretchedest man alive! (Sinks into a chair.)
+
+The Doctor. I had a letter from my assistant, but I have not read it!
+
+Mrs. Evje. Read it, read it!
+
+The Doctor (reading). "I am writing in great haste. As I expect you will
+be going to your old friends' after the meeting, and will meet Harald
+Rejn there, the task will probably fall to you of telling him--(the
+EDITOR gets up to go, but stands still)--that Halvdan Rejn died about
+eight o'clock of a fresh attack of hemorrhage! (HARALD leaves GERTRUD'S
+side and comes forward, with a cry. The EDITOR steadies himself by
+holding on to the table.) No one was with him; he was found lying across
+the threshold of his bedroom. A copy of the newspaper was lying on the
+floor behind him." (HARALD, with a groan, advance threateningly towards
+the EDITOR.)
+
+Gertrud. Harald, my ring!--my ring! (HARALD Stops, collects himself,
+buries his face in his hands and bursts into uncontrollable tears.
+GERTRUD puts her arms round him and holds him folded in them.)
+
+The Doctor (laying a hand on HARALD's arm). "The housekeeper told me he
+had only spoken two words, and they were 'Forgive him!'" (HARALD bursts
+into tears.)
+
+The Doctor (after waiting for a little). "Apparently chance--or perhaps
+something else--decreed that the maid who ran for help, should meet the
+very man, who hats caused the tragedy, and that it should be _he_ who
+helped the housekeeper to lay him on his deathbed." (All look at the
+EDITOR.)
+
+Evje. That was why he came! (A pause.)
+
+Gertrud. Harald! (HARALD, who has turned away from her to struggle with
+his emotion, does not turn round.) If _he_ could forgive--
+
+The Editor (with a gesture of refusal). No!
+
+Gertrud (quietly, to the EDITOR). If you want to deserve it, make an end
+of all this!
+
+The Editor. It is all at an end! (To MRS. EVJE.) You were right. I knew
+it myself, too. My armour is pierces pierced through. A child might
+conquer me now--and this child has done so; for she has begged for mercy
+for me, and no one has ever done that before. (Puts his hand over his
+eyes, turns away, and goes out. As he is going out the bell rings. A
+moment later, INGEBORG Shows in HAAKON REJN.)
+
+Gertrud (who has put her arms round HARALD, whispers). Who is it?
+
+Harald. My brother. (Goes to meet HAAKON and throws himself into his
+arms.) You had a talk with him this afternoon, then?
+
+Haakon. Yes.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Let us all go to him.
+
+Evje and Gertrud. Yes.
+
+Mrs. Evje (to INGEBORG). Bring in our cloaks and hats again, and
+afterwards clear the table. (INGEBORG does so.)
+
+Harald (unable to control his emotion). Haakon, this is my future wife.
+(Goes away from them.)
+
+Haakon. Well, my dear, your engagement has begun seriously; take all the
+future seriously, too.
+
+The Doctor. You need not say that to _her_. What she needs is to take
+life more lightly.
+
+Haakon. Oh, yes--if she lays everything in God's hands she can always
+take life lightly.
+
+Mrs. Evje. It is our own fault, I expect, when we take it too lightly.
+
+Evje. But sometimes we learn a lesson by that.
+
+Haakon. Oh, yes. Well, we must stand by one another, we who take life in
+the same way.
+
+Mrs. Evje. Shall we go, children?
+
+Harald (to HAAKON). Will you bring Gertrud, Haakon? I would rather go
+alone. (They go out. The curtain falls.)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE BANKRUPT
+
+A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS
+
+
+DRAMATIS PERSONAE
+
+     HENNING TJAELDE, merchant and brewer.
+     MRS. TJAELDE, his wife.
+     VALBORG and SIGNE, their daughters.
+     LIEUTENANT HAMAR, engaged to Signe.
+     SANNAES, Tjaelde's confidential clerk.
+     JAKOSSEN, manager of Tjaelde's brewery.
+     BERENT, a lawyer.
+     PRAM, a custom-house official.
+     An Agent.
+     The VICAR.
+     LIND, a guest.
+     FINNE, a guest.
+     RING, a guest.
+     HOLM, a guest.
+     KNUTZON, a guest.
+     KNUDSEN, a guest.
+     FALBE, a guest.
+
+
+
+
+ACT I
+
+(SCENE.--A sitting-room in the TJAELDES' house, opening on a verandah
+that is decorated with flowers. It is a hot summer's day. There is a
+view of the sea beyond the verandah, and boats are visible among the
+islands that fringe the coast. A good-sized yacht, with sails spread, is
+lying close up under the verandah on the right. The room is luxuriously
+furnished and full of flowers. There are two French windows in the
+left-hand wall; two doors in the right-hand. A table in the middle of
+the room; arm-chairs and rocking-chairs scattered about. A sofa in the
+foreground on the right. LIEUTENANT HAMAR is lying on the sofa, and
+SIGNE sitting in a rocking-chair.)
+
+Hamar. What shall we do with ourselves to-day?
+
+Signe (rocking herself). Hm! (A pause.)
+
+Hamar. That was a delicious sail we had last night. (Yawns.) But I am
+sleepy to-day. Shall we go for a ride?
+
+Signe. Hm! (A pause.)
+
+Hamar. I am too hot on this sofa. I think I will move. (Gets up. SIGNE
+begins to hum an air as she rocks herself.) Play me something, Signe!
+
+Signe (singing her words to the air she has been humming). The piano is
+out of tune.
+
+Hamar. Read to me, then!
+
+Signe (as before, looking out of the window). They are swimming the
+horses. They are swimming the horses. They are swimming the horses.
+
+Hamar. I think I will go and have a swim too. Or perhaps I will wait
+till nearer lunch-time.
+
+Signe (as before). So as to have a better appetite--appetite--appetite.
+
+(MRS. TJAELDE comes in from the right, walking slowly.)
+
+Hamar. You look very thoughtful!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, I don't know what to order.
+
+Signe (as before). For dinner, I suppose you mean?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes.
+
+Hamar. Do you expect any one?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, your father writes to me that Mr. Finne is coming.
+
+Signe (speaking). The most tiresome person possible, of course.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. How would boiled salmon and roast chicken do?
+
+Signe. We had that the other day.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. (With a sigh). There is nothing that we didn't. There is
+so little choice in the market just now.
+
+Signe. Then we ought to send to town.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Oh, these meals, these meals!
+
+Hamar (yawning). They are the best thing in life, anyway.
+
+Signe. To eat, yes--but not to cook; I never will cook a dinner.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (sitting down at the table). One could put up with the
+cooking. It's the having always to think of something fresh!
+
+Hamar. Why don't you get a chef from one of the hotels, as I have so
+often advised you?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Oh, we have tried that, but he was more trouble than it
+was worth.
+
+Hamar. Yes, because he had no invention. Get a French chef!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, and have to be always beside him to interpret!--But I
+am no nearer this dinner. And lately I have been finding such difficulty
+in getting about.
+
+Hamar. I have never in my life heard so much talk about meals as I have
+in this house.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. You see, you have never been in a prosperous
+business-man's house before. Our friends are mostly business-men, of
+course--and most of them have no greater pleasures than those of the
+table.
+
+Signe. That's true.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Are you wearing _that_ dress to-day?
+
+Signe. Yes.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. You have worn a different one every day.
+
+Signe. Well, if Hamar is tired of both the blue one and the grey one,
+what can I do?
+
+Hamar. And I don't like this one any better than the others.
+
+Signe. Indeed!--Then I really think you had better order me one
+yourself.
+
+Hamar. Come to town with me, and I will!
+
+Signe. Yes, mother--Hamar and I have made up our minds that we must go
+back to town. [Note: There would be nothing contrary to Norwegian ideas
+of propriety in Signe's proposal. In Norway an engaged couple could
+travel alone; and the fiancée would go to stay in the house of her
+future husband's relations.]
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. But you were there only a fortnight ago!
+
+Hamar. And it is exactly a fortnight too long since we were there!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. (thoughtfully). Now, what _can_ I order for dinner?
+
+(VALBORG comes into sight on the verandah.)
+
+Signe (turning round and seeing VALBORG). Enter Her Highness!
+
+Hamar (turning round). Carrying a bouquet! Oho! I have seen it before!
+
+Signe. Have you? Did _you_ give it her?
+
+Hamar. No; I was coming through the garden--and saw it on the table in
+Valborg's summerhouse. Is it your birthday, Valborg?
+
+Valborg. No.
+
+Hamar. I thought not. Perhaps there is some other festivity to-day?
+
+Valborg. No. (SIGNE suddenly bursts out laughing.)
+
+Hamar. Why do you laugh?
+
+Signe. Because I understand! Ha, ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar. What do you understand?
+
+Signe. Whose hands it is that have decked the altar! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar. I suppose you think they were mine?
+
+Signe. No, they were redder hands than yours! Ha, ha, ha, ha! (VALBORG
+throws the bouquet down.) Oh, dear me, it doesn't do to laugh so much in
+this heat. But it is delightful! To think he should have hit upon that
+idea! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar (laughing). Do you mean--?
+
+Signe (laughing). Yes! You must know that Valborg--
+
+Valborg. Signe!
+
+Signe.--who has sent so many distinguished suitors about their business,
+cannot escape from the attentions of a certain red pair of hands--ha,
+ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar. Do you mean Sannaes?
+
+Signe. Yes! (Points out of the window.) There is the culprit! He is
+waiting, Valborg, for you to come, in maiden meditation, with the
+bouquet in your hands--as you came just now--
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. (getting up). No, it is your father he is waiting for. Ah,
+he sees him now. (Goes out by the verandah.)
+
+Signe. Yes, it really is father--riding a bay horse!
+
+Hamar (getting up). On a bay horse! Let us go and say "how do you do" to
+the bay horse!
+
+Signe. N--o, no!
+
+Hamar. You won't come and say "how do you do" to the bay horse? A
+cavalry officer's wife must love horses next best to her husband.
+
+Signe. And he his wife next best to his horses.
+
+Hamar. What? Are you jealous of a horse?
+
+Signe. Oh, I know very well you have never been so fond of me as you are
+of horses.
+
+Hamar. Come along! (Pulls her up out of her chair.)
+
+Signe. But I don't feel the least interested in the bay horse.
+
+Hamar. Very well, then, I will go alone!
+
+Signe. No, I will come.
+
+Hamar (to VALBORG). Won't you come and welcome the bay horse too?
+
+Valborg. No, but I will go and welcome my father!
+
+Signe (looking back, as she goes). Yes, of course--father as well. (She
+and HAMAR go out.)
+
+(VALBORG goes to the farthest window and stands looking out of it. Her
+dress is the same colour as the long curtain, and a piece of statuary
+and some flowers conceal her from any one entering the room. SANNAES
+comes in, carrying a small saddle-bag and a cloak, which he puts down
+on a chair behind the door. As he turns round he sees the bouquet on the
+door.)
+
+Sannaes. There it is! Has she dropped it by accident, or did she throw
+it down? Never mind--she has had it in her hands. (Picks it up, kisses
+it, and is going to take it away.)
+
+Valborg (coming forward). Leave it alone!
+
+Sannaes (dropping the bouquet). You here, Miss Valborg--? I didn't see
+you--
+
+Valborg. But I can see what you are after. How dare you presume to think
+of persecuting me with your flowers and your--your red hands? (He puts
+his hands behind his back.) How dare you make me a laughing-stock to
+every one in the house, and I suppose to every one in the town?
+
+Sannaes. I--I--I--
+
+Valborg. And what about me? Don't you think I deserve a little
+consideration? You will be turned out of the house before long, if you
+do not take care--! Now be quick and get away before the others come in.
+(SANNAES turns away, holding his hands in front of him, and goes out by
+the verandah to the right. At the same moment TJAELDE is seen coming at
+the other end of the verandah, followed by HAMAR and SIGNE.)
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, it is a fine horse.
+
+Hamar. Fine? I don't believe there is its equal in the country.
+
+Tjaelde. I dare say. Did you notice that he hadn't turned a hair?
+
+Hamar. What glorious lungs! And such a beauty, too--his head, his legs,
+his neck--! I never saw such a beauty!
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, he is a handsome beast. (Looks out of the verandah at the
+yacht.) Have you been out for a sail?
+
+Hamar. I was sailing among the islands last night, and came back this
+morning with the fishing-boats--a delightful sail!
+
+Tjaelde. I wish I had time to do that.
+
+Hamar. But surely it is only imagination on your part, to think that you
+never have time?
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, well, perhaps I have time but not inclination.
+
+Signe. And how do things stand where you have been?
+
+Tjaelde. Badly.
+
+Valborg (coming forward). Welcome home, father!
+
+Tjaelde. Thank you, dear!
+
+Hamar. Is it not possible to save anything?
+
+Tjaelde. Not at present; that is why I took the horse.
+
+Hamar. Then the bay horse is the only thing you get out of the smash?
+
+Tjaelde. Do you know that I might say that horse has cost me three or
+four thousand pounds?
+
+Hamar. Well, that is its only defect, anyway! Still, if the worst comes
+to the worst, and you can afford it--the horse is priceless! (TJAELDE
+turns away, puts down his hat and coat and takes off his gloves.)
+
+Signe. It is beautiful to see your enthusiasm when you talk about
+horses. I rather think it is the only enthusiasm you have.
+
+Hamar. Yes, if I were not a cavalry officer I should like to be a horse!
+
+Signe. Thank you! And what should I be?
+
+Valborg. "Oh, were I but the saddle on thy back! Oh, were I but the whip
+about thy loins!"
+
+Hamar. "Oh, were I but the flowers in thy--." No, "hand" doesn't rhyme!
+
+Tjaelde. (coming forward, meets MRS. TJAELDE, who has come in from the
+right.) Well, my dear, how are you?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Oh, I find it more and more difficult to get about.
+
+Tjaelde. There is always something the matter with you, my dear! Can I
+have something to eat?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, it has been standing waiting for you. Here it comes.
+(A maid brings in a tray which she lays on the table.)
+
+Tjaelde. Good!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Will you have a cup of tea?
+
+Tjaelde. No, thank you.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. (sitting down beside him and pouring him out a glass of
+wine). And how have things gone with the Möllers?
+
+Tjaelde. Badly. I told you so already.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I didn't hear you.
+
+Valborg. I had a letter to-day from Nanna Möller. She tells me all about
+it--how none of the family knew anything about it till the officers of
+the courts came.
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, there must have been a dreadful scene.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Did he tell you anything about it?
+
+Tjaelde (as he eats). I didn't speak to him.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. My dear! Why, you are old friends!
+
+Tjaelde. Bah! Old friends! He sat looking as if he had taken leave of
+his senses. Besides, I have had enough of that family. I didn't go there
+to hear them talk about their troubles.
+
+Signe. I suppose it was all very sad?
+
+Tjaelde (still eating). Shocking!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. What will they have to live on?
+
+Tjaelde. What is allowed them by their creditors, of course.
+
+Signe. But all the things they had?
+
+Tjaelde. Sold.
+
+Signe. All those pretty things--their furniture, their carriages,
+their--?
+
+Tjaelde. All sold.
+
+Hamar. And his watch? It is the most beautiful watch I have ever
+seen--next to yours.
+
+Tjaelde. It had to go, of course, being jewellery. Give me some wine; I
+am hot and thirsty.
+
+Signe. Poor things!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Where are they going to live now?
+
+Tjaelde. In the house of one of the skippers of what was their fleet.
+Two small rooms and a kitchen.
+
+Signe. Two small rooms and a kitchen! (A pause.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. What do they intend to do?
+
+Tjaelde. There was a subscription started to enable Mrs. Möller to get
+the job of catering for the Club.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Is the poor woman going to have more cooking to do!
+
+Signe. Did they send no messages to us?
+
+Tjaelde. Of course they did; but I didn't pay any attention to them.
+
+Hamar (who has been standing on the verandah). But Möller--what did he
+say? What did he do?
+
+Tjaelde. I don't know, I tell you.
+
+Valborg (who has been walking up and down the room during the preceding
+conversation). He has said and done quite enough already.
+
+Tjaelde (who has at last finished eating and drinking, is struck by her
+words). What do you mean by that, Valborg?
+
+Valborg. That if I were his daughter I would never forgive him.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. My dear Valborg, don't say such things!
+
+Valborg. I mean it! A man who would bring such shame and misery upon his
+family does not deserve any mercy from them.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. We are all in need of mercy.
+
+Valborg. In one sense, yes. But what I mean is that I could never give
+him my respect or my affection again. He would have wronged me too
+cruelly.
+
+Tjaelde (getting up). Wronged you?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Have you finished already, dear?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. No more wine?
+
+Tjaelde. I said I had finished. Wronged you? How?
+
+Valborg. Well, I cannot imagine how one could be more cruelly wronged
+than to be allowed to assume a position that was nothing but a lie,
+to live up to means that had no real existence but were merely a
+sham--one's clothes a lie, one's very existence a lie! Suppose I were
+the sort of girl that found a certain delight in making use of her
+position as a rich man's daughter--in using it to the fullest possible
+extent; well, when I discovered that all that my father had given me was
+stolen-that all he had made me believe in was a lie--I am sure that then
+my anger and my shame would be beyond all bounds!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. My child, you have never been tried. You don't know how
+such things may happen. You don't really know what you are saying!
+
+Hamar. Well it might do Möller good if he heard what she says!
+
+Valborg. He has heard it. His daughter said that to him.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. His own daughter! Child, child, is that what you write to
+each other about? God forgive you both!
+
+Valborg. Oh, He will forgive us, because we speak the truth.
+
+Mrs. Tialde. Child, child!
+
+Tjaelde. You evidently don't understand what business is--success one
+day and failure the next.
+
+Valborg. No one will ever persuade me that business is a lottery.
+
+Tjaelde. No, a sound business is not.
+
+Valborg. Exactly. It is the unsound sort that I condemn.
+
+Tjaelde. Still, even the soundest have their anxious moments.
+
+Valborg. If the anxious moments really foreshadow a crisis, no man of
+honour would keep his family o: his creditors in ignorance of the fact.
+My God, how Mr. Möller has deceived his!
+
+Signe. Valborg is always talking about business!
+
+Valborg. Yes, it has had an attraction for me ever since I was a child.
+I am not ashamed of that.
+
+Signe. You think you know all about it, anyway.
+
+Valborg. Oh, no; but you can easily get to know a little about anything
+you are fond of.
+
+Hamar. And one would need no great knowledge of business to condemn the
+way Möller went on. It was obvious to every one. And the way his family
+went on, too! Who went the pace as much as the Möllers? Think of his
+daughter's toilettes!
+
+Valborg. His daughter is my best friend. I don't want to hear her
+abused.
+
+Hamar. Your Highness will admit that it is possible to be the daughter
+of a _very_ rich man without being as proud and as vain as--as the lady
+I am not allowed to mention!
+
+Valborg. Nanna is neither proud nor vain. She is absolutely genuine.
+She had the aptitude for being exactly what she thought she was--a rich
+man's daughter.
+
+Hamar. Has she the "aptitude" for being a bankrupt's daughter now?
+
+Valborg. Certainly. She has sold all her trinkets, her dresses--every
+single thing she had. What she wears, she has either paid for herself or
+obtained by promising future payment.
+
+Hamar. May I ask if she kept her stockings?
+
+Valborg. She sent everything to a sale.
+
+Hamar. If I had known that I would certainly have attended it!
+
+Valborg. Yes, I daresay there was plenty to make fun of, and plenty of
+idle loafers, too, who were not ashamed to do so.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Children, children!
+
+Hamar. May I ask if Miss Nanna sent her own idleness to the sale with
+her other effects?--because I have never known any one with a finer
+supply of it!
+
+Valborg. She never thought she would need to work.
+
+Tjaelde (coming forward to VALBORG). To take up the thread of what we
+were saying: you don't understand what a business-man's hope is from one
+day to the other--always a renewed hope. That fact does not make him a
+swindler. He may be unduly sanguine, perhaps--a poet, if you like, who
+lives in a world of dreams--or he may be a real genius, who sees land
+ahead when no one else suspects it.
+
+Valborg. I don't think I misunderstand the real state of affairs. But
+perhaps you do, father. Because is not what you call hope, poetry,
+genius, merely speculating with what belongs to others, when a man knows
+that he owes more than he has got?
+
+Tjaelde. It may be very difficult to be certain even whether he does
+that or not.
+
+Valborg. Really? I should have thought his books would tell him--
+
+Tjaelde. About his assets and his liabilities, certainly. But values are
+fluctuating things; and he may always have in hand some venture which,
+though it cannot be specified, may alter the whole situation.
+
+Valborg. If he undeniably owes more than he possesses, any venture he
+undertakes must be a speculation with other people's money.
+
+Tjaelde. Well--perhaps that is so; but that does not mean that he steals
+the money--he only uses it in trust for them.
+
+Valborg. Entrusted to him on the false supposition that he is solvent.
+
+Tjaelde. But possibly that money may save the whole situation.
+
+Valborg. That does not alter the fact that he has got the use of it by a
+lie.
+
+Tjaelde. You use very harsh terms. (MRS. TJAELDE has once or twice been
+making signs to VALBORG, which the latter sees but pays no attention
+to.)
+
+Valborg. In that case the lie consists in the concealment.
+
+Tjaelde. But what do you want him to do? To lay all his cards on the
+table, and so ruin both himself and the others?
+
+Valborg. Yes, he ought to take every one concerned into his confidence.
+
+Tjaelde. Bah! In that case we should see a thousand failures every year,
+and fortunes lost one after the other everywhere! No, you have a level
+head, Valborg, but your ideas are narrow. Look here, where are the
+newspapers? (SIGNE, who has been talking confidentially to HAMAR on the
+verandah, comes forward.)
+
+Signe. I took them down to your office. I did not know you meant to stay
+in here.
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, bother the office! Please fetch them for me. (SIGNE goes
+out, followed by Hamar.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (in an undertone to VALBORG). Why will you never listen to
+your mother, Valborg? (VALBORG goes out to the verandah; leans on the
+edge of it, with her head on her hands, and looks out.)
+
+Tjaelde. I think I will change my coat. Oh no, I will wait till
+dinner-time.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Dinner! And here I am still sitting here!
+
+Tjaelde. Are we expecting any one?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, have you forgotten?
+
+Tjaelde. Of course, yes.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (going out). What on earth am I to order?
+
+(TJAELDE comes forward as soon as he is alone, sits down on a chair with
+a weary, harassed expression, and buries his face in his hands with a
+sigh. SIGNE and HAMAR come back, she carrying some newspapers. HAMAR is
+going out to the verandah again, but SIGNE pulls him back.)
+
+Signe. Here you are, father. Here are--
+
+Tjaelde. What? Who?
+
+Signe (astonished). The newspapers.
+
+Tjaelde. Ah, yes. Give them to me.(Opens them hurriedly. They are mostly
+foreign papers, in which he scans the money articles one after another.)
+
+Signe (after a whispered conversation with HAMAR). Father!
+
+Tjaelde (without looking up from the papers).Well? (To himself,
+gloomily.) Down again, always down!
+
+Signe. Hamar and I want so much to go into town again to Aunt Ulla's.
+
+Tjaelde. But you know you were there only a fortnight ago. I received
+your bills yesterday. Have you seen them?
+
+Signe. No need for that, father, if _you_ have seen them! Why do you
+sigh?
+
+Tjaelde. Oh--because I see that stocks keep falling.
+
+Signe. Pooh! Why should you bother about that? Now you are sighing
+again. I am sure you know how horrid it is for those you love not to
+have what they want. You won't be so unkind to us, father?
+
+Tjaelde. No, my child, it can't be done.
+
+Signe. Why?
+
+Tjaelde. Because--because--well, because now that it is summer time so
+many people will be coming here whom we shall have to entertain.
+
+Signe. But entertaining people is the most tiresome thing I know, and
+Hamar agrees with me.
+
+Tjaelde. Don't you think I have to do tiresome things sometimes, my
+girl?
+
+Signe. Father dear, why are you talking so solemnly and ceremoniously?
+It sounds quite funny from you!
+
+Tjaelde. Seriously, my child, it is by no means an unimportant matter
+for a big business house like ours, with such a wide-spread connection,
+that people coming here from all quarters should find themselves
+hospitably received. You might do that much for me.
+
+Signe. Hamar and I will never have a moment alone at that rate.
+
+Tjaelde. I think you mostly squabble when you are alone.
+
+Signe. Squabble? That is a very ugly word, father.
+
+Tjaelde. Besides, you would be no more alone if you were in town.
+
+Signe. Oh, but it is quite different there!
+
+Tjaelde. So I should think--from the way you throw your money about!
+
+Signe (laughing). Throw our money about! What else have we to do? Isn't
+that what we are for? Daddy, listen--dear old dad--
+
+Tjaelde. No, dear--no.
+
+Signe. You have never been so horrid to me before.
+
+Hamar (who has been making signs to her to stop, whispers). Can't you be
+quiet! Don't you see he is put out about something?
+
+Signe (whispering). Well, you might have backed me up a little.
+
+Hamar (as before). No, I am a bit wiser than you.
+
+Signe (as before). You have been so odd lately. I am sure I don't know
+what you want?
+
+Hamar (as before). Oh, well, it doesn't matter now--because I am going
+to town alone.
+
+Signe (as before). What are you going to do?
+
+Hamar (going). I am going to town alone. I am sick of this!
+
+Signe (following him). Just you try! (Both go out by the verandah, to
+the right. TJAELDE lets the newspapers fall out of his hands with a
+heavy sigh.)
+
+Valborg (looking in from the verandah). Father! (TJAELDE starts.) There
+goes Mr. Berent, the lawyer from Christiania.
+
+Tjaelde (getting up). Berent? Where? On the wharf?
+
+Valborg. Yes. (Comes back into the room. TJAELDE looks out of the
+window.) The reason I told you was because I saw him yesterday at the
+timber-yard, and a little while before that, at the brewery and at the
+works.
+
+Tjaelde (to himself). What can that mean? (Aloud.) Oh, I know he is very
+fond of making little trips to all sorts of places in the summer. This
+year he has come here--and no doubt he likes to see the chief industries
+of the place. There is not much else here to see! But are you sure it is
+he? I think--
+
+Valborg (looking out). Yes, it is he. Look now, you know his walk--
+
+Tjaelde.--and his trick of crossing his feet--yes, it is he. It looks as
+if he were coming here.
+
+Valborg. No, he has turned away.
+
+Tjaelde. All the better! (To himself, thoughtfully.) Could it possibly
+mean--? (SANNAES comes in from the right.)
+
+Sannaes. Am I disturbing you, sir?
+
+Tjaelde. Is that you, Sannaes? (SANNAES, as he comes forward, sees
+VALBORG standing by the farther window. He appears frightened and hides
+his hands quickly behind his back.) What do you want? (VALBORG looks at
+SANNAES, then goes on to the verandah and out to the right.) What is it,
+man? What the deuce are you standing there for?
+
+Sannaes (bringing his hands from behind his back as soon as VALBORG has
+passed him, and looking after her.) I didn't like to ask you, before
+Miss Valborg, whether you are coming down to your office to-day or not.
+
+Tjaelde. Have you gone mad? Why on earth shouldn't you ask me that
+before Miss Valborg?
+
+Sannaes. I mean that--if not--I should like to speak to you here, if it
+is convenient.
+
+Tjaelde. Look here, Sannaes, you ought to try and get rid of your
+shyness; it doesn't suit a business man. A business man should be smart
+and active, and not let his wits go wool-gathering because he finds
+himself in the same room with a woman. I have often noticed it in
+you.--Now, what is it? Out with it!
+
+Sannaes. You are not coming to the office this morning, sir?
+
+Tjaelde. No, there is no post goes out before this evening.
+
+Sannaes. No. But there are some bills of exchange--
+
+Tjaelde. Bills? No.
+
+Sannaes. Yes, sir--that fourth one of Möller's that was protested, and
+the big English one.
+
+Tjaelde (angrily). Have they not been met yet? What does this mean?
+
+Sannaes. The manager of the bank wanted to see you first, sir!
+
+Tjaelde. Have you gone crazy--? (Collects himself.) There must be some
+misunderstanding, Sannaes.
+
+Sannaes. That is what I thought; so I spoke about it to the chief clerk,
+and to Mr. Holst as well.
+
+Tjaelde. And Mr. Holst said--?
+
+Sannaes. The same thing.
+
+Tjaelde (walking up and down). I will go and see him--or rather, I
+_won't_ go and see him; because this is evidently something that--. We
+have some days' grace yet, haven't we?
+
+Sannaes. Yes, sir.
+
+Tjaelde. And still no telegram from Mr. Lind?
+
+Sannaes. No, sir.
+
+Tjaelde (to himself). I can't understand it. (Aloud.) We will negotiate
+this matter direct with Christiania, Sannaes. That is what we will
+do--and leave these little local banks alone in future. That will do,
+Sannaes! (Makes a gesture of dismissal. Then says to himself:) That
+damned Möller! It has made them all suspicious! (Turns round and sees
+SANNAES still there.) What are you waiting for?
+
+Sannaes. It is settling day--and I have no money in the safe.
+
+Tjaelde. No money in the safe! A big business like this, and nothing in
+the safe on settling day! What kind of management is that, I should like
+to know? Must I teach you the A B C of business over and over again? One
+can never take a half day off, or hand over the control! of the tiniest
+part of the business--! I have no one, absolutely no one, that I can
+rely on! How have you let things get into such a state?
+
+Sannaes. Well, there was a third bill, which expired to-day--Holm and
+Co., for £400. I had relied upon the bank, unfortunately--so there was
+nothing for it but to empty the safe--here and at the brewery as well.
+
+Tjaelde (walking about restlessly). Hm--hm--hm!--Now, who can have put
+that into Holst's head?--Very well, that will do. (Dismisses SANNAES,
+who goes out but comes back immediately.)
+
+Sannaes (whispering). Here is Mr. Berent!
+
+Tjaelde (surprised). Coming here?
+
+Sannaes. He is just coming up the steps! (Goes out by the further door
+on the right.)
+
+Tjaelde. (calls after him in a whisper). Send up some wine and
+cakes!--It is just as I suspected! (Catches sight of himself in a
+mirror.) Good Lord, how bad I look! (Turns away painfully from the
+mirror; looks in it again, forces a smile to his face, and so, smiling,
+goes towards the verandah, where BERENT is seen coming in slowly from
+the left.)
+
+Tjaelde (greeting BERENT politely but with reserve). I feel honoured at
+receiving a visit from so distinguished a man.
+
+Berent. Mr. Tjaelde, I believe?
+
+Tjaelde. At your service! My eldest daughter has just been telling me
+that she had seen you walking about my property.
+
+Berent. Yes; an extensive property--and an extensive business.
+
+Tjaelde. Too extensive, Mr. Berent. Too many-sided. But one thing has
+led to another. Pray sit down.
+
+Berent. Thank you; it is very warm to-day. (A maid brings in cakes and
+wine, and puts them on the table.)
+
+Tjaelde. Let me give you a glass of wine?
+
+Berent. No, thank you.
+
+Tjaelde. Or something to eat?
+
+Berent. Nothing, thank you.
+
+Tjaelde (taking out his cigar-case). May I offer you a cigar? I can
+answer for their quality.
+
+Berent. I am very fond of a good cigar. But for the moment I will not
+take anything, thank you! (A pause. TJAELDE takes a seat.)
+
+Tjaelde (in a quiet, confidential voice). Have you been long here, Mr.
+Berent?
+
+Berent. Only a day or two. You have been away, have you not?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes--that unhappy affair of Mr. Möller's. A meeting of
+creditors after the sale.
+
+Berent. Times are hard just now.
+
+Tjaelde. Extraordinarily so!
+
+Berent. Do you think that Möller's failure will bring down any more
+firms with it-besides those we know of already, I mean?
+
+Tjaelde. I don't think so. His--his misfortune was an exceptional case
+in every respect.
+
+Berent. It has made the banks a little nervous, I hear.
+
+Tjaelde. I dare say.
+
+Berent. Of course you know the state of affairs here better than any
+one.
+
+Tjaelde. (with a smile). I am very much indebted to you for your
+flattering confidence in me.
+
+Berent. I suppose all this might have a bad effect upon the export trade
+of this part of the country?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes--it is really hard to tell; but the important thing
+certainly is to keep every one on their legs.
+
+Berent. That is your opinion?
+
+Tjaelde. Undoubtedly.
+
+Berent. As a general rule a crisis of this sort shows up the unsound
+elements in a commercial community.
+
+Tjaelde (with a smile). And for that reason this crisis should be
+allowed to take its natural course, you mean?
+
+Berent. That is my meaning.
+
+Tjaelde. Hm!--In some places it is possible that the dividing line
+between the sound firms and the unsound may not be very distinct.
+
+Berent. Can there really be any danger of such a thing here?
+
+Tjaelde. Well--you are expecting too much of my knowledge of affairs;
+but I should be inclined to think that there may. (A pause.)
+
+Berent. I have been instructed by the banks to prepare an opinion upon
+the situation--a fact which I have, so far, only confided to you.
+
+Tjaelde. I am much obliged.
+
+Berent. The smaller local banks here have combined, and are acting in
+concert.
+
+Tjaelde. Indeed? (A pause.) I suppose you have seen Mr. Holst, then?
+
+Berent. Of course. (A pause.) If we are to assist the sound firms and
+leave the others to their fate, the best way will certainly be for all
+alike to disclose their actual position.
+
+Tjaelde. Is that Mr. Holst's opinion too?
+
+Berent. It is. (A pause.) I have advised him for the present--at all
+events till we have all the balance-sheets--to say "no" to every request
+for an advance, without exception.
+
+Tjaelde. (with a look of relief). I understand!
+
+Berent. Only a temporary measure, of course--
+
+Tjaelde. Quite so!
+
+Berent.--but one that must apply to every one impartially.
+
+Tjaelde. Admirable!
+
+Berent. Not to treat every one alike would be to run the danger of
+throwing premature suspicion on individuals.
+
+Tjaelde. I quite agree.
+
+Berent. I am delighted to hear it. Then you will not misunderstand me
+if I ask you also to prepare a balance-sheet which shall show the actual
+position of your firm.
+
+Tjaelde. With the greatest pleasure, if by doing so I can assist the
+general welfare.
+
+Berent. I assure you, you can. It is by such means that public
+confidence is strengthened.
+
+Tjaelde. When do you want the balance-sheet? Of course, it can only be a
+summary one.
+
+Berent. Naturally. I will give myself the pleasure of calling for it.
+
+Tjaelde. By no means. I can let you have it at once, if you like. I am
+in the habit of frequently drawing up summary balance-sheets of that
+kind--as prices rise and fall, you know.
+
+Berent. Indeed? (Smiles.) You know, of course, what they say of
+swindlers--that they draw up three balance-sheets everyday, and all
+different! But you are teaching me, apparently--
+
+Tjaelde (laughing).--that others too, may have that bad habit!--though I
+haven't actually got as far as three a day!
+
+Berent. Of course I was only joking. (Gets up.)
+
+Tjaelde (getting up). Of course. I will send it to the hotel in an
+hour's time; for I suppose you are staying in our only so-called hotel!
+Would you not care, for the rest of your stay, to move your things over
+here and make yourself at home in a couple of empty spare rooms that I
+have?
+
+Bercnt. Thank you, but the length of my stay is so uncertain; and the
+state of my health imposes habits upon me which are embarrassing to
+every one, and to myself most of all, when I am among strangers.
+
+Tjaelde. But at all events I hope you will dine with us to-day? I expect
+one or two friends. And perhaps a short sail afterwards; it is very
+pretty among the islands here.
+
+Berent. Thank you, but my health won't allow me such dissipations.
+
+Tjaelde. Ha, ha!--Well, if I can be of any further service to you--?
+
+Berent. I should be glad to have a talk with you before I leave,
+preferably as soon as possible.
+
+Tjaelde (somewhat surprised). You mean, after you have received all the
+balance-sheets?
+
+Berent. I have already managed to get most of them quietly, through Mr.
+Holst.
+
+Tjaelde (more surprised). Oh--so you mean to-day--?
+
+Berent. Would five o'clock suit you?
+
+Tjaelde. I am quite at your disposal! I will give myself the pleasure of
+calling upon you at five.
+
+Berent. No, I will come here at five o'clock. (Bows, and turns to go.)
+
+Tjaelde (following him). But you are the invalid--the older man--and a
+distinguished man--
+
+Berent. But you are at home here. Good-bye!
+
+Tjaelde. Let me thank you for the honour you have done me by calling
+upon me!
+
+Berent. Please don't bother to see me out.
+
+Tjaelde. Allow me to escort you?
+
+Berent. I can find the way quite well, thank you.
+
+Tjaelde. No doubt, no doubt-but I should feel it an honour!
+
+Berent. As you please! (As they are about to go down the verandah steps
+they are met by SIGNE and HAMAR, who are coming up arm in arm. Each
+couple draws aside to make room for the other.)
+
+Tjaelde. Let me introduce--no, I am sure Mr. Berent needs no
+introduction. This is my youngest daughter--and her fiancé, Lieutenant
+Hamar.
+
+Berent. I thought your regiment was at the manoeuvres, Lieutenant?
+
+Hamar. I have got furlough--
+
+Berent. On account of urgent business, no doubt! Good day!
+
+Tjaelde. Ha, ha, ha! (He and BERENT go down the steps.)
+
+Hamar. Insolent fellow! But he is like that to every one.
+
+Signe. Not to my father, as far as I could see.
+
+Hamar. Your father is insolent too.
+
+Signe. You shan't say such things of father!
+
+Hamar. What else do you call it, to laugh at such impertinence as
+Berent's.
+
+Signe. I call it good spirits! (Sits down in a rocking-chair and begins
+rocking herself.)
+
+Hamar. Oh, then, so you--. You are not very agreeable to-day.
+
+Signe (still rocking herself). No; do you know, sometimes I get so bored
+with you.
+
+Hamar. Yet you won't let me go away?
+
+Signe. Because I should be still worse bored without you.
+
+Hamar. Let me tell you this, I am not going to put up much longer with
+the way I am treated here!
+
+Signe. Very well. (Takes off her engagement ring and holds it between
+her finger and her thumb, as she rocks herself and hums a tune.)
+
+Hamar. Oh, I don't say anything about _you_; but look at Valborg! Look
+at your father! He hasn't even as much as offered me a mount on his new
+horse!
+
+Signe. He has had something else to think about--possibly something even
+more important than that. (Goes on humming.)
+
+Hamar. Oh, do be nice, Signe! You must admit that my feelings are very
+natural. Indeed, to speak quite candidly--because I know I can say
+anything to you--it seems to me that, as I am to be his son-in-law and
+am in a cavalry regiment, and as he has no sons of his own, I might
+almost expect that--that he would make me a present of the horse.
+
+Signe. Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar. Does it seem so unreasonable to you?
+
+Signe. Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar. Why do you laugh at what I say, Signe? It seems to me that it
+would reflect very well on your family if, when my friends admired my
+horse, I could say: "My father-in-law made me a present of it." Because,
+you know, there isn't a finer horse in the whole of Norway.
+
+Signe. And that is the reason why you should have it? Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar. I won't stand it!
+
+Signe. The peerless lieutenant on the peerless horse! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Hamar. Signe, be quiet!
+
+Signe. You are so funny! (Begins to hum again.)
+
+Hamar. Listen, Signe! No one has so much influence with your father as
+you.--Oh, do listen! Can't you talk seriously for a moment?
+
+Signe. I should like to! (Goes on humming.)
+
+Hamar. My idea was that, if that horse were mine, I would stay here for
+the summer and break it in thoroughly. (SIGNE stops rocking herself and
+humming. HAMAR comes up to her chair and leans over her.) In that case
+I would not go back till the autumn, and then you could come with the
+horse and me into town. Wouldn't that be delightful?
+
+Signe (after looking at him for a moment). Oh, yes, my dear, you always
+have such delightful ideas!
+
+Hamar. Don't I! But the whole thing depends, of course, on whether you
+can get the horse from your father. Will you try, darling?
+
+Signe. And then you would stay here all the summer?
+
+Hamar. All the summer!
+
+Signe. So as to break in the horse.
+
+Hamar. Just to break in the horse!
+
+Signe. And I would go with you into town in the autumn--that was what
+you said, wasn't it?
+
+Hamar. Yes; wouldn't it be jolly?
+
+Signe. Shall you take the bay horse to stay with your Aunt Ulla too?
+
+Hamar (laughing). What?
+
+Signe. Well, you have spent your furlough here simply for the sake of
+that horse--I know that well enough--and you propose to stay here, just
+to break it in-and then you propose that the horse and I should go to
+your aunt's--
+
+Hamar. But, Signe, what do you--?
+
+Signe (beginning to rock herself furiously). Ugh! Go away!
+
+Hamar. Jealous of a horse! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Signe. Go away to the stables.
+
+Hamar. Is that meant for a punishment? Because it would be more amusing
+there than it is here.
+
+Signe (throwing down her ring). There! Let your horse wear that!
+
+Hamar. Every time you throw down that ring--
+
+Signe. Oh, you have said that so often! I am tired of that too! (Turns
+her chair round so as to turn her back on him.)
+
+Hamar. You are such a spoilt child that it would be absurd to take
+everything you say seriously--
+
+Signe. I am sick of that too, I tell you--for the hundred and twentieth
+time! Go away!
+
+Hamar. But can't you see how ridiculous it is of you to be jealous of a
+horse? Have you ever heard of anyone else behaving like that?
+
+Signe (jumping up). Oh, you make me want to shout and scream! I feel so
+ashamed of you! (Stamps her foot.) I despise you!
+
+Hamar (laughing). And all on account of the horse?
+
+Signe. No, on your own account--yours, yours! I feel so miserable
+sometimes, I should like to throw myself down on the floor and cry--or
+run away and never come back! Can't you let me alone! Can't you go away!
+
+Hamar. Yes--and I have not picked up the ring this time, either!
+
+Signe. Oh, do go!--go, go, go! (Bursts out crying and sits down.)
+
+Hamar. All right!--I see the steamer in the distance; I shall go home at
+once.
+
+Signe. Oh, you know as well as I do that that steamer goes the other
+way! Oh! (Cries. The masts and funnel of a steamer come into sight, and
+a trail of smoke passes over the sky. TJAELDE'S voice is heard outside,
+calling: "Hurry up! Take the lieutenant's boat; it is ready!" SIGNE
+jumps up.)
+
+Hamar. They are going to fetch some one from the steamer! (TJAELDE'S
+voice is heard again: "You get the boat out! He is coming here!" HAMAR
+runs to pick up the ring and comes back hurriedly to SIGNE.) Signe!
+
+Signe. No, I won't!
+
+Hamar. Signe, dear! What does this mean? What is it that I have done?
+
+Signe. I don't know, but I am wretchedly unhappy! (Bursts into tears.)
+
+Hamar. But you know that in the end I always do what you want? What more
+can you wish than that?
+
+Signe. I can't help it, I wish I were dead! It is always the same thing!
+(In tears again.)
+
+Hamar. But, Signe--you who have told me hundreds of times that you loved
+me!
+
+Signe. And so I do. But sometimes our engagement seems horrible!--No,
+don't come near me!
+
+Hamar. Signe! (TJAELDE'S voice is heard outside: "Of course, put your
+best coat on!" He calls louder: "Sannaes!" An answering voice is heard
+in the distance. TJAELDE continues: "Don't forget your gloves!") Dry
+your eyes, Signe! Don't let him see you have been crying. (He tries to
+give her the ring, but she turns away, wiping her eyes. TJAELDE comes up
+the steps on to the verandah.)
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, there you are! That's right. Mr. Lind is arriving by
+this steamer--I had a telegram from him just now. (Calls out over the
+verandah.) Come along with those flags! And get this boat out of the way
+and unstep her mast! She is moored up tight! (HAMAR runs to help him.)
+Yes, you cast her off! (HAMAR does so, and the boat is hauled away to
+the right. TJAELDE comes forward into the room.) Signe! (Looks at her.)
+What? Squabbling again?
+
+Signe. Father!
+
+Tjaelde. Well, this is no time for tomfoolery of that sort! You must all
+do the honours of the house to-day. Tell Valborg--
+
+Signe. Tell her yourself, please! You know Valborg only does just what
+she likes.
+
+Tjaelde. Don't talk such rubbish! This is an important moment--and you
+will all do as _I_ say! Tell Valborg that she is to make herself look
+nice and come to me here. And you do the same. (She goes.) Signe!
+
+Signe (stopping). Yes?
+
+Tjaelde. We must ask five or six more people to dinner. You must send
+word to Mr. Finne that we shall dine punctually at three o'clock,
+instead of four. Mr. Lind has to go away again by the next boat, at five
+o'clock. Do you understand?
+
+Signe. But has mother enough in the house for so many?
+
+Tjaelde. It is not a mere question of there being enough--it must be a
+very good dinner. I expect my larder to be kept thoroughly well stocked
+all through the summer. How often am I to repeat that?
+
+Signe (trying to repress her fears). But mother is feeling so ill
+to-day--
+
+Tjaelde. Oh! don't begin about that everlasting "feeling ill." There
+is no time to-day to feel ill. Now, be quick! (SIGNE goes out by the
+farther door. TJAELDE turns to HAMAR.) Get a pen and ink and some paper!
+We must draw up a list of guests, at once!
+
+Hamar (looking about). There is none here.
+
+Tjaelde (impatiently). Fetch some, then! (HAMAR goes into the next room.
+TJAELDE, after a long sigh of relief, reads a telegram he has in his
+hand. His hand trembles as he reads it slowly, repeating some passages
+twice.) "Letter received just as starting. Before taking charge of
+affairs, must have interview. Coming to-day earliest boat, return five
+o'clock. Have clear statement ready. Lind." I can hardly read it--but it
+is true! Yes, if I can only work this properly all doors will be open to
+me! (To HAMAR, who has come back.) Ah, there you are! It would take too
+long to write invitations. We will just draw up a list of names and
+one of my clerks shall run round to them all. Now then! (Dictates.) The
+Vicar--Oh, by the way, what is the champagne like?
+
+Hamar. Do you mean the new lot?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes.
+
+Hamar. The Vicar praised it highly.
+
+Tjaelde. Good. Well, then--
+
+Hamar (writing). The Vicar.
+
+Tjzlde. Mr. Ring.
+
+Hamar. Mr. Ring.
+
+Tjaelde. And--and--
+
+Hamar. Mr. Holst?
+
+Tjaelde. No, not Holst. (HAMAR appears greatly astonished. TJAELDE says
+to himself:) I can show him now that I have no need of him! (Suddenly,
+to HAMAR.) Mr. Holm. (To himself.) Holst's enemy!
+
+Hamar. Mr. Holm.
+
+Tjaelde (to himself). Although Holm is a boor. Still, it will annoy
+Holst. (Aloud.) The Chief Constable.
+
+Hamar. The Chief--
+
+Tjaelde. No, strike out the Chief Constable.
+
+Hamar. Chief Constable struck out.
+
+Tjaelde. Have we got the Vicar down?
+
+Hamar. He is number one on the list.
+
+Tjaelde. Of course, yes.
+
+Hamar. What about the Magistrate?
+
+Tjaelde. No, he lives too far off. Besides, unless he is the guest
+of honour and can talk shop all the time--. No! But, let me see. Mr.
+Knutzon--Knutzon with a "z."
+
+Hamar. Knutzon with a "z."
+
+Tjaelde. Oh!--and--Knudsen, too! Knudsen with an "s."
+
+Hamar. Knudsen with an "s."
+
+Tjaelde. How many have we got?
+
+Hamar. The Vicar, Ring, Holm, the Chief--oh, no, the Chief Constable was
+struck out; Knutzon with a "z," Knudsen with an "s "--that is one, two,
+three, four, five, six.
+
+Tjaelde. And Finne, you, and I make nine. We must have twelve.
+
+Hamar. What about some ladies?
+
+Tjaelde. No; ladies are out of place at a business dinner. They may do
+the honours afterwards, when we have got to the cigarette stage. But
+whom shall we--?
+
+Hamar. That new lawyer fellow? He's a smart chap--I can't remember his
+name?
+
+Tjaelde. No, he always wants to be speechifying wherever he goes.--Ah,
+Mr. Pram, the custom-house officer!
+
+Hamar. That man? He always gets drunk!
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, but he doesn't get noisy with it. He does no harm--quite
+the contrary! Yes, put down Pram.
+
+Hamar. Mr. Pram.
+
+Tjaelde. It is a very difficult task, in such a small town, when you
+want to get a good set of people together. Ah!--Falbe! I forgot him. He
+is very neat, and no opinions.
+
+Hamar. Neat in his dress, do you mean?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, in his dress too-but I meant it more generally. Now, for
+the twelfth--Morten Schultz?
+
+Hamar. Morten Schultz! (Gets up.) No, really, I must take the liberty of
+protesting against him! Do you really know what he did the last time he
+was here, when you had a lot of guests? In the middle of dinner he took
+out his false teeth and began showing them to his neighbours. He wanted
+to have them passed round the table! If that is your idea of a good set
+of people--well!
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, he is rather a rough diamond. But he is the richest man
+about here.
+
+Hamar (who has sat down again). Well in that case he really ought to
+afford himself a new wig! It is far from pleasant to sit beside him, I
+can assure you!
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, I know he is a pig; but he is wide awake, and this would
+flatter him! You see, my young friend, when a man is very rich you must
+make certain allowances for him.
+
+Hamar. I can't understand what _you_ can hope to get out of him.
+
+Tjaelde. Hm, hm!--No, well, perhaps we had better leave him out?
+
+Hamar. Certainly!
+
+Tjaelde (to himself). Although Lind would understand the significance of
+Morten Schultz's being here--
+
+Hamar. And the things he says! Ladies have to leave the room!
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, you are right. (Mutters to himself.) And, after all, I
+don't need him any longer. (Aloud.) But what about our twelfth, then?
+Let me see--.
+
+Hamar. Christopher Hansen?
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, Lord! no. We should have to talk politics. No, let
+me see--. Yes, I think I might risk it! Hm, hm--yes, just the man!
+Jakobsen, the brewery manager.
+
+Hamar. Jakobsen?
+
+Tjaelde. Hm, hm! Jakobsen will do very well. I know Jakobsen.
+
+Hamar. Oh, he is a very good fellow--we all know that, but in polite
+society--!
+
+Tjaelde. Hm, hm, hm!--Put him down!
+
+Hamar (writing). Jakobsen. There, then! (Gets up.)
+
+Tjaelde. Now let Skogstad go with the list! Remember, three o'clock
+punctually! And be quick! (Calls after HAMAR, who is going out.) And
+come back when you have given him the list! There may be something more
+to do! (HAMAR goes out by the nearer door. TJAELDE takes a letter out of
+his pocket.) Ah, of course! Shall I send the balance-sheet to Berent?
+I am independent of the banks now. Still, I am not out of the wood yet.
+And, anyway, it is a very pretty balance-sheet! Holst would be sure to
+see it, and that might be useful--and it might annoy him, too. Besides,
+if I don't send it, they will think that my promising to send it had put
+me into a hole, and that Lind had helped me out of it. I risk least by
+sending it. (HAMAR comes back.) Look here, let him take this letter,
+too. It is for Mr. Berent, at the Hotel Victoria.
+
+Hamar. Is this an invitation? Because, if it is, we shall be thirteen at
+table.
+
+Tjaelde. It is not an invitation. Be quick, before he goes. (HAMAR goes
+out again.) Oh, if only it succeeds! Lind is the sort of man one can
+persuade--and I must, I must persuade him! (Looks at his watch.) I have
+four whole hours to do it in. I have never felt so hopeful--not for a
+long time. (Is lost in thought; then says quietly:) After all, sometimes
+a crisis is a good thing--like a big wave that carries one on!--They
+have all had their suspicions aroused now, and are all ready to get
+into a panic. (Sighs.) If only I could get safely out of my difficulties
+without any one's suspecting it!--Oh, this anxious fear, night and
+day!--all this mystery, these shifts, these concealments, this farce
+I have to keep up! I go about my business as if I were in a dream.
+(Despairingly.) This shall be the last time--my last performance of this
+sort! No more of it!--I only need a helping hand now, and I have got it!
+But _have_ I got it? that is the question. Oh! if only, after this, I
+could know what it was to have a good night's sleep and to wake in
+the morning free from anxiety!--to join them at meals with an easy
+conscience!--come home in the evening and feel that it was all done
+with! If only I had something to take my stand upon that I could call my
+own--really and truly my own! I hardly dare to believe that there is a
+chance--I have so often been disappointed! (HAMAR comes back.)
+
+Hamar. There--that's done!
+
+Tjaelde. Good Lord, what about a salute from our cannon? We must give
+him a salute!
+
+Hamar. We have powder.
+
+Tjaelde. Then send word up at once to Ole to see about it! (They hurry
+out. The curtain falls.)
+
+
+
+
+ACT II
+
+SCENE I
+
+(SCENE.--The same room. The table, which has been drawn to one side, is
+covered with bottles of champagne aged dishes of fruit. MRS. TJAELDE and
+SIGNE, with a man-servant and a maid, are busy preparing it. Through
+the door on the right a lively conversation can be heard, and occasional
+bursts of laughter.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (in a tired voice). Now I think it is all ready.
+
+Signe. They are talking a long time over their dinner.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (looking at her watch). Yes, they will only have half an
+hour for their dessert, because Mr. Lind has to leave at five o'clock.
+
+Signe. Ah, they have finished at last! Listen, they are getting up from
+the table. (Amidst the loud noise of conversation the noise of chairs
+being pushed back is audible.) Here they come!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes; let us retreat. (The maid goes out by the farther
+door; SIGNE helps MRS. TJAELDE out after her. The man-servant begins
+opening the champagne. The guests come in from the dining-room, headed
+by LIND escorted by TJAELDE, whom he is assuring that the dinner was
+excellent, to which TJAELDE replies that it is impossible to do much in
+a small country town. Both look at their watches, and observe that there
+is only half an hour left. TJAELDE vainly endeavours to persuade LIND
+to stay longer. Close behind them come HOLM and RING, engaged in an
+animated dispute about timber prices, the former maintaining that they
+will fall still lower, the latter that they will rise speedily owing
+to the fall in the prices of coal and iron, a point of view which the
+former vigorously controverts. Immediately behind them comes the VICAR,
+escorted by HAMAR, who is a little tipsy. The VICAR is assuring him that
+he has no objection to parishioners repudiating the obligation to attend
+the services of their own priest, so long as they are compelled to pay
+him for those services whether they avail themselves of them or not;
+because order, which is an essential characteristic of the Heavenly
+Kingdom, must be maintained. HAMAR tries to get in a word or two about
+the bay horse, but without success. At the same time KNUTZON and FALBE
+are deep in a discussion about a dancer whom FALBE has seen at Hamburg.
+He is maintaining that she can leap six feet into the air, which KNUTZON
+ventures to doubt, but FALBE says there is no doubt about it, and he
+knows because he has once sat at the same dinner-table with her. FINNE,
+KNUDSEN, and JAKOBSEN follow them. JAKOBSEN is heard challenging any one
+to contradict him, while the others eagerly protest that he has entirely
+misunderstood their meaning. He affirms stoutly that he doesn't care a
+damn what they meant, but that his employer is the greatest business
+man and the finest fellow in the world, or at all events in Norway. PRAM
+comes in by himself, wrapt in tipsy contemplation. They all talk at the
+same time.)
+
+Tjaelde (rapping on a glass). Gentlemen! (There is a sudden silence,
+except for the sound of the voices of FALBE and JAKOBSEN, who are hushed
+down by the others.) Gentlemen! I am sorry dinner has occupied such a
+long time.
+
+All (unanimously). No, no!
+
+Tjaelde. Our distinguished guest has, unfortunately, to leave us in half
+an hour, so I should like to take the opportunity of saying a few words.
+Gentlemen, we have a prince among us to-day. I say a prince, because
+if it is true that it is the financiers that rule the world--and it is
+true, gentlemen--
+
+Pram (who is standing well forward, supporting himself by the edge of
+the table, says solemnly:) Yes.
+
+Tjaelde.--then our friend here is a prince! There is not a single
+important undertaking that he has not initiated, or at any rate backed
+with his name.
+
+Pram (lifting his glass). Mr. Lind, may I have the honour--?
+
+Voices. Sh! Sh!
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, gentlemen, his name backs every enterprise. It would be
+impossible to carry one through that had not his backing.
+
+Pram (solemnly). His backing.
+
+Tjaelde. Am I not right, then, in describing him as a prince?
+
+Falbe (in a feeble voice). Yes.
+
+Tjaelde. Gentlemen, to-day his name is once more exercising its
+powerful, I might say its creative, influence upon circumstances. I may
+say that at this moment the country holds no truer benefactor than he.
+
+Pram. Great man.
+
+Tjaelde. Let us drink his health! May prosperity attend him and his, and
+may his name be deathless in Norway! Mr. Lind!
+
+All. Mr. Lind! Mr. Lind! (They all drink his health effusively.)
+
+Tjaelde (to HAMAR, whom he pulls forward somewhat roughly, as the others
+begin to help themselves to the dessert.) What has become of the salute?
+
+Hamar (in consternation).Good Lord, yes! (Rushes to the window, but
+comes back.) I have no handkerchief. I must have laid it down in the
+dining-room.
+
+Tjaelde. Here is mine!(Feels in his pocket for it.) One cannot rely
+on you for the least thing. The salute will be too late now. It is
+disgraceful! (HAMAR goes to the window and waves the handkerchief madly.
+At last the report of a cannon is heard. The guests are standing in a
+group, holding their dessert plates.)
+
+Holm. A little bit late!
+
+Knutzon. Rather behind the moment--
+
+Ring. A very important moment, however!
+
+Holm. A very unexpected one, anyway!
+
+Knutzon (jestingly). Allow me, amidst the cannon's roar, to introduce to
+you a man who has been led by the nose!
+
+Ring. Oh, Tjaelde knows what he is about!
+
+Tjaelde. Mr. Lind is kind enough to wish to propose a toast. (They all
+compose themselves into respectful silence.)
+
+Lind. Our worthy host has proposed my health in most flattering terms.
+I would merely add this, that wealth is entrusted to those who have it
+precisely in order that they may support industry, genius, and great
+undertakings.
+
+Pram (who has never changed his position). Nobly said.
+
+Lind. I am only an administrator of a trust, and too often a weak and
+short-sighted one.
+
+Pram. Beautiful.
+
+Lind. But I shall not be mistaken if I say that Mr. Tjaelde's many-sided
+activities, which we must all admire, rest upon a sound foundation; and
+of that fact no one, at the present moment, is better able to judge than
+I. (The guests look at one another in surprise.) Therefore I have no
+hesitation in saying that his activities are an honour to this town, to
+this district, to our whole country, and that therefore his genius and
+his energy deserve support. I propose the toast of "prosperity to the
+firm of Tjaelde!"
+
+All. Prosperity to the firm of Tjaelde!
+
+(HAMAR signals again with the handkerchief, and a cannon shot is heard.)
+
+Tjaelde. I thank you heartily, Mr. Lind! I am profoundly touched.
+
+Lind. I said no more than I am convinced of, Mr. Tjaelde!!
+
+Tjaelde. Thank you! (To HAMAR.) What do you mean by signalling for a
+salute for the host? Blockhead!
+
+Hamar. You said there was to be a salute when a toast was proposed,
+didn't you?
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, you are a--!
+
+Hamar (to himself). Well, if ever again I--!
+
+Holm. Then it is an accomplished fact, I suppose?
+
+Knutzon. _Fait accompli_! That toast represents twenty thousand pounds,
+at least.
+
+Ring. Yes, Tjaelde knows what he is about! I have always said that!
+(FALBE is seen drinking ceremoniously with LIND. JAKOBSEN comes forward,
+talking to KNUDSEN.)
+
+Jakobsen (in a low voice). There isn't a word of truth in what you say!
+
+Knudsen. But, my dear Jakobsen, you misunderstand me!
+
+Jakobsen (louder). Hang it, I know my people!
+
+Knudsen. Don't talk so loud!
+
+Jakobsen (still louder). What I say any one may hear!
+
+Tjaelde. (at the same moment). The Vicar wishes to say a few words.
+
+Knudsen (to JAKOBSEN). Hush! The Vicar wishes to say a few words.
+
+Jakobsen. Have I got to hush because that damned--
+
+Tjaelde (in a voice of authority). The Vicar wishes to speak.
+
+Jakobsen. I beg your pardon!
+
+The Vicar (in a feeble voice). As the spiritual adviser of this
+household, I have the pleasing duty of invoking a blessing on the gifts
+that have been so richly showered upon our host and his friends. May
+they be to their souls' present good and eternal welfare!
+
+Pram. Amen.
+
+The Vicar. I am going to ask you to drink the health of our host's dear
+children--those lovely girls whose welfare has been the object of my
+prayers ever since they were confirmed--ever since that memorable day
+when household and religious duties began to walk side by side.
+
+Pram. Ah, yes!
+
+The Vicar. May they always in the future, as they have in the past,
+grow in the holy fear of God and in meekness and gratitude towards their
+parents!
+
+All. Miss Valborg, Miss Signe!
+
+Hamar (in a panic). Am I to signal?
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, go to--!
+
+Hamar. Well, if ever again--!
+
+Tjaelde. Thank you very much, Mr. Vicar. Like you, I hope that the
+intimate relations between parent and child that exist here--
+
+The Vicar. It has always been a pleasure to me to come into your most
+hospitable house.
+
+Tjaelde. May I have the honour of drinking a glass of wine with you?
+(They drink to each other.)
+
+The Vicar. Excellent champagne, my dear sir!
+
+Lind (to HOLM). It pains me to hear what you say. Is it possible that
+this town, which owes so much to Mr. Tjaelde, repays him with such
+ingratitude?
+
+Holm (in a low voice). One never can quite confidently rely on him.
+
+Lind. Really? I have heard others sing his praises so loudly, you know.
+
+Holm (as before). You misunderstand me. I mean his position--
+
+Lind. His position? That must be merely envy! People are often so unjust
+towards those whose enterprise has lifted them above the heads of the
+crowd.
+
+Holm. At any rate I assure you it was not from--
+
+Lind (coldly). I don't doubt it. (Walks away from him.)
+
+Jakobsen (with whom TJAELDE has just drunk). Gentlemen!
+
+Knutzon (to HOLM, in passing). Is that boor really going to be allowed
+to make a speech! (Going up to LIND.) May I have the honour of drinking
+a glass of wine with you, Mr. Lind? (Several of the guests begin to
+talk, ostentatiously indifferent to JAKOBSEN who is trying to begin his
+speech.)
+
+Jakobsen (in a formidable voice). Gentlemen! (Silence ensues, and he
+continues in his usual voice.) Permit a common man to say a word, too,
+on this festive occasion. I was a poor little boy when I entered Mr.
+Tjaelde's employment; but he pulled me out of the gutter. (Laughter.) I
+am-what I am, gentlemen! And therefore if any here is qualified to talk
+about Mr. Tjaelde, it is I; because I know him. I know he is a fine
+fellow.
+
+Lind (to TJAELDE). Children and drunken men--
+
+Tjaelde (laughing).--speak the truth!
+
+Jakobsen. There are lots of people that will tell you one thing or
+another about him--and, of course, he may have his failings like all of
+us. But as I find myself in such fine company as this I am going to say
+that--that--devil take me if Mr. Tjaelde isn't too good for the lot of
+you! (Laughter.)
+
+Tjaelde. That's enough, Jakobsen!
+
+Jakobsen. No, it's not enough! Because there is one toast we have all
+forgotten, although we have all had such a splendid dinner. (Laughter.
+FALBE claps his hands and cries: "Bravo!") Yes, and it is nothing to
+laugh at; because it is the toast of Mrs. Tjaelde's health that we have
+not drunk!
+
+Lind. Bravo!
+
+Jakobsen. There's a wife and mother for you! I can tell you--and it's
+true--she goes about the house attending to her duties and preparing for
+our entertainment when all the time she is ill, and she takes the whole
+thing on her shoulders and says nothing. God bless her, I say!--and that
+is all I have to say.
+
+Several of the Guests (raising their glasses). Mrs. Tjaelde! Mrs.
+Tjaelde!
+
+Pram (grasping JAKOBSEN by the hand). That was fine of you, Jakobsen!
+(LIND joins them; PRAM steps aside respectfully.)
+
+Lind. Will you drink a glass of wine with me, Jakobsen?
+
+Jakobsen. Thank you, very much. I am only a common man--
+
+Lind. But a good-hearted one! Your health! (They drink to each other. A
+boat is seen putting in to shore below the verandah. Its crew of six men
+stand up and toss their oars in naval fashion. SANNAES is standing at
+the helm.)
+
+Holm (in a whisper, to KNUTZON). Tjaelde knew what he was doing when he
+invited Jakobsen!
+
+Knutzon (whispering). Just look at the boat!
+
+Ring. Tjaelde is a very clever fellow--a very clever fellow! (VALBORG,
+SIGNE and MRS. TJAELDE are seen coming up the verandah steps.)
+
+Tjaelde. Gentlemen, the moment of departure is at hand; I see the ladies
+coming to take leave of our distinguished guest. Let us take this last
+opportunity of gathering around him--round our prince--and thanking him
+for coming! Let us cheer him with three times three! (Cheers.)
+
+Lind. Thank you, gentlemen! There is so little time left that I must
+confine myself to merely bidding you all good-bye. (To MRS. TJAELDE.)
+Good-bye, my dear madam! You should have heard how your health was
+proposed and drunk just now. My warmest thanks for your hospitality, and
+forgive me for the trouble I have caused you. (To SIGNE.) Good-bye,
+Miss Signe. I am sorry time has not permitted me to have the honour of
+becoming better acquainted with you; you seem so full of spirit! But if,
+as you said, you are soon coming to Christiania--
+
+Signe. I shall then do myself the honour of calling upon your wife.
+
+Lind. Thank you, thank you--you will be most welcome. (To VALBORG.) Are
+you not feeling well, Miss Valborg?
+
+Valborg. Yes.
+
+Lind. You look so serious. (As VALBORG does not reply, he continues
+somewhat coldly:) Good-bye, Miss Valborg. (To HAMAR.) Good-bye,
+Mr.--Mr.--
+
+Tjaelde. Mr. Hamar.
+
+Lind. Ah, the young man that talked to me about a horse--your future
+son-in-law! Pray forgive me for not--
+
+Hamar. Don't mention it!
+
+Lind. Good-bye!
+
+Hamar. A pleasant journey, sir!
+
+Lind (coldly, to HOLM). Good-bye, Mr. Holm.
+
+Holm (imperturbably polite). I wish you a very pleasant journey, Mr.
+Lind.
+
+Lind (to PRAM). Good-bye, Mr. Pram.
+
+Pram (holds his hand, and seems as if he wanted to say something but
+could not. At last he finds his voice). I want to thank you for--for--I
+want to thank you for--for--
+
+Lind. You are an excellent fellow!
+
+Pram (in a relieved voice). I am so glad to hear it! Thank you.
+
+Lind (to KNUTZON). Good-bye, Mr.--
+
+Knutzon (hastily). Knutzon.
+
+Pram. With a "z."
+
+Lind (to KNUDSEN). Good-bye, Mr.--
+
+Knudsen. Knudsen, again.
+
+Pram. With an "s."
+
+Lind (to FALBE). Mr--?
+
+Falbe. Falbe.
+
+Lind. Good-bye, Mr. Falbe! (To RING.) I am delighted to see you looking
+so well, Mr. Ring.
+
+Ring (with a low bow). The same to you, sir!
+
+Lind. Good-bye, Mr. Vicar!
+
+The Vicar (holding his hand, impressively). Let me wish you good luck
+and happiness, Mr. Lind--
+
+Lind. Thank you. (Tries to get away.)
+
+The Vicar.--in your journey over the perilous seas to foreign lands!
+
+Lind. Thank you. (Tries to get away.)
+
+The Vicar. Let me wish you a safe return, Mr. Lind--
+
+Lind. Thank you very much. (Tries to get away.)
+
+The Vicar.--to our dear fatherland; a land, Mr. Lind, which possesses in
+you--
+
+Lind. You must excuse me, Mr. Vicar, but time presses.
+
+The Vicar. Let me thank you for the pleasure of our meeting to-day, Mr.
+Lind, for--
+
+Lind. Indeed, there is no occasion! Good-bye! (To JAKOBSEN.) Good-bye,
+Jakobsen, good-bye!
+
+Jakobsen. Good-bye, Mr. Lind! I am only a common man, I know; but that
+is no reason why I shouldn't wish you a pleasant journey too, is it?
+
+Lind. Certainly not, Jakobsen.--Good-bye, Mr. Finne! By the way--just a
+word! (In an undertone.) You said that Mr. Berent--. (Takes him aside.)
+
+Tjaelde (to HAMAR). Now, remember the salute this time!--No, no, no!
+Don't be in such a hurry! Wait till the boat puts off! You want to make
+a mess of it again!
+
+Hamar. Well, if ever again I--!
+
+Tjaelde (to LIND, who holds out his hand to him). Goodbye, Mr. Lind! (In
+a low voice.) No one has so much reason to thank you for your visit as
+I. You are the only one that can understand--.
+
+Lind (a shade coldly). Don't mention it, Mr. Tjaelde! Good luck to your
+business! (In warmer tones.) Good-bye everybody--and thank you all for
+your kindness! (The footman, who has for some time been holding out his
+hat to him, gives it him, and his coat to SANNAES. LIND steps on board
+the boat.)
+
+All. Good-bye, Mr. Lind, good-bye!
+
+Tjaelde. One cheer more! (Cheers and a cannon salute are heard together.
+The boat glides away. They all wave their handkerchiefs. TJAELDE hurries
+into the room.) I have no handkerchief; that blockhead has--. (Looks at
+VALBORG.) Why are you not waving?
+
+Valborg. Because I don't wish to. (TJAELDE looks at her, but says
+nothing. He goes into the other room and comes back with a table-napkin
+in each hand, and hurries on to the verandah.)
+
+Tjaelde (waving and shouting). Good-bye! Good-bye!
+
+Signe. Let us go out to the point and see the last of them!
+
+All. Yes, yes! (All but TJAELDE and VALBORG hurry off to the right.)
+
+Tjaelde (coming into the room). I saw Berent coming! (VALBORG goes out
+by the door on the right. TJAELDE comes forward, throws the napkins on
+to a table and himself into a chair.) Oh--oh! But this must be the last
+time.--I shan't need this sort of thing any more! Never again! (Gets up
+wearily.) Ah, I had forgotten. Berent!
+
+[The Curtain falls.]
+
+[The interval between this scene and the next should be as short as
+possible.]
+
+
+SCENE II
+
+(SCENE.-TJAELDE'S private office. On the left, a desk strewn with
+ledgers and papers. On the right, a stove. An easy chair by the stove.
+A table in the foreground to the right; on it an inkstand and pens. Two
+armchairs; one at the table facing the audience, the other at the side
+of the table. Windows on either side of the desk; a door beyond the
+stove. A door in the background, leading to other offices. A bell-pull
+hangs down the wall. A chair on either side of the door. Quite at the
+back, on the left, a staircase leading direct to TJAELDE'S bedroom.
+BERENT and TJAELDE come in from the back.)
+
+Tjaelde. You must excuse my receiving you here. But the other rooms are
+all upside down; we have had some people to dinner.
+
+Berent. I heard you had guests.
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, Mr. Lind from Christiana.
+
+Berent. Quite so.
+
+Tjaelde. Won't you sit down? (BERENT lays down his hat and coat on a
+chair by the door. He comes slowly forward, sits down at the side of the
+table, and takes some papers from his breast-pocket. TJAELDE sits down
+at the other chair by the table and watches him indifferently.)
+
+Berent. What we now want is some fixed standard by which to make our
+valuations, especially of real estate. Have you any objection to our
+making your business a basis for arriving at that?
+
+Tjaelde. None at all.
+
+Berent. Then may I make my comments on your own figures, and ask you a
+few questions about them?
+
+Tjaelde. By all means.
+
+Berent. Well, to begin with, let us take your properties immediately
+round here; they will give us the best idea of local values. For
+instance, take the Mjölstad forest; you have put that down, I see, at
+£16,500.
+
+Tjaelde (indifferently). Have I?
+
+Berent. You bought it for £10,000.
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, four years ago. Timber prices ruled low then.
+
+Berent. And since then you have cut down more than £20,000 worth of
+timber there.
+
+Tjaelde. Who told you so?
+
+Berent. Mr. Holst.
+
+Tjaelde. Holst knows nothing about it.
+
+Berent. We must try to be very accurate, you know.
+
+Tjaelde. Well, of course, the whole valuation is not my concern; but
+those whom it does concern will protest.
+
+Berent (taking no notice of his objection). So I think we will reduce
+the £16,500 to £10,000.
+
+Tjaelde. To £10,000! (Laughs.) As you please.
+
+Berent. Calculating by the same standard, we can scarcely put down the
+Stav forest at more than £4000.
+
+Tjaelde. Allow me to say that, if that is the way you are going to make
+your valuation, everybody in the place will have to go bankrupt!
+
+Berent (with a smile). We will risk that. You have put down your wharf
+and its contents at £12,000.
+
+Tjaelde. Including two ships in course of construction--
+
+Berent.--for which it would be difficult to find a purchaser, as they
+are so far from completion.
+
+Tjaelde. Indeed?
+
+Berent. So I think we cannot put down the wharf and its contents at a
+higher figure than £8,000--and I believe even that will turn out to be
+too high.
+
+Tjaelde. If you can find me another wharf as well stocked, and with the
+advantages that this one has, I will buy it whenever you like for £8000;
+I am certain I should be more than £4000 to the good over the bargain.
+
+Berent. May I go on?
+
+Tjaelde. If you like! I even feel a certain curiosity to view my
+possessions under such an entirely new light.
+
+Berent. As a matter of fact the items that are too highly valued are
+just those that comprise this property that you live on--its land, its
+gardens, its dwelling houses, warehouses, and quays-not to mention the
+brewery and the factory, which I shall come to later. Even regarded as
+business premises they seem to me to be over-valued.
+
+Tjaelde. Well?
+
+Berent, Moreover, the luxurious appointments of this house of yours,
+which would very probably be superfluous for any one else, cannot
+possibly be counted upon to realise their full value in a sale.
+Suppose--as is indeed most likely--that it were a countryman that bought
+the place?
+
+Tjaelde. You are reckoning me as turned out of it already, then!
+
+Berent. I am obliged to base all my calculations on what the property
+would fetch if sold now.
+
+Tjaelde (getting up). What may you happen to value it at then?
+
+Berent. At less than half your valuation; that is to say at--
+
+Tjaelde. You must really forgive me if I use an expression which has
+been on the tip of my tongue for some time: this is scandalous! You
+force yourself into a man's house, and then, under pretext of asking for
+his opinion, you practically--on paper--rob him of his possessions!
+
+Berent. I don't understand you. I am trying to arrive at a basis for
+values hereabouts; and you said yourself, did you not, that it is a
+matter that does not concern you alone?
+
+Tjaelde. Certainly; but even in jest--if I may be allowed the
+expression--one does not take the statement that an honourable man has
+voluntarily offered and treat it as a mendacious document.
+
+Berent. There are many different points of view from which valuations
+can be made, obviously. I see nothing more in it than that.
+
+Tjaelde. But don't you understand that this is like cutting into my
+living flesh? Bit by bit, my property has been brought together or
+created by my own work, and preserved by the most strenuous exertions on
+my part under terribly trying conditions--it is bound up with my family,
+with all that is dear to me--it has become a part of my very life!
+
+Berent (with a bow). I understand that perfectly. You have put down the
+Brewery at--
+
+Tjaelde. No; I refuse to allow you to go on in this way. You must find
+some one else's property as a basis for your calculations--you must
+consult some one else, whose idea of business corresponds somewhat
+closer to your own ridiculous one.
+
+Berent (leaning back in his chair). That is a pity. The banks were
+anxious to be acquainted with your answers to my observations.
+
+Tjaelde. Have you sent my statement to the banks?
+
+Berent. With my remarks and comments on it, and Mr. Holst's.
+
+Tjaelde. This has been a trap, then? I believed I had to deal with a
+gentleman!
+
+Berent. The banks or I, what is the difference? It comes to the same
+thing, as I represent them unreservedly.
+
+Tjaelde. Such impudent audacity is unpardonable!
+
+Berent. I would suggest that we avoid hard words--at all events, for
+the moment--and rather consider the effect that will be produced by the
+balance-sheet sent in.
+
+Tjaelde. That some of us will see!
+
+Berent. The banking house of Lind & Co., for instance?
+
+Tjaelde. Do you mean to say that my balance-sheet, ornamented with
+marginal notes by you and Holst, is to be submitted to Mr. Lind's firm
+too?
+
+Berent. When the cannon-salutes and noise of your festivities
+enlightened me as to the situation, I took the liberty of making some
+inquiries of the banks.
+
+Tjaelde. So you have been spying here, too? You have been trying to
+undermine my business connections?
+
+Berent. Is your position such, then, that you are afraid?
+
+Tjaelde. The question is not my position, but your behaviour!
+
+Berent. I think we had better keep to the point. You have put down the
+Brewery at--
+
+Tjaelde. No; your conduct is so absolutely underhanded that, as an
+honest man, I must refuse all further dealing with you. I am, as I said
+before, accustomed to have to deal with gentlemen.
+
+Berent. I think you misunderstand the situation. Your indebtedness to
+the banks is so considerable that a settlement of it may reasonably be
+required of you. But to effect that you must work with us in the matter.
+
+Tjaelde (after a moment's thought). Very well! But, no more details--let
+me know your conclusions, briefly.
+
+Berent. My conclusions, briefly, are that you have estimated your assets
+at £90,800. I estimate them at £40,600.
+
+Tjaelde (quietly). That is to say, you make me out to have a deficit of
+about £30,000?
+
+Berent. As to that, I must point out that your estimate of your
+liabilities does not agree with mine, either.
+
+Tjaelde (quietly). Oh, of course not!
+
+Berent. For instance, the dividend that Möller's estate is to yield to
+you.
+
+Tjaelde. No more details! What do you put my total liabilities at?
+
+Berent. Let me see. Your total liabilities amount, according to your
+calculations, to £70,000. I estimate them at £80,000--to be precise, at
+£79,372.
+
+Tjaelde. That puts my deficit at about--
+
+Berent. At about £39,400--or, in round figures, £40,000.
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, by all means let us stick to round figures!
+
+Berent. So that the difference between your views of your balance-sheet
+and mine is that, whereas you give yourself a surplus of about £20,000,
+I give you a deficit of about £40,000.
+
+Tjaelde. Thank you very much.--Do you know my opinion of the whole
+matter? (BERENT looks up at him.) That I am in this room with a madman.
+
+Berent. I have had the same opinion for some time.--The stock of timber
+you hold in France I have not been able to deal with; you have forgotten
+to include it in your account. Perhaps it may make a little difference.
+
+Tjaelde. It is of no consequence! I have often enough heard people speak
+of your callousness and your heartlessness; but their account of you has
+come nowhere near the truth. I don't know why I have not turned you out
+of my house long before this; but you will have the goodness to leave it
+now!
+
+Berent. We shall both leave presently. But before we do, we must discuss
+the question of handing over the house to the Receiver in Bankruptcy.
+
+Tjaelde. Ha, ha, ha! Allow me to inform you that at this very moment
+a sum is being telegraphed to me which will be sufficient not only to
+cover my present liabilities, but to set me straight in every direction!
+
+Berent. The telegraph is a useful invention which is open to every one.
+
+Tjaelde (after a moment's thought). What do you mean by that?
+
+Berent. One effect of the noise of your festivities was that I used the
+telegraph also. Mr. Lind will receive, on board the boat, a telegram
+from his firm--and I doubt if the money you speak of will be
+forthcoming.
+
+Tjaelde. It is not true! You have not dared to do that!
+
+Berent. The facts are exactly as I state.
+
+Tjaelde. Give me my balance-sheet; let me look at it again. (Stretches
+out his hand to take it.)
+
+Berent (taking it up). Excuse me!
+
+Tjaelde. Do you presume to keep back my own balance-sheet in my own
+writing?
+
+Berent. Yes, and even to put it in my pocket. (Does so.) A fraudulent
+balance-sheet, dated and signed, is a document of some importance.
+
+Tjaelde. You are determined to ruin my private and public reputation?
+
+Berent. You have been working for that yourself for a long time. I know
+your position. For a month past I have been in correspondence with all
+the quarters in which you have business connections, both here any I
+abroad.
+
+Tjaelde. What underhanded deceitfulness an honest man is exposed to!
+Here have I been surrounded by spies for the last month! A plot between
+my business acquaintances and the banks! A snake creeping into my house
+and crawling over my accounts! But I will break up the conspiracy! And
+you will find out what it mean, to try and ruin a reputable firm by
+underhand devices!
+
+Berent. This is no time for fine phrases. Do you propose to surrender
+your property at once?
+
+Tjaelde. Ha, ha! I am to surrender it because you have made me out a
+bankrupt on your bit of paper!
+
+Berent. You might conceal the facts for a month, I know. But for your
+own sake, and especially for the sake of others, I would urgently advise
+you to end the matter at once. That was the reason of my journey here.
+
+Tjaelde. Ah, now the truth is out! And you came here pretending a
+friendly concern that the tangle should be straightened out! We were to
+distinguish between the sound and unsound firms, and you requested me,
+most politely, to give you my assistance in the matter!
+
+Berent. Exactly. But there is no question of anything unsound here
+except your own business and what is bound up with it.
+
+Tjaelde (when he has controlled himself). So you came into my house with
+the hidden design of ruining me?
+
+Berent. I must repeat that it is not I that am responsible for your
+bankruptcy; it is yourself.
+
+Tjaelde. And I must repeat that my bankruptcy only exists in your
+imagination! Much may happen in a month; and I have shown that I can
+find a way out of difficulties before now!
+
+Berent. That is to say, by involving yourself deeper and deeper in
+falsehood.
+
+Tjaelde. Only a man of business can understand such things. But, if you
+really understand them, I would say to you: "Give me £20,000 and I will
+save the situation entirely." That would be doing something worthy of
+your great powers; that would give you a reputation for penetration
+in discerning the real state of affairs; because by so doing you would
+safeguard the welfare of more than a thousand people, and ensure a
+prosperous future for the whole district!
+
+Berent. I don't rise to that bait.
+
+Tjaelde (after a moment's reflection). Do you want me to explain to you
+how £20,000 would be sufficient to set the whole complicated situation
+straight? Within three months remittances would be coming in. I can make
+it its clear as daylight to you--
+
+Berent.--that you would be falling from one disillusionment to another!
+That is what you have been doing for the last three years, from month to
+month.
+
+Tjaelde. Because the last three years have been bad years--horrible
+years! But we have reached the crisis; things must begin to improve now!
+
+Berent. That is what every defaulter thinks.
+
+Tjaelde. Do not drive me to despair! Have you any idea what I have gone
+through in these three years? Have you any idea what I am capable of?
+
+Berent. Of still further falsehood.
+
+Tjaelde. Take care!--It is quite true that I am standing on the edge of
+a precipice. It is true that for three years I have done everything
+in mortal power to save the situation! I maintain that there has been
+something heroic in the fight I have made. And that deserves some
+reward. You have unrestricted powers; every one trusts you. Realise
+for yourself what your mission is; do not let it be necessary for me to
+teach it you! Let me tell you this, emphatically: it will be a dreadful
+thing for _you_ if hundreds of people are to be ruined unnecessarily
+now!
+
+Berent. Let us make an end of this.
+
+Tjaelde. No, devil take me if I give up a fight like this with a
+senseless surrender!
+
+Berent. How do you propose to end it, then?
+
+Tjaelde. There is no issue to it that I have not turned over in my
+thoughts--thousands of times. _I_ know what I shall do! I won't be a
+mark for the jeers of this wretched little town, nor triumphed over by
+those who have envied me all round the countryside!
+
+Berent. What will you do, then?
+
+Tjaelde. You shall see! (Speaking more and more excitedly.) You won't
+help me under any conditions?
+
+Berent. No.
+
+Tjaelde. You insist that I shall surrender my estate, here and now?
+
+Berent. Yes.
+
+Tjaelde. Hell and damnation! You dare do that?
+
+Berent. Yes.
+
+Tjaelde (his agitation robbing him of his voice, which all at once sinks
+to a hoarse whisper). You have never known what despair is!--You don't
+know what an existence I have endured!-But if the decisive moment has
+come, and I have a man here in my office who _ought_ to save me but will
+not, then that man shall share what is in store for me.
+
+Berent (leaning back in his chair). This is beginning to be impressive.
+
+Tjaelde. No more jesting; you might regret it! (Goes to all the doors
+and locks them with a key which he takes out of his pocket; then unlocks
+his desk, and takes a revolver out of it.) How long do you suppose I
+have had this in here?
+
+Berent. Since you bought it, I suppose.
+
+Tjaelde. And why do you suppose I bought it?--Do you suppose that after
+I have been master of this town and the biggest man in the district, I
+would endure the disgrace of bankruptcy?
+
+Berent. You have been enduring it for a long time.
+
+Tjaelde. It is in your power now either to ruin me or to wave me. You
+have behaved in such a way that you deserve no mercy--and you shall have
+none! Report to the banks that they may give me the use of £14,000 for
+a year--I need no more than that--and I will save the situation for good
+and all. Think seriously, now! Remember my family, remember how long my
+firm has been established, remember the numbers that would be ruined if
+I were! And do not forget to think of your own family! Because, if you
+_don't_ agree to what I ask, neither of us shall leave this room alive!
+
+Berent (pointing to the revolver). Is it loaded?
+
+Tjaelde (putting his finger on the trigger). You will find that out in
+good time. You must answer me now!
+
+Berent. I have a suggestion to make. Shoot yourself first and me
+afterwards.
+
+Tjaelde (going up to him and holding the revolver to his head). I will
+soon quiet your pretty wit.
+
+Berent (getting up, and taking out of his pocket a paper which he
+unfolds). This is a formal surrender of your estate to the Receiver
+in Bankruptcy. If you sign it, you will be doing your duty to your
+creditors, to your family, and to yourself. Shooting yourself and me
+would only be adding an acted lie to all your others. Put away your
+revolver and take up your pen!
+
+Tjaelde. Never! I had resolved on this long ago. But you shall keep me
+company, now!
+
+Berent. Do what you please. But you cannot threaten me into a falsehood.
+
+Tjaelde (who has lowered the revolver, takes a step back, raises the
+revolver and aims at BERENT). Very well!
+
+Berent (walking up to TJAELDE and looking him straight in the eyes,
+while the latter reluctantly lowers the revolver). Do you suppose I
+don't know that a man who has for so long shivered with falsehood and
+terror in his inmost heart has lots of schemes but no courage? You
+_dare_ not do it!
+
+Tjaelde (furiously). I will show you! (Steps back and raises the
+revolver again.)
+
+Berent (following him). Shoot, and you will hear a report--that is what
+you are longing for, I suppose! Or, give up your plan of shooting, think
+of what you have done, confess, and afterwards hold your tongue!
+
+Tjaelde. No; may the devil take both you and me--
+
+Berent. And the horse?
+
+Tjaelde. The horse?
+
+Berent. I mean the magnificent charger on which you came galloping home
+from the sale of Möller's estate. You had better let some one shoot
+you on horseback--on what was your last and greatest piece of business
+duplicity! (Goes nearer to him and speaks more quietly.) Or--strip
+yourself of the tissue of lies which enfolds you, and your bankruptcy
+will bring you more blessing than your riches have ever done. (TJAELDE
+lets the revolver drop out of his hand, and sinks into a chair in an
+outburst of tears. There is silence for a moment.) You have made an
+amazing fight of it for these last three years. I do not believe I know
+any one who could have done what you have done. But you have lost the
+fight this time. Do not shrink now from a final settlement and the pain
+that it must cost you. Nothing else will cleanse your soul for you.
+
+Tjaelde (weeping unrestrainedly, with his face buried in his hands). Oh,
+oh!
+
+Berent. You have blamed me for my method of proceeding in the matter.
+My answer to that is that I forgive you for yours. (A pause.) Try now to
+look the situation in the face, and take it like a man.
+
+Tjaelde (as before). Oh!
+
+Berent. At the bottom of your heart you must be weary of it all; make an
+end of it all now!
+
+Tjaelde (as before). Oh!
+
+Berent (sitting down beside him, after a moment's pause). Wouldn't you
+like to feel your conscience clear again--to be able really to live with
+your wife and children? Because I am sure you have not done that for
+many a day.
+
+Tjaelde (as before). Oh!
+
+Berent. I have known many speculators in my time and have received
+many confessions. So I know what you have been robbed of for three
+years--never a good night's rest, never a meal eaten with a light heart.
+You have scarcely been conscious of what your children were doing or
+saying, except when accident brought you together. And your wife--
+
+Tjaelde. My wife!
+
+Berent. Yes, she has slaved hard enough to prepare these banquets that
+were to conceal the nakedness of the land. Indeed, she has been the
+hardest worked servant in your house.
+
+Tjaelde. My patient, good wife!
+
+Berent. I feel certain you would rather be the humblest labourer earning
+your daily bread than live through such suffering again.
+
+Tjaelde. A thousand times rather!
+
+Berent. Then can you hesitate to do what will give every man his due,
+and bring you back to truthfulness again? Take the paper and sign it!
+
+Tjaelde (falling on his knees). Mercy, mercy! You do not know what you
+are asking me. My own children will curse me. I have just heard of a
+child doing that to her father! And my business friends, who will be
+ruined with me--numbers of them--think of their families! Oh! What is to
+become of my work-people? Do you know there are more than four
+hundred of them? Think of them and their families, robbed of their
+livelihood!--Be merciful! I cannot, I dare not, do it! Save me, help me!
+It was horrible of me to try and threaten you; but now I implore you,
+for the sake of all those that deserve more than I, but to whom I shall
+devote the rest of my life in loyal work!
+
+Berent. I cannot save you, least of all with money that belongs to
+others. What you ask me to do would be disloyalty to them.
+
+Tjaelde. No, no! Publish my accounts openly--put me under trustees, if
+you like; but let me go on with the scheme that I believe will succeed!
+Every clear-headed man will see that it must succeed!
+
+Berent. Come and sit down. Let us discuss it. (TJAELDE sits down.) Isn't
+what you are now proposing exactly what you have been trying to do for
+the last three years? You _have_ been able to borrow the means; but what
+good has it done?
+
+Tjaelde. Times have been so bad!
+
+Berent (shaking his head). You have mixed up falsehood and truth for so
+long that you have forgotten the simplest laws of commerce. To speculate
+during bad times, on the chance of their becoming better, is all very
+well for those who can afford it. Others must leave such things alone.
+
+Tjaelde. But it is to the advantage of my creditors themselves, and of
+the banks too, that my estate should hold together!
+
+Berent. It is of no advantage to sound firms to prop up unsound ones.
+
+Tjaelde. But, surely, to avoid losing their capital--?
+
+Berent, Oh, perhaps in the Receiver's hands the estate may--
+
+Tjaelde (hopefully, half rising from his chair). Yes? Well?
+
+Berent. But not till you have been removed from the control of it.
+
+Tjaelde (sinking down again). Not till I have been removed from the
+control of it!
+
+Berent. On _its own_ resources I dare say the estate can hold out until
+better times come, but not on borrowed money.
+
+Tjaelde. Not on borrowed money--
+
+Berent. You understand the difference, of course?
+
+Tjaelde. Oh, yes.
+
+Berent. Good. Then you must understand that there is nothing left for
+you to do but to sign this.
+
+Tjaelde. Nothing left but to sign--
+
+Berent. Here is the paper. Come, now!
+
+Tjaelde (rousing himself). Oh, I cannot, I cannot!
+
+Berent. Very well. But in that case the crash will come of itself in a
+short time, and everything will be worse than it is now.
+
+Tjaelde (falling on his knees).Mercy, mercy! I cannot let go of all
+hope! Think, after a fight like mine!
+
+Berent. Tell the truth and say: "I haven't the courage to face the
+consequences."
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, that is the truth.
+
+Berent. "I haven't the courage to begin an honest life."
+
+Tjaelde. Yes.
+
+Berent. You don't know what you are saying, man!
+
+Tjaelde. No, I don't. But spare me!
+
+Berent (getting up). This is nothing but despair! I am sorry for you.
+
+Tjaelde (getting up). Yes, surely you must be? Try me! Ask me to do
+anything you like! Tell me what you--
+
+Berent. No, no! Before anything else, you must sign this.
+
+Tjaelde (sinking back into his chair). Oh!--How shall I ever dare to
+look any one in the face again?--I, who, have defied everything and
+deceived every one!
+
+Berent. The man who has enjoyed the respect which he did not deserve
+must some day undergo the humiliation which he has deserved. That is a
+law; and I cannot save you from that.
+
+Tjaelde. But they will be crueller to me than to any one else! I deserve
+it, I know; but I shall not be able to endure it!
+
+Berent. Hm! You are remarkably tough; your fight, these last three
+years, proves that.
+
+Tjaelde. Be merciful! Surely your ingenuity--your influence--_must_ be
+able to find some way out for me?
+
+Berent. Yes. The way out is for you to sign this.
+
+Tjaelde. Won't you even take it over from me by private contract? If you
+did that, everything would come right.
+
+Berent. Sign! Here is the paper! Every hour is precious.
+
+Tjaelde. Oh! (Takes up a pen; but turns to BERENT with a gesture of
+supplication.) Daren't you test me, after what I have just gone through?
+
+Berent. Yes, when you have signed. (TJAELDE signs the paper, and sinks
+back in his chair with an expression of the keenest anguish. BERENT
+takes the paper, folds it, and puts it in his pocket-book.) Now I will
+go to the Bankruptcy Court with this, and afterwards to the telegraph
+office. Probably the officials of the court will come this evening to
+make their inventory. So you ought to warn your family.
+
+Tjaelde. How shall I be able to do that? Give me a little time! Be
+merciful!
+
+Berent. The sooner the better for you--not to speak of the interests of
+all concerned. Well, I have finished for the present.
+
+Tjaelde. Don't desert me like this! Don't desert me!
+
+Berent. You would like your wife to come to you, wouldn't you?
+
+Tjaelde (resignedly). Yes.
+
+Berent (taking up the revolver). And this--I will not take it with me.
+There is no danger from it now. But I will put it in the desk, for the
+sake of the others. Now, if you or yours should need me, send word to
+me.
+
+Tjaelde. Thank you.
+
+Berent. I shall not leave the town until the worst is over.--Remember,
+night or day, if you need me, send word to me.
+
+Tjaelde. Thank you.
+
+Berent. And now will you unlock the door for me?
+
+Tjaelde (getting up). Ah, of course. Excuse me!
+
+Berent (taking his hat and coat). Won't you call your wife now?
+
+Tjaelde. No. I must have a little time first. I have the worst part of
+it before me now.
+
+Berent. I believe you have, and that is just why--. (Takes hold of the
+bell-pull and rings the bell.)
+
+Tjaelde. What are you doing?
+
+Berent. I want, before I go, to be sure of your wife's coming to you.
+
+Tjaelde. You should not have done that! (An office-boy comes in. BERENT
+looks at TJAELDE.) Ask your mistress--ask my wife to come to me.
+
+Berent. At once, please. (The boy goes out.) Good-bye! (Goes out.
+TJAELDE sinks down on to a chair by the door.)
+
+[The Curtain falls.]
+
+
+
+
+ACT III
+
+(SCENE.-The same as in the preceding act. TJAELDE is sitting alone, on
+the chair by the door, in the position he was in when the curtain fell
+on the last act. After sitting motionless for a considerable time, he
+suddenly gets up.)
+
+Tjaelde. How am I to begin? After her, there are the children; after
+them, all my work-people--and then all the others! If only I could get
+away! But the Receiver's men will be here.--I must have some air! (Goes
+to the nearest window.) What a beautiful day!--but not for me. (Opens
+the window and looks out.) My horse! No, I daren't look at it. Why is it
+saddled? Oh, of course I meant, after my talk with Berent, to--. But
+now everything is different! (Walks up and down once or twice, thinking;
+then says suddenly:) Yes, on that horse I might reach the outer harbour
+before the foreign boat sails! (Looks at his watch.) I can do it! And I
+shall be able to put behind me all--. (Stops, with a start, as he hears
+footsteps on the stair.) Who is there? What is it? (MRS. TJAELDE comes
+down the stair into the room.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. You sent for me?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes. (Watching her.) Were you upstairs?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, I was resting.
+
+Tjaelde (sympathetically). Ah, you were sleeping, and I woke you up!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. No, I was not asleep. (She has come slowly forward.)
+
+Tjaelde. You weren't asleep? (Apprehensively, to her.) I suppose you
+didn't--? (To himself.) No, I daren't ask her.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. What did you want?
+
+Tjaelde. I wanted--. (Sees her eyes fixed on the revolver.) You are
+surprised at my having that out? I got it out because I am going on a
+journey.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (supporting herself on the desk). Going on a journey?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes. Mr. Berent has been here, as I dare say you know. (She
+does not answer.) Business, you know. I have to go abroad.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (faintly). Abroad?
+
+Tjaelde. Only for a few days. So I will only take my usual bag with a
+change of clothes and one or two shirts; but I must have it at once.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I don't think your bag has been unpacked since you brought
+it home to-day.
+
+Tjaelde. So much the better. Will you get it for me?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Are you going away now--at once?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, by the foreign boat--from the outer harbour.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. You have no time to lose, then.
+
+Tjaelde. Are you not well?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Not very.
+
+Tiwlde. One of your attacks?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes!--but I must fetch your bag. (TJAELDE helps her over
+to the staircase.)
+
+Tjaelde. You are not well, my dear--but you will be better some day.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I only wish _you_ looked better.
+
+Tjaelde. We all have our burdens to bear.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. If only we could bear more together!
+
+Tjaelde. But you don't understand my affairs--and I have never had time
+to talk about yours.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. No--that's it. (Begins to go upstairs slowly.)
+
+Tjaelde. Shall I help you?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. No, thank you, dear.
+
+Tjaelde (coming forward). Does she suspect? She is always like that--she
+takes all my courage away from me. But there is no other way! Now--about
+money? I surely have some gold here somewhere. (Goes to his desk, takes
+some gold out of a drawer and counts it; then lifts his head and sees
+MRS. TJAELDE who has sat down on the stair half-way up.) My dear, are
+you sitting down?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I felt faint for a moment. I will go up now. (Gets up and
+climbs the stair slowly.)
+
+Tjaelde. Poor thing, she is worn out. (Pulls himself together.)
+No--five, six, eight, ten--that is not enough. I must have some more.
+(Searches in the desk.) And when I run short I have my watch and chain.
+Twenty, twenty-four--that is all I can find. Ah, my papers! I must on
+no account forget them. The ground is falling away under me! Isn't she
+coming back? The bag was packed, surely?--Ah, how all this will make her
+suffer! But it will not be so bad for her if I am away. People will be
+more merciful, both to her and the children. Oh, my children! (Collects
+himself.) Only let me get away, away! Thoughts will follow me there, all
+the same!--Ah, here she is! (MRS. TJAELDE is seen coming down slowly,
+with a bag which is evidently, heavy.) Shall I help you, dear?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Thanks, will you take hold of the bag?
+
+Tjaelde (takes it; she comes slowly down). It is heavier than it was
+this morning.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Is it?
+
+Tjaelde. I have some papers to put in it. (Opens the bag.) But, my dear,
+there is money in this bag.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes--some gold that you have given me at odd times. I
+thought it might be useful to you now.
+
+Tjaelde. There is a large sum.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I don't believe you even know how much you have given me.
+
+Tjaelde. She knows everything!--My dear! (Opens his arms.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Henning! (They both burst into tears and fall into each
+other's arms. MRS. TJAELDE whispers to him:) Shall I call the children?
+
+Tjaelde (in a whisper). No, say nothing--till later! (They embrace
+again. He takes up the bag.) Go to the window, so that I can see you
+when I mount. (Shuts the bag and hurries to the door, but stops.) My
+dear!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes?
+
+Tjaelde. Forgive me!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Everything! (TJAELDE, as he is hurrying out, meets in the
+doorway an office-boy who is bringing him a letter. TJAELDE takes it,
+and the boy goes out.)
+
+Tjaelde. From Berent! (Opens the letter, stands in the doorway and reads
+it; then comes back into the room, with his bag in his hand, and reads
+it again.) "When I left your house, I saw a horse standing saddled at
+your door. To prevent misunderstanding, let me inform you that your
+house is watched by the police."
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (supporting herself on the desk). You can't go?
+
+Tjaelde. No. (A pause. He puts down the bag and wipes his forehead.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Henning, shall we pray together?
+
+Tjaelde. What do you mean?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Pray--pray to God to help us? (Bursts into tears. TJAELDE
+is silent. She falls on her knees.) Come, Henning! You see that all
+human ingenuity is of no avail!
+
+Tjaelde. I know that, only too well.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Well, try once, in this hour of our greatest need!
+(TJAELDE appears to be struggling with his emotion.) You never would!
+You have never confided in us, or in your God!--never opened your heart
+to any one!
+
+Tjaelde. Be quiet!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. But what you concealed by day, you used to talk of in
+the night. We mortals must talk, you know! But I have lain awake and
+listened to your distress. Now you know why I am no longer good for
+anything. No sleep at night, and none of your confidence in the daytime.
+I have suffered even more than you. (TJAELDE throws himself into a
+chair. She goes to him.) You wanted to run away. When we are afraid of
+our fellow-men, we have only Him to turn to. Do you think I should be
+alive now, if it were not for Him?
+
+Tjaelde. I have thrown myself imploringly at His feet, but always in
+vain!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Henning, Henning!
+
+Tjaelde. Why did He not bless my work and the fight I was making? It is
+all one now.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Ah, there is more to come.
+
+Tjaelde (getting up). Yes, the worst is before us now--
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde.--because it is in our own hearts! (A pause. VALBORG
+appears coming down the stair, but stops at the sight of the others.)
+What do you want, dear?
+
+Valborg (with suppressed emotion). From my room I can see the police
+watching the house. Are the Receiver's men coming now?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (sitting down). Yes, my child. After a terrible
+struggle--how terrible, his God and I alone know--your father has just
+sent in his declaration of bankruptcy. (VALBORG takes a step or two
+forward, then stands still. A pause.)
+
+Tjaelde (unable to control himself). Now I suppose you will say to me
+just what Möller's daughter said to him!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (getting up). You won't do that, Valborg!--God alone can
+judge him.
+
+Tjaelde. Tell me how cruelly I have wronged you! Tell me that you will
+never be able to forgive me--(breaking down)--that I have lost your
+respect and your love for ever!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Oh, my child!
+
+Tjaelde. That your anger and your shame know no bounds!
+
+Valborg. Oh, father, father! (Goes out by the door at the back. TJAELDE
+tries to cross the room, as if to follow her, but can only stagger as
+far as the staircase, to which he clings for support. MRS. TJAELDE sinks
+back into her chair. There is a long pause. Suddenly JAKOBSEN cones in
+from the outer once, dressed as before except that he has changed his
+coat. TJAELDE is not aware of his entrance until JAKOBSEN is close
+to him; then he stretches out his hands to him as if in entreaty, but
+JAKOBSEN goes right up to him and speaks in a voice choked with rage.)
+
+Jakobsen. You scoundrel! (TJAELDE recoils.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Jakobsen! Jakobsen!
+
+Jakobsen (without heeding her). The Receiver's men are here. The books
+and papers at the Brewery have been seized. Work is at a standstill--and
+the same thing at the factory.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. My God!
+
+Jakobsen. And I had made myself responsible for twice as much as
+I possessed! (He speaks low, but his voice vibrates with anger and
+emotion.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Dear Jakobsen!
+
+Jakobsen (turning to her). Didn't I say to him, every time he told me
+to sign, "But I don't possess as much as that! It's not right!"--But he
+used to answer, "It is only a matter of form, Jakobsen." "Yes, but
+not an honourable form," I used to say. "It is a matter of form in
+business," he would say; "all business folk do it." And all I knew of
+business, I had learnt from him; so I trusted him. (With emotion.) And
+he made me do it time after time. And now I owe more than I shall ever
+be able to pay, all my life. I shall live and die a dishonoured man.
+What have you to say to that, Mrs. Tjaelde? (She does not answer him. He
+turns angrily upon TJAELDE.) Do you hear? Even _she_ can find nothing to
+say!--Scoundrel!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Jakobsen!
+
+Jakobsen (in a voice broken with emotion). I have nothing but the
+deepest respect for you, Mrs. Tjaelde. But, you see, he has made me
+swindle other people! In his name I shall have ruined numbers of them.
+They trusted me, you see; just as I trusted him. I used to tell them
+that he was a benefactor to the whole countryside, and that therefore
+they ought to help him in these hard times. And now there will be many
+an honest family robbed of house and home by our treachery. And that is
+what he has brought me to! What heartless cruelty! (To TJAELDE.) I can
+tell I feel inclined to--. (Takes a threatening step towards him.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (getting up). For my sake, Jakobsen!
+
+Jakobsen (restraining himself). Yes, for your sake, ma'am; because I
+have the deepest respect for you. But how am I to face all those poor
+creatures that I have ruined? It will do them no good to explain to them
+how it has happened; that won't help them to get their daily bread! How
+shall I face my own wife! (With emotion.) She has had such faith in
+me, and in those I trusted. And my children, too? It is very hard on
+children, because they hear so much talk in the street. It won't be long
+before they hear what sort of a father they have got; and they will hear
+it from the children of the men I have ruined.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. As you feel how hard it is yourself, that should make you
+willing to spare others. Be merciful!
+
+Jakobsen. I have the deepest respect for you; but it is hard that in my
+home we should never again be able to eat a crust that we can properly
+call our own--for I owe more than I can ever live to repay! That is
+hard, Mrs. Tjaelde! What will become of my evenings with my children
+now?--of our Sundays together? No, I mean that he shall hear the truth
+from me. (Turns upon TJAELDE.) You scoundrel! You shan't escape me!
+(TJAELDE shrinks back in terror and tries to reach the office door, but
+at that moment the RECEIVER comes in, followed by two of his clerks and
+SANNAES. TJAELDE crosses the room, staggers to his desk, and leans upon
+it with his back turned to the newcomers.)
+
+The Receiver (coming up behind Tjaelde). Excuse me! May I have your
+books and papers? (TJAELDE gives a start, moves away to the stove, and
+supports himself on it.)
+
+Jakobsen (in a whisper, standing over him). Scoundrel! (TJAELDE moves
+away from him and sits down on a chair by the door, hiding his face in
+his hands.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (getting up and whispering to JAKOBSEN), Jakobsen!
+Jakobsen! (He comes towards her.) He has never deliberately cheated
+any one! He has never been what you say, and never will be! (Sits down
+again.)
+
+Jakobsen. I have the deepest respect for _you_, Mrs. Tjaelde. But if
+_he_ is not a liar and swindler, there is no truth in anything! (Bursts
+into tears. MRS. TJAELDE hides her face in her hands as she leans back
+in her chair. A short silence. Then a confused noise of voices is
+heard without. The RECEIVER and his men stop their work of sorting and
+inventorying papers, and all look up.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (apprehensively). What is that? (SANNAES and the RECEIVER
+go to one window, and JAKOBSEN to another.)
+
+Jakobsen. It's the hands from the quay and the brewery and the factory
+and the warehouse. All work is stopped until further orders; but this is
+pay-day--and there is no pay for them! (The others resume their work.)
+
+Tjaelde (coming forward despairingly). I had forgotten that!
+
+Jakobsen (going up to him). Well, go out and face them, and they will
+let you know what you are!
+
+Tjaelde (in a low voice, as he takes up his saddle-bag). Here is money,
+but it is all in gold. Go into the town and get it changed, and pay
+them!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, do, Jakobsen!
+
+Jakobsen (in lower tones). If _you_ ask me to, ma'am, I--So there is
+money in this bag? (Opens it.) And all done up in rolls. He meant to
+bolt, then!--and with the money his people had lent him. And yet you
+say he is not a scoundrel! (TJAELDE gives a groan. The noise of voices
+without grows louder.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (in a low voice). Be quick, or we shall have them in here.
+
+Jakobsen. I will go.
+
+The Receiver (interposing). Excuse me, but nothing must be taken away
+from here until it has been examined and inventoried.
+
+Jakobsen. It is pay-day, and this is the money for the wages.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Jakobsen is responsible for it, and will account for it.
+
+The Receiver. Oh, that alters the case. Mr. Jakobsen is a man of
+integrity. (Goes back to his work.)
+
+Jakobsen (to MRS. TJAELDE, in a low voice full of emotion). Did you hear
+that, Mrs. Tjaelde? He called me a man of integrity--and very soon not
+a single soul will call me that! (Goes out past TJAELDE to whom he
+whispers as he passes:) Scoundrel! I shall come back again!
+
+The Receiver (going up to TJAELDE). Excuse me, but I must ask you for
+the keys of your private rooms and cupboards.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (answering for her husband). My housekeeper shall go with
+you. Sannaes, here is the key of the cupboard. (SANNAES takes it from
+her.)
+
+The Receiver (looking at TJAELDE'S massive watch-chain). Whatever
+article of dress can be called a necessary, we have nothing to do with;
+but if it happens that it comrises jewellery of any great value--.
+(TJAELDE begins to take off the watch-chain.) No, no; keep it on. But it
+will have to be included in the inventory.
+
+Tjaelde. I don't wish to keep it.
+
+The Receiver. As you please. (Signs to one of his clerks to take it.)
+Good-day! (Meanwhile SIGNE and HAMAR have appeared at the door of the
+outer office, and have seen what passed. The RECEIVER, SANNAES, and the
+clerks try to open the door on the right, but find it locked.) This door
+is locked.
+
+Tjaelde (as if waking from a dream). Ah, of course! (Goes to the door
+and unlocks it.)
+
+Signe (rushing to MRS. TJAELDE and falling on her knees beside her).
+Mother!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, dear, the day of our trial has come! And I am
+afraid--afraid that it may find us all too weak.
+
+Signe. Mother, what is to become of us?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. We are in God's hands.
+
+Signe. I will go with Hamar to his aunt's. We will go at once.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. It is possible that his aunt may not be willing to have
+you now.
+
+Signe. Aunt Ulla! What do you mean?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I mean that you have been the rich man's daughter; and you
+do not know what the world is.
+
+Signe. Hamar, do you think Aunt Ulla would refuse to have me?
+
+Hamar (after a moment's thought). I don't know.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. You hear that, my child. In the next few hours you will
+learn more than you have learnt in all your life.
+
+Signe (in a horrified whisper). Do you mean that even--?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Hush! (SIGNE hides her face in her mother's lap. A loud
+burst of laughter is heard outside.)
+
+Hamar (going to the nearest window). What is that? (SANNAES comes in
+through the right-hand door and goes to the other window. TJAELDE, SIGNE
+and MRS. TJAELDE get up.) The bay horse! They have got hold of it.
+
+Sannaes. They have led it up the steps, and are pretending to sell it by
+auction.
+
+Hamar. They are ill-treating it! (SANNAES runs out. HAMAR snatches up
+the revolver from the desk and looks to see if it is loaded.) I will--!
+
+Signe. What are you going to do? (As he starts to go out, she clings to
+him and prevents him.)
+
+Hamar. Let me go!
+
+Signe. Tell me first what you are going to do! Do you mean to go out
+among all those men--alone?
+
+Hamar. Yes.
+
+Signe (throwing her arms round him). You shan't go!
+
+Hamar. Take care, this is loaded!
+
+Signe. What are you going to do with it?
+
+Hamar (in a determined voice, as he shakes himself free of her). Put a
+bullet into the poor beast! It is too good for that crew. It shan't be
+put up for auction, either in joke or in earnest! (Goes to the farther
+window.) I shall get a better aim from here.
+
+Signe (following him, with a cry). You will hit some one!
+
+Hamar. No, I can aim too well for that. (Takes aim.)
+
+Signe. Father! If they hear a shot from here now--
+
+Tjaelde (starting up). The house belongs to my creditors now--and the
+revolver too!
+
+Hamar. No, I am past taking orders from you now! (TJAELDE snatches at
+the revolver, which goes off. SIGNE screams and rushes to her mother.
+Outside, but this time immediately below the window, two cries are
+heard: "They are shooting at us! They are shooting at us!" Then the
+noise of breaking glass is heard, and stones fly in through the windows,
+followed by shouts and ribald laughter. VALBORG, who has rushed in from
+the outer office, stands in front of her father to protect him, her face
+turned to the window. A voice is heard: "Follow me, my lads!")
+
+Hamar (pointing the revolver at the window). Yes, just you try it!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde and Signe. They are coming in here!
+
+Valborg. You shan't shoot! (Stands between him and the window.)
+
+Tjaelde. It is Sannaes with the police! (Cries of "Get back, there!" are
+heard; then a renewed uproar and a loud voice gradually dominating it;
+until at last the noise gradually lessens and ceases.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Thank God! We were in great danger. (Sinks into a chair.
+A pause.) Henning, where are you? (TJAELDE comes up behind her, and
+strokes her head with his hand, but turns away immediately to hide his
+deep emotion. A pause.)
+
+Signe (on her knees by her mother's side). But won't they come back?
+Hadn't we better go away from here?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Where to?
+
+Signe (despairingly). What is to become of us?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. What God wills. (A pause. Meanwhile HAMAR, unobserved,
+has laid down the revolver on a chair and slipped out of the room by the
+door at the back.)
+
+Valborg (softly). Signe, look! (SIGNE gets up, looks round the room, and
+gives a little cry.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. What is it?
+
+Signe. I knew he would!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (apprehensively). What is it?
+
+Valborg. Every rich family has its tame lieutenant--and ours has just
+left us. That's all.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (getting up). Signe, my child!
+
+Signe (throwing herself into her arms). Mother!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. There will be no more pretence now. Do not let us regret
+it!
+
+Signe (in tears). Mother, mother!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Things are better as they are. Do you hear, dear? Don't
+cry!
+
+Signe. I am not crying! but I feel so ashamed--oh, so ashamed!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. It is I that ought to feel ashamed for never having had
+the courage to put a stop to what I saw was folly.
+
+Signe (as before). Mother!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Soon there will be no one else left to desert us; and we
+shall have nothing left that any one can rob us of, either.
+
+Valborg (comes forward evidently labouring under great emotion). Yes,
+there is, mother; _I_ mean to desert you.
+
+Signe. You, Valborg? Desert us? You?
+
+Valborg. Our home is going to be broken up, anyway. Each of us ought to
+shift for herself.
+
+Signe. But what am I to do? I don't know how to do anything.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (who has sunk back into her chair). What a bad mother I
+must have been, not to be able to keep my children together now!
+
+Valborg (impetuously). You know we cannot stay together now! You know we
+cannot put up with living on the charity of our creditors; we have done
+that too long!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Hush, remember your father is in the room. (A pause.) What
+do you want to do, Valborg?
+
+Valborg (after she has regained her self-control, quietly). I want to go
+into Mr. Holst's office, and learn commercial work--and keep myself.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. You don't know what you are undertaking.
+
+Valborg. But I know what I am leaving.
+
+Signe. And I shall only be a burden to you, mother, because I can't do
+anything--
+
+Valborg. You _can_! Go out and earn a living; even if it is only as a
+servant, what does that matter? Don't live on our creditors--not for a
+day, not for an hour!
+
+Signe. And what is to become of mother, then?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Your mother will stay with your father.
+
+Signe. But all alone? You, who are so ill?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. No, not alone! Your father and I will be together.
+(TJAELDE comes forward, kisses the hand she has stretched out to him,
+and falls on his knees by her chair, burying his face in her lap. She
+strokes his hair gently.) Forgive your father, children. That is the
+finest thing you can do. (TJAELDE gets up again and goes back to the
+other end of the room. A messenger comes in with a letter.)
+
+Signe (turning round anxiously). It is a letter from him! I can't stand
+any more! I won't have it! (The messenger hands the letter to TJAELDE.)
+
+Tjaelde. I accept no more letters.
+
+Valborg (looking at the letter). It is from Sannaes?
+
+Tjaelde. He, too!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Take it and read it, Valborg. Let us get it all over at
+once. (VALBORG takes the letter from the messenger, who goes out. She
+opens the letter, looks at it, and then reads it with emotion.) "Sir,--I
+have owed you everything since I entered your employment as a boy.
+Therefore do not take what I am going to say amiss. You know that about
+eight years ago I came into a little legacy. I have used the money to
+some advantage, having especially looked out for such investments as
+would not be affected by the uncertainties of high finance. The total
+sum, which now amounts to about £1400, I beg to offer to you as a token
+of respectful gratitude; because, in the end, I owe it to you that I
+have been able to make it that sum. Besides, you will be able to make
+many times better use of it than I could. If you need me, my dearest
+wish is to remain with you in the future. Forgive me for having seized
+just this moment for doing this; I could not do otherwise.--Your
+obedient servant, J. SANNAES." (While VALBORG has been reading, TJAELDE
+has come gradually forward, and is now standing beside his wife.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Though out of all those you have helped, Henning, only one
+comes to your aid at a time like this, you must feel that you have your
+reward. (TJAELDE nods, and goes to the back of the room again.) And you,
+children--do you see how loyally this man, a stranger, is standing by
+your father? (A pause. SIGNE stands by the desk, crying. TJAELDE walks
+up and down uneasily at the back of the room once or twice, then goes up
+the staircase.)
+
+Valborg. I should like to speak to Sannaes.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, do, dear! I couldn't, just now; and I am sure your
+father couldn't either. You speak to him! (Gets up.) Come, Signe, you
+and I must have a talk; you must open your heart to me now.--Ah, when
+have we ever had a real talk together? (SIGNE goes to her.) Where is
+your father?
+
+Valborg. He went upstairs.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (leaning on SIGNE's arm). So he did. I am sure he must be
+longing to rest--although he won't find it easy to do that. It has been
+a terrible day; but surely God will turn it to our good! (Goes out
+with SIGNE. VALBORG goes to the back of the room and rings the bell. A
+messenger comes.)
+
+Valborg. If Mr. Sannaes is out there, please ask him to be so good as
+to come in here for a moment. (The messenger goes out.) Perhaps he won't
+come, when he hears it is I. (Listens.) Yes, he is coming!
+
+(SANNAES comes in, but stops short when he sees VALBORG, and hurriedly
+puts his hands behind his back.)
+
+Sannaes. Is it you, Miss Valborg, that want me?
+
+Valborg. Please come in. (SANNAES takes a few timid steps forward.
+VALBORG speaks in a more friendly tone.) Come in, then! (SANNAES comes
+further into the room.)
+
+Valborg. You have written a letter to my father.
+
+Sannaes (after a moment's pause). Yes.
+
+Valborg. And made him a most generous offer.
+
+Sannaes (as before). Oh, well--it was only natural that I should.
+
+Valborg. Do you think so? It doesn't seem so to me. It is an offer that
+honours the man that made it. (A pause.)
+
+Sannaes. I hope he means to accept it?
+
+Valborg. I don't know.
+
+Sannaes (sadly, after a moment's pause). Then he doesn't mean to? No--I
+suppose not.
+
+Valborg. I honestly don't know. It depends on whether he dare.
+
+Sannaes. Whether he dare?
+
+Valborg. Yes. (A pause.)
+
+Sannaes (evidently very shy of VALBORG). Have you any more orders for
+me, Miss Valborg?
+
+Valborg (with a smile). Orders? I am not giving you orders.--You have
+offered also to stay with my father for the future.
+
+Sannaes. Yes--that is to say, if he wishes me to.
+
+Valborg. I don't know. In that case there would be only he and my mother
+and you; no one else.
+
+Sannaes. Indeed? What about the others, then?
+
+Valborg. I don't know for certain what my sister means to do--but I am
+leaving home to-day.
+
+Sannaes. Then you are going to--
+
+Valborg.--to try and get a clerkship somewhere. So that it will be a bit
+lonely for you to be in my father's employment now. (A pause.) I expect
+you had not thought of it in that light?
+
+Sannaes. No--yes--that is to say, your father will have all the more
+need of me then.
+
+Valborg. Indeed he will. But what sort of a prospect is it for you
+to bind up your fortunes with my father's? The future is so very
+problematical, you know.
+
+Sannaes. What sort of a prospect--?
+
+Valborg. Yes, a young man should have some sort of a prospect before
+him.
+
+Sannaes. Yes--of course; that is to say, I only thought that at first it
+would be so difficult for him.
+
+Valborg. But I am thinking of you. Surely you have some plans for the
+future?
+
+Sannaes (embarrassed). Really I would rather not talk about myself.
+
+Valborg. But I want to.--You have something else in reserve, then?
+
+Sannaes. Well--if I must tell you--I have some well-to-do relations in
+America who have for a long time wanted me to go over there. I should
+soon be able to get, a good situation there.
+
+Valborg. Indeed?--But why haven't you accepted such a good offer long
+before this? (SANNAES does not answer.) You must have been sacrificing
+your best interests by staying so long with us? (SANNAES is still
+silent.) Any! it will be making a still greater sacrifice to stay with
+us now--
+
+Sannaes (struggling with his embarrassment). I have never thought of it
+as being that.
+
+Valborg. But my father can scarcely accept so much from you.
+
+Sannaes (in alarm). Why not?
+
+Valborg. Because it really would be too much.--And, in any case, I shall
+try to prevent him.
+
+Sannaes (almost imploringly). You, Miss Valborg?
+
+Valborg. Yes. You must not be misemployed any longer.
+
+Sannaes. Misemployed? In what I _myself_ desire so much?
+
+Valborg. When I have talked it over with my father, I think he will see
+my point.
+
+Sannaes (anxiously). What do you mean?
+
+Valborg (after a moment's reflection).--I mean, the reason of your
+having made such great sacrifices for us--and of your being willing to
+make still greater now. (A pause. SANNAES hangs his head, and is raising
+his hands to hide his face, when suddenly he puts them behind his back
+again. VALBORG continues, in gentle but firm tones:) I have taught
+myself, all my life, to look behind deeds and words for their motives.
+
+Sannaes (quietly, without raising his head). You have taught yourself to
+be cruelly bitter, hard and unjust.
+
+Valborg (starts, but collects herself, and says gently:) Don't say that,
+Mr. Sannaes! It is not hard-heartedness or bitterness that makes me
+think of your future now--and makes me wish to spare you disappointment.
+
+Sannaes (with a cry of pain). Miss Valborg!
+
+Valborg. Be honest with yourself, and you will be able to take a fairer
+view of what I have just said.
+
+Sannaes. Have you any more orders, Miss Valborg?
+
+Valborg. I give you no orders, as I have told you already. I am only
+bidding you good-bye; and I do it with grateful thanks to you for all
+your goodness to me--and to us all. Good-bye and good luck, Mr. Sannaes.
+(SANNAES bows.)Won't you shake hands? Ah, I forgot--I offended you.
+I beg your pardon for that. (SANNAES bows and turns to go.) Come, Mr.
+Sannaes--let us at least part as good friends! You are going to America,
+and I am going among strangers. Let us go away wishing one another well.
+
+Sannaes (moved). Good-bye, Miss Valborg. (Turns to go.)
+
+Valborg. Mr. Sannaes--shake hands!
+
+Sannaes (stopping). No, Miss Valborg.
+
+Valborg. Don't treat me uncivilly; I have not deserved that. (SANNAES
+again turns to go.) Mr. Sannaes!
+
+Sannaes (stopping). You might soil your fingers, Miss Valborg! (Walks
+proudly away.)
+
+Valborg (controlling herself with an effort). Well, we have offended
+each other now. But why should we not forgive each other as well?
+
+Sannaes. Because you have just offended me for the second time
+to-day--and more deeply than the first time.
+
+Valborg. Oh, this is too much! I spoke as I did, because I owed it to
+myself not to be put in a false position, and owed it to you to spare
+you future disappointment. And you call that insulting you! Which of us
+has insulted the other, I should like to know?
+
+Sannaes. You have, by thinking such things of me. Do you realise how
+cruelly you have spoilt the happiest action of my life?
+
+Valborg. I have done so quite unintentionally, then. I am only glad that
+I was mistaken.
+
+Sannes (bitterly). You are glad! So it really makes you glad to know
+that I am not a scoundrel!
+
+Valborg (quietly). Who said anything of the kind?
+
+Sannaes. You! You know the weak spot in my armour; but that you should
+on that account believe that I could lay a trap for you and try to trade
+on your father's misfortune, Miss Valborg--! No, I cannot shake hands
+with any one who has thought so badly of me as that! And, since you have
+so persistently insulted me that I have lost all the timidity I used
+to feel in your presence, let me tell you this openly; these hands
+(stretching out his hands to her) have grown red and ugly in loyal work
+for your father, and his daughter should have been above mocking at me
+for them! (Turns to go, but stops.) And, one word more. Ask your father
+for _his_ hand now, and hold fast to it, instead of deserting him on the
+very day that misfortune has overtaken him. That would be more to the
+point than worrying about _my_ future. I can look after that for myself.
+(Turns again to go, but comes back.) And when, in his service--which
+will be no easy service now--your hands bear the same honourable marks
+of work as mine do, and are as red as mine, then you will perhaps
+understand how you have hurt me! At present you cannot. (He goes quickly
+towards the door of the outer office.)
+
+Valborg (with a wry smile). What a temper! (More seriously.) And
+yet, after all--. (Looks after him. Just as SANNAES gets to the door
+TJAELDE'S voice is heard calling him from the top of the staircase.
+SANNAES answers him.)
+
+Tjaelde (coming down the stairs). Sannaes! Sannaes! I can see Jakobsen
+coming. (Hurries across the room as if pursued by fear. SANNAES follows
+him.) Of course he will be coming back to look for me again! It is
+cowardly of me to feel that I cannot stand it; but I cannot--not to-day,
+not now! I cannot stand any more! Stop him! Don't let him come in! I
+shall have to drink my cup of misery to the dregs; but (almost in a
+whisper) not all at one draught! (Hides his face in his hands.)
+
+Sannaes. He shan't come; don't be afraid! (Goes quickly out, with an air
+of determination.)
+
+Tjaelde. It is hard--oh, it is hard!
+
+Valborg (coming to his side). Father! (He looks at her, anxiously.) You
+may safely accept the money Sannaes offers you.
+
+Tjaelde (in surprise). What do you mean by that?
+
+Valborg. I mean--that, if you do, I will not forsake you either, but
+stay here with you too.
+
+Tjaelde (incredulously). You, Valborg?
+
+Valborg. Yes, you know I want to learn office work, and business; and I
+would rather learn in your office.
+
+Tjaelde (shyly). I don't understand what you--?
+
+Valborg. Don't you understand, dear? I believe I could become of some
+use in the office. And in that way, you know, we might begin afresh--and
+try, with God's help, to pay your creditors.
+
+Tjaelde (happily, but shyly). My child! Who put such a happy idea into
+your head?
+
+Valborg (putting an arm round his neck). Father, forgive me for all that
+I have neglected to do! You shall see how I will try and make up for it!
+How hard I shall work!
+
+Tjaelde (still half incredulous). My child! My child!
+
+Valborg. I feel--I cannot tell you how deeply--a craving for love and
+for work! (Throws both her arms round his neck.) Oh, father, how I love
+you!--and how I shall work for you!
+
+Tjaelde. Ah, that is the Valborg I have waited for, ever since you were
+a little child! But we had drifted away from one another, somehow.
+
+Valborg. No more about the past! Look forward, father, look forward!
+Concerns "that would not be affected by the uncertainties of high
+finance,"--weren't those his words?
+
+Tjaelde. So you were struck by that expression, too?
+
+Valborg. That may mean a future for us now! We will have a home all to
+ourselves--a little house down on the shore--and I shall help you, and
+Signe will help mother--we shall know what it is to live, for the first
+time!
+
+Tjaelde. What happiness it will be!
+
+Valborg. Only look forward, father! Look forward! A united family is
+invincible!
+
+Tjaelde. And to think that such help should come to me now!
+
+Valborg. Yes, now we are all going to our posts--and all together, where
+formerly you stood alone! You will have good fairies round you; wherever
+you look, you will see happy faces and busy fingers all day long; and we
+shall all enjoy our meals and our evenings together, just as we did when
+we were children!
+
+Tjaelde. That, above everything!
+
+Valborg. Ha, ha!--it is after the rain that the birds sing blithest, you
+know! And this time our happiness can never miscarry, because we shall
+have something worth living for!
+
+Tjaelde. Let us go to your mother! This will cheer her heart!
+
+Valborg. Ah, how I have learnt to love her! What has happened to-day has
+taught me.
+
+Tjaelde. It is for her that we shall all work now.
+
+Valborg. Yes--for her, for her. She shall rest now. Let us go to her!
+
+Tjaelde. Kiss me first, my dear. (His voice trembles.) It is so long
+since you did!
+
+Valborg (kissing him). Father!
+
+Tjaelde. Now let us go to your mother. (The curtain falls as they go out
+together.)
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV
+
+(SCENE.--In the garden of TJAELDE'S new home, on the shore of the fjord,
+three years later. A view of tranquil sunlit sea, dotted with boats, in
+the background. On the left a portion of the house is seen, with an open
+window within which VALBORG is seen writing at a desk. The garden is
+shaded with birch trees; flower-beds run round the house, and the whole
+atmosphere one of modest comfort. Two small garden tables and several
+chairs are in the foreground on the right. A chair standing by itself,
+further back, has evidently had a recent occupant. When the curtain
+rises the stage is empty, but VALBORG is visible at the open window.
+Soon afterwards TJAELDE comes in, wheeling MRS. TJAELDE in an invalid
+chair.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Another lovely day!
+
+Tjaelde. Tjaelde. Lovely! There was not a ripple on the sea last night.
+I saw a couple of steamers far out, and a sailing ship that had hove to,
+and the fisher-boats drifting silently in.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. And think of the storm that was raging two days ago!
+
+Tjaelde. And think of the storm that broke over our lives barely three
+years ago! I was thinking of that in the night.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Sit down here with me.
+
+Tjaelde. Shall we not continue our stroll?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. The sun is too hot.
+
+Tjaelde. Not for me.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. You big strong man! It is too hot for me.
+
+Tjaelde (taking a chair). There you are, then.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (taking off his hat and wiping his forehead). You are very
+hot, dear. You have never looked so handsome as you do now!
+
+Tjaelde. That's just as well, as you have so much time to admire me now!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Now that I find getting about so difficult, you mean? Ah,
+that is only my pretence, so as to get you to wheel me about!
+
+Tjaelde (with a sigh). Ah, my dear, it is good of you to take it so
+cheerfully. But that you should be the only one of us to bear such hard
+traces of our misfortune--
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (interrupting him). Do you forget your own whitened hair?
+That is a sign of it, too, but a beautiful one! And, as for my being an
+invalid, I thank God every day for it! In the first place I have almost
+no pain, and then it gives me the opportunity to feel how good you are
+to me in every way.
+
+Tjaelde. You enjoy your life, then?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, indeed I do--and just as I should wish to.
+
+Tjaelde. Just to be spoiled, and yourself to spoil us?
+
+Valborg (from the window). I have finished the accounts, father.
+
+Tjaelde. Doesn't it come out at about what I said?
+
+Valborg. Almost exactly. Shall I enter it in the ledger at once?
+
+Tjaelde. Oho! You are glad then, as you seem in such it hurry?
+
+Valborg. Certainly! Such a good stroke of business!
+
+Tjaelde. And both you and Sannaes tried your best to dissuade me from
+it!
+
+Valborg. Such a pair of wiseacres!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Ah, your father is your master, my dear!
+
+Tjaelde. Tjaelde. Oh, it is easy enough to captain a small army that
+marches on, instead of a big one that is in retreat. (VALBORG goes on
+with her work.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. And yet it seemed hard enough for us to give it up.
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, yes--oh, yes. I can tell you, I was thinking of that last
+night. If God had given me what I begged for then, what state should we
+have been in now? I was thinking of that, too.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. It is the fact of the estate being at last wound up that
+has brought all these thoughts into your mind, dear?
+
+Tjaelde. Yes.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Then I must confess that I, too, have scarcely been able
+to think of anything else since yesterday, when Sannaes went into town
+to settle it up. This a red-letter day! Signe is wrestling with a little
+banquet for us; we shall see what an artist she has become! Here she is!
+
+Tjaelde. I think I will just go and look over Valborg's accounts. (Goes
+to the window. SIGNE comes out of the house, wearing a cook's apron and
+carrying a basin.)
+
+Signe. Mother, you must taste my soup! (Offers her a spoonful.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Clever girl! (Tastes the soup.) Perhaps it would stand a
+little--. No, it is very good as it is. You are clever!
+
+Signe. Am I not! Will Sannaes be back soon?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Your father says we may expect him any moment.
+
+Tjaelde (at the window, to VALBORG). No, wait a moment. I will come in.
+(Goes into the house, and is seen within the window beside VALBORG.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. My little Signe, I want to ask you something?
+
+Signe. Do you?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. What was in the letter you had yesterday evening?
+
+Signe. Aha, I might have guessed that was it! Nothing, mother.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Nothing that pained you, then?
+
+Signe. I slept like a top all night--so you can judge for yourself.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I am so glad. But, you know, there seems to me something a
+little forced in the gay way you say that?
+
+Signe. Does there? Well, it was something that I shall always be ashamed
+of; that is all.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I am thankful to hear it, for--
+
+Signe (interrupting her). That must be Sannaes. I hear wheels. Yes, here
+he is! He has come too soon; dinner won't be ready for half an hour yet.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. That doesn't matter.
+
+Signe. Father, here is Sannaes!
+
+Tjaelde (from within). Good! I will come out! (SIGNE goes into the house
+as TJAELDE comes out. SANNAES comes in a moment later.)
+
+Tjaelde and Mrs. Tjaelde. Welcome!
+
+Sannaes. Thank you! (Lays down his dust-coat and driving gloves on a
+chair, and comes forward.)
+
+Tjaelde. Well?
+
+Sannaes. Yes--your bankruptcy is discharged!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. And the result was--?
+
+Sannaes. Just about what we expected.
+
+Tjaelde. And, I suppose, just about what Mr. Berent wrote?
+
+Sannaes. Just about, except for one or two inconsiderable trifles. You
+can see for yourself. (Gives him a bundle of papers.) The high prices
+that have ruled of late, and good management, have altered the whole
+situation.
+
+Tjaelde (who has opened the papers and glanced at the totals). A deficit
+of £12,000.
+
+Sannaes. I made a declaration on your behalf, that you intended to
+try and repay that sum, but that you should be at liberty to do it in
+whatever way you found best. And so--
+
+Tjaelde. And so--?
+
+Sannaes.--I proferred on the spot rather more than half the amount you
+still owed Jakobsen.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Not really? (TJAELDE takes out a pencil and begins making
+calculations on the margins of the papers.)
+
+Sannaes. There was general satisfaction--and they all sent you their
+cordial congratulations.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. So that, if all goes well--
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, if things go as well with the business as they promise
+to, Sannaes, in twelve or fourteen years I shall have paid every one in
+full.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. We haven't much longer than that left to live, dear!
+
+Tjaelde. Then we shall die poor. And I shall not complain!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. No, indeed! The honourable name you will leave to your
+children will be well worth it.
+
+Tjaelde. And they will inherit a sound business, which they can go on
+with if they choose.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Did you hear that, Valborg?
+
+Valborg (from the window). Every word! (SANNAES bows to her.) I must go
+in and tell Signe! (Moves away from the window.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. What did Jakobsen say?--honest old Jakobsen?
+
+Sannaes. He was very much affected, as you would expect. He will
+certainly be coming out here to-day.
+
+Tjaelde (looking up from the papers). And Mr. Berent?
+
+Sannaes. He is coming hard on my heels. I was to give you his kind
+regards and tell you so.
+
+Tjaelde. Splendid! We owe him so much.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, he has been a true friend to us. But, talking of true
+friends, I have something particular to ask _you_, Sannaes.
+
+Sannaes. Me, Mrs. Tjaelde?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. The maid told me that yesterday, when you went into town,
+you took the greater part of your belongings with you. Is that so?
+
+Sannaes. Yes, Mrs. Tjaelde.
+
+Tjaelde. What does that mean? (To his wife.) You said nothing about it
+to me, my dear.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Because I thought it might be a misunderstanding. But now
+I must ask what was the meaning of it. Are you going away?
+
+Sannaes (fingering a chair, in evident confusion). Yes, Mrs. Tjaelde.
+
+Tjaelde. Where to? You never said anything about it.
+
+Sannaes. No; but I have always considered that I should have finished my
+task here as soon as the estate was finally wound up.
+
+Tjaelde and Mrs. Tjaelde. You mean to leave us?
+
+Sannaes. Yes.
+
+Tjaelde. But why?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Where do you mean to go?
+
+Sannaes. To my relations in America. I can now, without doing you any
+harm, withdraw my capital from the business by degrees and transfer it
+abroad.
+
+Tjaelde. And dissolve our partnership?
+
+Sannaes. You know that at any rate you had decided now to resume the old
+style of the firm's name.
+
+Tjaelde. That is true; but, Sannaes, what does it all mean? What is your
+reason?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Are you not happy here, where we are all so attached to
+you?
+
+Tjaelde. You have quite as good a prospect for the future here as in
+America.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. We held together in evil days; are we not to hold together
+now that good days have come?
+
+Sannaes. I owe you both so much.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Good heavens, it is we that owe you--
+
+Tjaelde.--more than we can ever repay. (Reproachfully.) Sannaes!
+
+(SIGNE comes in, having taken off her cooking apron.)
+
+Signe. Congratulations! Congratulations! Father mother! (Kisses them
+both.) Welcome, Sannaes!--But aren't you pleased?--now? (A pause.
+VALBORG comes in.)
+
+Valborg. What has happened?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Sannaes wants to leave us, my children (A pause.)
+
+Signe. But, Sannaes--!
+
+Tjaelde. Even if you want to go away, why have you never said a single
+word to us about it before? (To the others.) Or has he spoken to any of
+you? (MRS. TJAELDE shakes her head.)
+
+Signe. No.
+
+Sannaes. It was because--because--I wanted to be able to go as soon as I
+had told you. Otherwise it would be too hard to go.
+
+Tjaelde. You must have very serious grounds for it, then! Has anything
+happened to you to--to make it necessary? (SANNAES does not answer.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. And to make it impossible for you to trust any of us?
+
+Sannaes (shyly). I thought I had better keep it to myself. (A pause.)
+
+Tjaelde. That makes it still more painful for us--to think that you
+could go about in our little home circle here, where you have shared
+everything with us, carrying the secret of this intention hidden in your
+heart.
+
+Sannaes. Do not be hard on me! Believe me, if I could stay, I would; and
+if I could tell you the reason, I would. (A pause.)
+
+Signe (to her mother, in an undertone). Perhaps he wants to get married?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Would his being here with us make any difference to that?
+Any one that Sannaes loved would be dear to us.
+
+Tjaelde (going up to SANNAES and putting an arm round his shoulders).
+Tell one of us, then, if you cannot tell us all. Is it nothing we can
+help you in?
+
+Sannaes. No.
+
+Tjaelde. But can you judge of that alone? One does not always realise
+how much some one else's advice, on the experience of an older man, may
+help one.
+
+Sannaes. Unfortunately it is as I say.
+
+Tjaelde. It must be something very painful, then?
+
+Sannaes. Please--!
+
+Tjaelde. Well, Sannaes, you have quite cast a cloud over to-day's
+happiness for us. I shall miss you as I have never missed any one.
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. I cannot imagine the house without Sannaes!
+
+Tjaelde (to his wife). Come, dear, shall we go in again?
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes--it is not nice out here any longer. (TJAELDE takes
+her into the house. SIGNE turns to VALBORG to go in with her, but when
+she comes close to her she gives a little cry. VALBORG takes her arm,
+and their eyes meet.)
+
+Signe. Where have my wits been? (She goes into the house, looking back
+at VALBORG and SANNAES. The latter is giving way to his emotion, but as
+soon as his eyes fall on VALBORG he recovers himself.)
+
+Valborg (impetuously). Sannaes!
+
+Sannaes. What are your orders, Miss Valborg?
+
+Valborg (turning away from him, then turning back, but avoiding his
+eyes). Do you really mean to leave us?
+
+Sannaes. Yes, Miss Valborg. (A pause.)
+
+Valborg. So we shall never stand back to back at our desks in the same
+room again?
+
+Sannaes. No, Miss Valborg.
+
+Valborg. That is a pity; I had become so accustomed to it.
+
+Sannaes. You will easily become accustomed to some one else's--back.
+
+Valborg. Ah, some one else is some one else.
+
+Sannaes. You must excuse me, Miss Valborg; I don't feel in the humour
+for jesting to-day. (Turn to go.)
+
+Valborg (looking up at him). Is this to be our parting, then? (A pause.)
+
+Sannaes. I thought of taking leave of you all this afternoon.
+
+Valborg (taking a step towards him). But ought not we two to settle our
+accounts first?
+
+Sannaes (coldly). No, Miss Valborg.
+
+Valborg. Do you feel then that everything between us has been just as it
+ought?
+
+Sannaes. God knows I don't!
+
+Valborg. But you think I am to blame?--Oh, well, it doesn't matter.
+
+Sannaes. I am quite willing to take the blame. Put anyway, it is all
+finished with now.
+
+Valborg. But if we were to share the blame? You cannot be quite
+indifferent as to which of us should take it?
+
+Sannaes. I confess I am not. But, as I said, I do not wish for any
+settling of accounts between us.
+
+Valborg. But I wish it.
+
+Sannaes. You will have plenty of time to settle it to your own
+satisfaction.
+
+Valborg. But, if I am in difficulties about it, I cannot do it alone.
+
+Sannaes. I do not think you will find any difficulty.
+
+Valborg. But if _I_ think so?--if I feel myself deeply wronged?
+
+Sannaes. I have told you that I am willing to take all the blame upon
+myself.
+
+Valborg. No, Sannaes--I don't want charity; I want to be understood. I
+have a question to ask you.
+
+Sannaes. As you will.
+
+Valborg. How was it that we got on so well for the first year after my
+father's failure-and even longer? Have you ever thought of that?
+
+Sannaes. Yes. I think it was because we never talked about anything but
+our work--about business.
+
+Valborg. You were my instructor.
+
+Sannaes. And when you no longer needed an instructor--
+
+Valborg.--we hardly spoke to one another.
+
+Sannaes (softly). No.
+
+Valborg. Well, what could I say or do, when every sign of friendship on
+my part went unnoticed?
+
+Sannaes. Unnoticed? Oh no, Miss Valborg, I noticed them.
+
+Valborg. That was my punishment, then!
+
+Sannas. God forbid I should do you an injustice. You had a motive which
+did you credit; you felt compassion for me, and so you could not help
+acting as you did. But, Miss Valborg, I refuse your compassion.
+
+Valborg. And suppose it were gratitude?
+
+Sannaes (softly). I dreaded that more than anything else! I had had a
+warning.
+
+Valborg. You must admit, Sannaes, that all this made you very difficult
+to deal with!
+
+Sannaes. I quite admit that. But, honestly, _you_ must admit that I
+had good reason to mistrust an interest in me that sprang from mere
+gratitude. Had circumstances been different, I should only have bored
+you cruelly; I knew that quite well. And I had no fancy for being an
+amusement for your idle hours.
+
+Valborg. How you have mistaken me!--If you will think of it, surely you
+must understand how different a girl, who has been accustomed to travel
+and society, becomes when she has to stay at home and work because it
+is her duty. She comes to judge men by an altogether different standard,
+too. The men that she used to think delightful are very likely to appear
+small in her eyes when it is a question of the demands life makes on
+ability or courage or self-sacrifice; while the men she used to laugh
+at are transformed in her eyes into models of what God meant men to
+be, when she is brought into close contact with them in her father's
+office.--Is there anything so surprising in that? (A pause.)
+
+Sannaes. Thank you, at all events, for saying that to me. It has done me
+good. But you should have said it sooner.
+
+Valborg (emphatically). How could I, when you misjudged everything I did
+or said? No; it was impossible until mistakes and misunderstandings had
+driven us so far apart that we could not endure them any longer (Turns
+away.)
+
+Sannaes. Perhaps you are right. I cannot at once recall all that has
+happened. If I have been mistaken, I shall by degrees find the knowledge
+of it a profound comfort.--You must excuse me, Miss Valborg, I have a
+number of things to see to. (Turns to go.)
+
+Valborg (anxiously). Sannaes, as you admit that you have judged
+me unjustly, don't you think you ought at least to give me--some
+satisfaction?
+
+Sannaes. You may be certain, Miss Valborg, that when I am balancing our
+account you shall not suffer any injustice. But I cannot do it now. All
+I have to do now is to get ready to go.
+
+Valborg. But you are not ready to go, Sannaes! You have not finished
+your work here yet! There is what I just spoke of--and something else
+that dates farther back than that.
+
+Sannaes. You must feel how painful it is for me to prolong this
+interview. (Turns to go.)
+
+Valborg. But surely you won't go without setting right something that I
+am going to beg you to?
+
+Sannas. What is that, Miss Valborg?
+
+Valborg. Something that happened a long time ago.
+
+Sannaes. If it is in my power, I will do what you ask.
+
+Valborg. It is.--Ever since that day you have never offered to shake
+hands with me.
+
+Sannaes. Have you really noticed that? (A pause.)
+
+Valborg (with a smile, turning away). Will you do so now?
+
+Sannaes (stepping nearer to her). Is this more than a mere whim?
+
+Valborg (concealing her emotion). How can you ask such a question now?
+
+Sannaes. Because all this time you have never once asked me to shake
+hands with you.
+
+Valborg. I wanted you to offer me your hand. (A pause.)
+
+Sannaes. Are you serious for once?
+
+Valborg. I mean it, seriously.
+
+Sannaes (in a happier voice). You really set a value on it?
+
+Valborg. A great value.
+
+Sannaes (going up to her). Here it is, then!
+
+Valborg (turning and taking his hand). I accept the hand you offer me.
+
+Sannaes (turning pale). What do you mean?
+
+Valborg. I mean that for some time past I have known that I should be
+proud to be the wife of a man who has loved me, and me alone, ever since
+he was a boy, and has saved my father and us all.
+
+Sannaes. Oh, Miss Valborg!
+
+Valborg. And you wanted to go away, rather than offer me your hand; and
+that, only because we had accepted help from you--and you did not think
+we were free agents! That was too much; and, as you would not speak, I
+had to!
+
+Sannaes (kneeling to her). Miss Valborg!
+
+Valborg. You have the most loyal nature, the most delicate mind, and the
+warmest heart I have ever known.
+
+Sannaes. This is a thousand times too much!
+
+Valborg. Next to God, I have to thank you that I have become what I
+am; and I feel that I can offer you a life's devotion such as you would
+rarely find in this world.
+
+Sannaes. I cannot answer because I scarcely realise what you are saying.
+But you are saying it because you are sorry for me, now that I have to
+go away, and feel that you owe me some gratitude. (Takes both her
+hand in his.) Let me speak! I know the truth better than you, and have
+thought over it far more than you. You are so immeasurably above me in
+ability, in education, in manners--and a wife should not be able to look
+down on her husband. At all events, I am too proud to be willing to be
+exposed to that. No, what you are feeling now is only the result of your
+beautiful nature, and the recollection of it will hallow all my life.
+All the pain and all the happiness I have known have come from you. Your
+life will be one of self-renunciation; but, God knows there are many
+such! And my burden will be lightened now, because I shall know
+that your good wishes will always be with me. (Gets up.) But part we
+must--and now more than ever! For I could not bear to be near you unless
+you were mine, and to make you mine would only mean misery for us both
+after a little while!
+
+Valborg. Sannaes--!
+
+Sannaes (holding her hands and interrupting her). I entreat you not to
+say anything more! You have too much power over me; do not use it to
+make me sin! For it would be that--a great sin--to put two honest hearts
+into a false position, where they would distress one another, even
+perhaps get to hate one another.
+
+Valborg. But let me--
+
+Sannas (letting go her hands and stepping back). No, you must not tempt
+me. Life with you would mean perpetual anxiety, for I should never
+feel equal to what it would demand of me! But now I can part from you
+comforted. There will be no bitterness in my heart now; and by degrees
+all my thoughts of the past and of you will turn to sweetness. God bless
+you! May every good fortune go with you! Good-bye! (Goes quickly towards
+the house.)
+
+Valborg. Sannaes! (Follows him.) Sannaes! Listen to me! (SANNAES takes
+up his coat and gloves, and, as he rushes out without looking where
+he is going, runs full tilt into BERENT who comes in at that moment
+followed by JAKOBSEN.)
+
+Sannaes. I beg your pardon! (Rushes out to the right.)
+
+Berent. Are you two playing a game of blind man's buff?
+
+Valborg. God knows we are!
+
+Berent. You need not be so emphatic about it! I have had forcible
+evidence of it. (Rubs his stomach and laughs.)
+
+Valborg. You must excuse me! Father is in there. (Points to the left and
+goes hurriedly out to the right.)
+
+Berent. We don't seem to be getting a particularly polite reception!
+
+Jakobsen. No, we seem to be rather in the way, Mr. Berent.
+
+Berent (laughing). It looks like it. But what has been going on?
+
+Jakobsen. I don't know. They looked as if they had been fighting, their
+faces were so flushed.
+
+Berent. They looked upset, you mean?
+
+Jakobsen. Yes, that's it. Ah, here is Mr. Tjaelde! (To himself.) Good
+Lord, how aged he looks! (Withdraws into the background as BERENT goes
+forward to greet TJAELDE, who comes in.)
+
+Tjaelde (to BERENT). I am delighted to see you! You are always welcome
+in our little home--and this year more welcome than ever!
+
+Berent. Because things are going better than ever this year! I
+congratulate you on your discharge--and also on your determination to
+pay everything in full!
+
+Tjaelde. Yes, if God wills, I mean to--
+
+Berent. Well, things are going splendidly, aren't they?
+
+Tjaelde. So far, yes.
+
+Berent. You are over the worst of it, now that you have laid the
+foundations of a new business and laid them solidly.
+
+Tjaelde. One of the things that have given me the greatest encouragement
+has been the fact that I have won your confidence--and that has gained
+me the confidence of others.
+
+Berent. I could have done nothing unless you had first of all done
+everything. But don't let us say any more about it!--Well, the place
+looks even prettier than it did last year.
+
+Tjaelde. We do a little more to it each year, you know.
+
+Berent. And you are still all together here?
+
+Tjaelde. So far, yes.
+
+Berent. Ah, by the way, I can give you news of your deserter. (TJAELDE
+looks surprised.) I mean your lieutenant!
+
+Tjaelde. Oh--of him! Have you seen him?
+
+Berent. I was on the same boat coming here. There was a very rich girl
+on board.
+
+Tjaelde (laughing). Oh, I see!
+
+Berent. All the same, I don't think it came to any thing. It is rather
+like coming upon a herd of deer when you are stalking; after your first
+shot, you don't find it so easy to get another; they have grown wary!
+
+Jakobsen (who during this conversation has been screwing up his courage
+to address TJAELDE). I--I am a pig, I am! I know that!
+
+Tjaelde (taking his hand). Oh, come, Jakobsen--!
+
+Jakobsen. A great blundering pig!--But I know it now!
+
+Tjaelde. That's all right! I can tell you I am delighted to be able to
+set affairs straight between you and me.
+
+Jakobsen. I don't know what to answer. It goes to my heart! (Shakes his
+hand heartily.) You are a far better man than I,--and I said so to my
+wife. "He's a splendid fellow," I said.
+
+Tjaelde (releasing his hand). Let us forget everything except the happy
+days we have had together, Jakobsen! How do things go at the Brewery?
+
+Jakobsen. At the Brewery! As long as folk ladle beer into their stomachs
+at the rate they do now--
+
+Berent. Jakobsen was kind enough to drive me out here. We had a most
+amusing drive. He is a character.
+
+Jakobsen (in an anxious undertone, to TJAELDE). What does he mean by
+that?
+
+Tjaelde. That you are different from most people.
+
+Jakobsen. Ah!--I didn't feel sure, you know, whether he wasn't sitting
+there making game of me, all the way here.
+
+Tjaelde. How can you think such a thing? (To BERENT.) Do come into the
+house. Excuse my going first; but my wife is not always quite prepared
+to receive visitors since she has been able to do so little for herself.
+(Goes into the house.)
+
+Berent. I don't think Mr. Tjaelde seems to me to be looking in quite as
+good form as I expected?
+
+Jakobsen. Don't you? I didn't notice anything.
+
+Berent. Perhaps I am mistaken. I think he meant us to follow him in,
+didn't he?
+
+Jakobsen. So I understood.
+
+Berent. Then, as you have brought me so far, you must take me in to Mrs.
+Tjaelde.
+
+Jakobsen. I am quite at your service, sir. I have the deepest respect
+for Mrs. Tjaelde--(hurriedly)--and of course for Mr. Tjaelde too. Of
+course.
+
+Berent. Yes. Well, let us go in.
+
+Jakobsen. Let us go in. (He tries anxiously to keep in step with
+BERENT'S peculiar walk, but finds it difficult.)
+
+Berent. I think you had better not try. My step suits very few.
+
+Jakobsen. Oh, I shall manage--! (They go out to the left. SANNAES comes
+hurriedly in from the right, and crosses the stage; looks around; then
+comes across to the foreground and leans with his back against a tree.
+VALBORG comes in a moment later, comes forward, sees him, and laughs.)
+
+Sannaes. There, you see, Miss Valborg; you are laughing at me.
+
+Valborg. I don't know whether I want to laugh or to cry.
+
+Sannaes. Believe me, you are mistaken about this, Miss Valborg. You
+don't see things as plainly as I do.
+
+Valborg. Which of us was it that was mistaken to-day?--and had to beg
+pardon for it?
+
+Sannaes. It was I, I know. But this is impossible! A real union of
+hearts needs to be founded on more than respect--
+
+Valborg (laughing). On love?
+
+Sannaes. You misunderstand me. Could you go into society with me without
+feeling embarrassed? (VALBORG laughs.) You see, the mere idea of it
+makes you laugh.
+
+Valborg (laughing). I am laughing because you are magnifying the least
+important part of it into the most important.
+
+Sannaes. You know how awkward and shy--in fact downright frightened I am
+amongst those who--. (VALBORG laughs again.) There, you see--you can't
+help laughing at the idea!
+
+Valborg. I should perhaps even laugh at you when we were in society
+together! (Laughs.)
+
+Sannaes (seriously). But I should suffer horribly if you did.
+
+Valborg. Believe me, Sannaes, I love you well enough to be able to
+afford to have a little laugh sometimes at your little imperfections.
+Indeed, I often do! And suppose we were out in society, and I saw you
+weighed down under the necessity for pretty manners that do not come
+easy to you; if I did laugh at you, do you think there would be any
+unkindness behind my laughter? If others laughed at you, do you suppose
+I would not, the very next moment, take your arm and walk proudly down
+the room with you? I know what you really are, and others know it too!
+Thank God it is not only bad deeds that are known to others in this
+world!
+
+Sannaes. Your words intoxicate me and carry me off my feet!
+
+Valborg (earnestly). If you think I am only flattering you, let us put
+it to the test. Mr. Berent is here. He moves in the very best society,
+but he is superior to its littlenesses. Shall we take his opinion?
+Without betraying anything, I could make him give it in a moment.
+
+Sannaes (carried away). I want no one's opinion but yours!
+
+Valborg. That's right! If only you feel certain of my love--
+
+Sannaes (impetuously).--then nothing else will seem to matter; and that
+alone will be able to teach me all that I lack, in a very short time.
+
+Valborg. Look into my eyes!
+
+Sannaes (taking her hands). Yes!
+
+Valborg. Do you believe that nothing would ever make me ashamed of you!
+
+Sannaes. Yes, I believe that.
+
+Valborg (with emotion). Do you believe that I love you?
+
+Sannaes. Yes! (Falls on one knee.)
+
+Valborg. Deeply enough for my love to last all our lives--
+
+Sannaes. Yes, yes!
+
+Valborg. Then stay with me; and we will look after the old folk--and
+replace them when, in God's good time, they are taken from us. (SANNAES
+bursts into tears. TJAELDE, who has come to the window to show BERENT
+his ledgers, happens to look up and sees VALBORG and SANNAES.)
+
+Tjaelde (leaning out of the window, and speaking gently:) Valborg, what
+has happened?
+
+Valborg (quietly). Only that Sannaes and I are engaged to be married.
+
+Tjaelde. Is it possible! (To BERENT, who is immersed in the accounts.)
+Excuse me! (Hurries away from the window.)
+
+Sannaes (who, in his emotion has heard nothing). Forgive me! It has been
+such a long, hard struggle--and I feel overwhelmed!
+
+Valborg. Let us go in to my mother.
+
+Sannws (shrinking back). I can't, Miss Valborg--you must wait a little--
+
+Valborg. Here they come. (TJAELDE comes in wheeling MRS. TJAELDE in her
+chair. VALBORG runs to her mother and throws herself into her arms.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (softly). God be praised and thanked!
+
+Tjaelde (going up to SANNAES and embracing him). My son!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. So that was why Sannaes wanted to go away! Oh, Sannaes!
+(TJAELDE brings SANNAES up to her. SANNAES kneels and kisses her hand,
+then gets up and goes into the background, to recover himself. SIGNE
+comes in.)
+
+Signe. Mother, everything is ready now!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. So are things out here!
+
+Signe (looking round). Not really?
+
+Valborg (to SIGNE). Forgive me for never having told you!
+
+Signe. You certainly kept your secret well!
+
+Valborg. I kept long years of suffering secret--that was all! (SIGNE
+kisses her and whispers to her; then turns to SANNAES.)
+
+Signe. Sannaes! (Shakes his hand.) So we are to be brother and
+sister-in-law?
+
+Sannaes (embarrassed). Oh, Miss Signe--
+
+Signe. But you mustn't call me Miss Signe now, you know!
+
+Valborg. You must expect that! He calls me "Miss" Valborg still!
+
+Singe. Well, he won't be able to do that when you are married, anyway!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde (to TJAELDE). But where are our friends?
+
+Tjaelde. Mr. Berent is in the office. There he is, at the window.
+
+Berent (at the window). Now I am coming straight out to congratulate
+you, with my friend Jakobsen. (Comes out.)
+
+Valborg (going to TJAELDE). Father!
+
+Tjaelde. My child!
+
+Valborg. If we had not known those bad days we should never have known
+this happy one! (He gives her a grip of the hand.)
+
+Tjaelde (to BERENT). Allow me to present to you my daughter Valborg's
+fiancé--Mr. Sannaes.
+
+Berent. I congratulate you on your choice, Miss Valborg--and I
+congratulate the whole family on such a son-in-law.
+
+Valborg (triumphantly). There, Sannaes!
+
+Jakobsen. May I too, though I am only a stupid sort of chap, say that
+this lad has been in love with you ever since he was in his teens--he
+hardly could be sooner than that. But I can tell you, honestly, I should
+never have credited you with having so much sense as to take him. (All
+laugh.)
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. Signe is whispering to me that our dinner is getting cold.
+
+Signe. May I take my mother's place and ask you to take me in to dinner,
+Mr. Berent?
+
+Berent (offering her his arm). I am honoured!--But our bridal pair must
+go first!
+
+Valborg. Sannaes--?
+
+Sannaes (whispers, as he gives her his arm). To think that I have you
+on my arm! (They go into the house, followed by BERENT and SIGNE, and by
+JAKOBSEN.)
+
+Tjaelde (bending over his wife, as he prepares to wheel her chair in).
+My dear, God has blessed our house now!
+
+Mrs. Tjaelde. My dear man!
+
+Curtain.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KING
+
+A PLAY IN A PROLOGUE AND FOUR ACTS
+
+
+DRAMATIS PERSONAE
+
+     The KING.
+     HARALD GRAN, a rich manufacturer.
+     KOLL, Chief Magistrate of the district.
+     FLINK.
+     CLARA ERNST.
+     The PRINCESS.
+     BARONESS MARC.
+     ANNA, a deaf and dumb girl.
+     FALBE.
+     The MAYOR.
+     NATHALIE, his daughter.
+     ALSTAD.
+     VILHELM, his son.
+     The PARISH PRIEST.
+     BANG, a rich trader.
+     VINÄGER.
+     COUNT PLATEN.
+     The GENERAL.
+     MATILDE.
+     A Ballad Singer.
+     A Young Beggar.
+     A Servant of the King's.
+     Ladies and Gentlemen,
+     Masked Dancers,
+     Work-people,
+     Farmers, etc.
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE
+
+(SCENE.--A large gothic hall, brilliantly illuminated, in which a masked
+ball is taking place. At the rise of the curtain a ballet is being
+performed in the centre of the hall. Masked dancers are grouped around,
+watching it. Two of them, women, are conversing on the right of the
+stage.)
+
+First Mask. Have you heard that the King is to be here to-night?
+
+Second Mask. Yes, and since I heard it I have been imagining I saw him
+everywhere.
+
+First Mask (pointing). That is not he, is it?
+
+Second Mask. He is taller than that.
+
+First Mask. That one, then? Look, that one!
+
+Second Mask. That one has spoken to me. He has too old a voice.
+
+First Mask. Shall we see if we can find him?
+
+Second Mask. Yes, come along!
+
+(A number of girls, wearing similar costumes and all masked, have
+meanwhile collected on the left side of the stage.)
+
+First Girl. Are we all here?
+
+Second Girl. All but Matilde.
+
+Matilde. Here I am! Have you heard that the King is to be here?
+
+All. Really?
+
+Matilde. I don't know how he is dressed; but one of the masters of the
+ceremonies told me he was to be here.
+
+Several of the Girls. The dear King! (Two masked dancers, dressed as
+Cats, pass by.)
+
+Tom Cat. Do you hear that, my pet?
+
+Puss. Miau!
+
+Matilde. Let us try and discover him.
+
+All. Yes, yes!
+
+A Mask. And when we have discovered him--?
+
+Matilde. Let us all dance round him!
+
+All. Yes!
+
+Tom Cat (to Puss). You had better look after your virtue, Miss!
+
+Puss. Miau!
+
+Tom Cat. Miau! (They pass out of sight.)
+
+Matilde. Remember that we are all to meet here in a quarter of an hour!
+
+All. Yes! (They disperse. The ballet comes to a close amidst universal
+applause. Conversation among the dancers becomes general and animated.
+The BARONESS MARC, disguised as an Old Woman, comes forward, talking to
+another mask dressed as a Donkey.)
+
+Baroness. I will never forgive you for that, my lord chamberlain.
+
+The Donkey. But you frighten me clean out of my part, Baroness!
+
+Baroness. If only I could understand how it happened!
+
+The Donkey. After all, my dear Baroness, you cannot be expected to take
+out all your schoolmistresses and their senior pupils on a leash!
+
+Baroness. No, but I have particular reasons for wishing to look closely
+after _her_. (All this time she has been persistently looking round the
+room.) And in such a whirling crowd as this--
+
+The Donkey. Let us lose ourselves in it, then! (He brays as they go out.
+The PRINCESS, masked and dressed in a costume of the time of Louis
+XV., comes forward accompanied by a Cavalier in a costume of the same
+period.)
+
+Princess (continuing a discussion). And I say that if a king has such
+graces of mind and person as ours has, he may do anything he pleases.
+
+Cavalier. _Anything_, Princess?
+
+Princess. Anything that his mind prompts, provided that he do it
+beautifully. (A GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING, dressed in a costume of the same
+period, approaches them.)
+
+Gentleman-in-Waiting. I cannot discover him, your Royal Highness!
+
+Princess. But he is here. He is _here_. And for a lady's sake. I am
+certain I am right.
+
+Cavalier. But I asked one of the masters of the ceremonies, and he knew
+nothing about it.
+
+Princess. Then it must have been one that has not been let into the
+secret.
+
+Cavalier. But, your Royal Highness--
+
+Princess. Don't keep calling me "your Royal Highness," but get me a
+description of the costume he is wearing. (The GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING bows
+and goes away.) And you and I will go on hunting--
+
+Cavalier.--for the noble huntsman--
+
+Princess.--who is being hunted himself! (Moves away, but stops
+suddenly.) Who is that? (CLARA ERNST, masked and in peasant costume,
+comes forward followed by a masked figure wearing a domino. He is
+whispering to her over her shoulder. She keeps glancing about, as if
+looking for some one.)
+
+The Domino.--and there, in the enchanted castle, buried deep in the
+wooded park--
+
+Clara. Let me alone!
+
+The Domino.--there we shall be greeted by a babbling fountain of
+water--a nymph, holding the cup of joy high above her head--
+
+Clara (anxiously). What can have become of her?
+
+(Meanwhile one of the masked dancers has been following them, and now
+turns back to join others.)
+
+A Masked Dancer (pointing to the DOMINO). That is the King!
+
+Another (quickly). But who is _she_?
+
+The Domino.--on both sides, shady alleys leading to the doors of a
+secret retreat; and there--
+
+Clara (turning round). I despise you! (The dancing and music suddenly
+stop. General consternation.)
+
+The Baroness (starting forward as she hears CLARA voice.) Clara!
+
+The Domino (taking CLARA's hand and leading her apart from the others).
+Do you know who it is that you despise?
+
+Clara (greatly agitated). Yes, I know who you are!--and that is why,
+from the bottom of my heart, I despise you! (The music begins afresh,
+covering the general consternation that has spread among the dancers.
+The BARONESS comes forward with a cry of "Clara!" CLARA bursts into
+tears and throws herself into her arms. Curtain.)
+
+
+
+
+ACT I
+
+
+SCENE I
+
+(SCENE.--A large hall in Gran's factory. The walls are bare. On the
+left, about half-way forward, is a small platform. A meeting of the
+shareholders of a railway company is in progress. Facing the platform
+are seated the gentry; the common herd, mainly farmers and work-people,
+are sitting and standing about wherever they can find room. On the
+right, large windows are standing open; through these another crowd
+can be seen, listening from outside. GRAN is standing in front of the
+platform, speaking to the meeting.)
+
+Gran. And, as it was found impossible for the main line of the railway
+to touch our town, we determined, rather than allow all our exertions
+to be wasted, to construct a branch line on our own account. I had
+the honour to be elected chairman of the board of directors of this
+undertaking. No directors ever had more unrestricted powers than were
+given to us--possibly because there were no two opinions as to the route
+the line should take the natural formation of the ground indicated
+it unmistakably. It was only when we approached the question of the
+purchase of our rolling-stock that any dissension arose--not among the
+directors, but among the shareholders. As the majority of the latter
+are farmers and work-people, we had decided on buying only one class of
+railway carriage of a type slightly more comfortable than the ordinary
+third-class carriage. That is the extent of our misdeeds! To-day's
+meeting will probably show what the general sense on the matter is. Our
+powers being unlimited, we were under no obligation to consult any one
+in the matter; but, notwithstanding that, we decided to call a meeting
+of the shareholders and submit the question to them. And, on the
+directors' behalf, I must thank the shareholders for having attended in
+such numbers; young and old, men and women, I dare say quite a third
+of the total number of shareholders are present. The meeting will now
+proceed to elect a chairman. (Sits down.)
+
+The Mayor (after a pause). I beg to move that Mr. Koll, our chief
+magistrate, whom it is a great pleasure to see honouring this meeting
+with his presence, have the further kindness to take the chair.
+
+Gran. The motion before the meeting is that the Chief Magistrate shall
+take the chair. Shall I assume it to be carried? (Silence follows.)
+
+The Mayor. Yes. (Laughter.)
+
+Gran. The meeting should preferably elect some one who may be considered
+to be unaffected by considerations of party.
+
+Alstad (half rising, with his glasses in his hand). Then we shall have
+to send for some one that does not live in these parts! There is no one
+of that sort left here! (Sits down, amidst laughter.)
+
+The Priest. All authority springs from on high. Obedience to those set
+in authority over us is obedience to the Almighty. But it is against
+this very obedience that people are rebelling nowadays.
+
+Gran. It is precisely some one to be in authority over us that we want
+to elect. At present we have no one.
+
+The Priest. No, that's just it. Every meeting nowadays seems to claim
+authority on its own account. Let rather show our respect to actual
+authority--such respect as we would show to our fathers. (Sits down.)
+
+Gran. Then, as far as I can grasp the situation, the Chief Magistrate
+has been proposed and seconded?
+
+The Priest. Yes.
+
+Gran. Does any one wish to propose any one else? (Silence.)
+
+Alstad. May I request the Chief Magistrate to take the chair?
+
+Koll (getting up). I don't know that it is any great compliment to be
+elected in this way; but I will take the chair, for the sole reason of
+enabling the meeting to proceed to business. (Takes his place on the
+platform, and raps on the table with a mallet.) I declare the meeting
+open.
+
+Gran (getting up). Mr. Chairman!
+
+Koll. Mr. Gran will address the meeting.
+
+Gran. The motion proposed by the directors is this: "That only one class
+of railway carriage shall be purchased, slightly more comfortable than
+the ordinary third-class carriage." (Gives the motion in writing to the
+chairman, and sits down.)
+
+Koll. The following is the motion submitted to meeting. (Reads it out.)
+Who wishes to speak on the motion? (Silence.) Come, some one must
+speak on it--or I shall have to put it to the vote forthwith. (Silence,
+followed by laughter here and there.)
+
+The Priest. Mr. Chairman!
+
+Koll. The Priest will address the meeting.
+
+The Priest. I see, in this assembly, a number of young men, even a
+number of maidens; and I feel bound to ask whether young men, and even
+maidens, are to be allowed to take part in these proceedings?
+
+Koll. Any shareholder that is of age has the right to.
+
+The Priest. But St. Paul expressly tells us that women are not to speak
+in public places.
+
+Koll. Well, they can hold their tongues, then. (Laughter.)
+
+The Priest. But even the fact of voting at a railway meeting does not
+seem to me to be in accordance with the humility and modesty that both
+Nature and the Scriptures indicate as characteristic of woman. I believe
+it to be the first step on a wrong road. The apostle says--
+
+Koll. We must leave them to decide the matter for themselves. Does any
+one wish to--?
+
+The Priest (interrupting him). Mr. Chairman, if you will not permit me
+to quote the apostle, allow me at all events to say that the spectacle
+of a young man voting against his father, or a woman voting against her
+husband--
+
+Koll. Will you tell me who could prohibit it? Does any one wish to
+speak--?
+
+The Priest (interrupting). The Scriptures prohibit it, Mr.
+Chairman!--the Scriptures, which we are all bound to obey, even--
+
+Gran (getting up and interrupting him). Mr. Chairman!
+
+Koll. Mr. Gran will address the meeting.
+
+Gran. I only want to ask whether--
+
+The Priest. But _I_ was addressing the meeting!
+
+Koll. Mr. Gran will address the meeting.
+
+The Priest. I protest against that ruling!
+
+Alstad (half rising). Our worthy Priest must obey authority. (Sits down
+amidst laughter.)
+
+The Priest. Not when it does an injustice! I appeal to the meeting!
+
+Koll. Very good!--Will those in favour of the Priest addressing the
+meeting kindly stand up? (No one gets up; and those who were previously
+standing bob down. Laughter.) Carried unanimously, that the Priest do
+not address the meeting. (The PRIEST sits down.) Mr. Gran will address
+the meeting.
+
+Gran (getting up). I withdraw from my right! (Renewed laughter.)
+
+The Mayor (getting up). Mr. Chairman!
+
+Koll. The Mayor will address the meeting.
+
+The Mayor. I am one of many to whom this proposal of the directors seems
+extraordinary, to say the least of it. Do they propose that the ladies
+of my family--I will leave myself out of the question, for as a public
+man I have to rub shoulders with all sorts of people--do they propose,
+I say, that ladies who have been delicately brought up shall travel with
+any Tom, Dick and Harry?--perhaps with convicts being conveyed to gaol,
+or with journeymen labourers? Is his honour the Chief Magistrate, who is
+a Commander of a noble Order of Knighthood, to travel side by side
+with a drunken navvy? Supposing the King were to pay a visit to this
+beautiful district, which has acquired such a reputation since so many
+of the best people from town have taken villas here; is his Majesty to
+make the journey in one of these third-class carriages, with the chance
+of travelling in company with tradesman stinking of stale cheese?--with
+folk who, moreover--well, perhaps in common decency I ought not to
+go on, as ladies are present. (Laughter.) "Economy," I hear some one
+suggest. That word is in great favour nowadays. But I should like to
+know what economy there is getting your clothes soiled? (Laughter.) Does
+a first-class carriage wear out sooner than a third class? It costs
+more to build, no doubt, but that is soon made up by the higher fares
+charged. I can discover no reasonable ground for this proposal, look at
+it how you will from the commercial point of view. One has to look
+at the _political_ aspect of the matter, to understand it; and I am
+reluctant to drag in politics. I will only say, in conclusion, that it
+must be those who have framed this proposal that expect to derive some
+profit from it; the railway certainly would derive none. (Sits down.)
+
+Koll. That last remark was a little like an accusation--
+
+The Mayor (getting up). I only alluded to what is in every one's mind.
+(Sits down.)
+
+Koll. A speaker is not in order in making accusations, even though they
+be assumed to be in every one's mind.--I see that Mr. Alstad wishes to
+speak.
+
+Alstad. Human nature is frail. That seems to me a sufficient explanation
+of how such a proposal came to be laid before us. But honestly--for we
+all ought to be honest!--it seems to me that any material advantage
+it might bring would be more than counterbalanced by loss of esteem.
+(Uproar.) There has been quite a different spirit in the place of late
+years--what with the factories, and the stranger workmen, and the summer
+visitors. We never used to have so much unrest or to hear so much of
+this talk about "equality." And now, if we are to give the impression
+that there is only one social class here--and that a third class--I
+know that I shall be by no means alone in feeling offended. We certainly
+don't want to sit on our work-people's laps; and, equally, we don't want
+to have them sitting on ours. (Sits down.)
+
+Gran. Our friend the Mayor is very fond of talking of his loyalty; but I
+must say I am surprised at his dragging the King even into this matter.
+As for the matter of the railway carriage in which one of so high degree
+would travel here--well, if our carriages are not good enough, surely
+his Majesty's private saloon can be used on our line as well as on
+the main line. And as for any of us ordinary mortals who are afraid of
+mixing with the common herd, surely they can sit together in carriages
+by themselves. The carriages would be separate; they would only be of
+the same kind. I think there would be little fear of their being exposed
+to intrusion on the part of our country-folk. _They_ are much more apt
+to be more timidly shy than is even desirable. On all small lines--even
+on many of the bigger ones--it is the less luxurious carriages, the
+second and third class, that for the cost of the more luxurious ones;
+it is the third class that pays for the first. But that some passengers
+should travel comfortably at the expense of those who travel less
+comfortably, is what we wish to avoid. (Applause.) An old resident of
+the yeoman class has reproached us with wishing to alter our customs.
+Well, if one of our old customs is the aristocratic one which makes the
+gulf that separates masters and men wider than it already is, all I can
+say is that the sooner it is abolished the better; for it is not a good
+custom; it is even a dangerous one. (Murmurs.) And as for the political
+aspect of the question--
+
+Koll. Don't you think we should leave politics out of the question?
+
+Gran (bows, with a laugh). That is just what I was going to say, Mr.
+Chairman; that we ought to leave politics out out of the question. (Sits
+down, amidst laughter applause. The audience, first the younger men and
+then the older farmers, begin arguing the matter with one another, more
+and more loudly.)
+
+Koll. I must beg the meeting to keep quiet, as long as this business is
+under discussion. The Mayor wishes to speak.
+
+The Mayor. I admit that I am loyal--
+
+Koll. Those people outside must be quiet!
+
+Alstad (going to the window). You must keep quiet!
+
+The Mayor. I admit I am loyal! I count it a point of honour, as a native
+of the place, to show his Majesty that our first thought when we planned
+this railway was, at that important moment, that his Majesty might
+possibly be pleased to manifest a desire to pay us a visit. "Let him use
+his own private saloon," we are told! No, Mr. Chairman, that is not the
+way to speak when we are speaking of his Majesty! And what about his
+Majesty's suite? Are they to travel third class? What I say is that we
+are casting a slight on his Majesty if we cast a slight on his railway
+carriage--I should say, on his suite. And I go farther than that. I say
+that his Majesty's functionaries are his Majesty's representatives, and
+that it is casting an additional slight upon his Majesty not to show
+a proper respect for them. I know that this jars upon the ears of many
+present; they do not consider that a man who holds a public office
+should be shown any more respect than any one else. The majority rules,
+and the majority only thinks of its own interests and those of its
+servile supporters. But even in this community of ours there is a
+minority that bears the burden of its affairs and represents its honour;
+and we will never consent to be dragged down into the mire of this
+"equality" into which you want to plunge each and every one of us!
+(Uproar.)
+
+Koll. The honourable speaker appears to me to be trenching upon
+politics--
+
+The Mayor. Possibly I am, Mr. Chairman; but what honest man can shirk
+the truth? Only compare the present state of things in this community
+with what was the case when everything here was as it should be; when
+the King and his officials were respected; when public affairs were in
+the hands of those who knew how to direct them; when we used to have
+singing competitions, shooting competitions, and other festal meetings
+of that kind. And--yes--well--compare, I say, the conditions in those
+days with our conditions to-day--that is to say, with all this talk of
+"the people;" as, for instance--
+
+Koll. It is railway carriages that we are discussing.
+
+The Mayor. Quite so! But what is it that is at the bottom of this
+proposal, Mr. Chairman? Does it not spring from that passion for
+destruction, for a universal levelling which aims at abolishing the
+monarchy, at destroying authority--
+
+The Priest. And the Church too, my friend!
+
+The Mayor.--and the Church, it is quite true! Yes, it is because they
+desire the Church and--
+
+Koll. It is railway carriages that we are discussing.
+
+The Mayor. Exactly. But an old public official like myself, who once was
+held in respect, when he sees the pillars of society tottering and feels
+the keenest pang of sorrow at--
+
+Koll. For the last time, it is railway carriages that we are discussing!
+
+The Mayor (overcome by his feelings). I have no more say. (Sits down.)
+
+Koll. Mr. Alstad wishes to speak.
+
+Alstad (getting up). The question before the meeting is itself a small
+matter; but it is the consequences of it that I fear. We may expect any
+proposal of the same kidney now. Never let it be said that our community
+was eager to range itself under this banner of "equality!" It bears too
+old and honoured a name for that! But there is one thing I want to say.
+We have always, before this, felt it an honour and a privilege to have
+the richest man in these parts living amongst us. But when we see him
+one of the most eager in support of a "popular" proposal of this sort,
+then it appears, to me at all events, to be absolutely unaccountable
+how--oh, well, I won't run the risk making what our chairman calls
+"accusations"; I will sit down and hold my tongue. I have the right to
+do that at all events. (Sits down.)
+
+Koll. Mr. Gran will address the meeting.
+
+Flink. Three cheers for Mr. Gran! (Almost the whole meeting cheers
+lustily. KOLL shouts at them and hammers on the table with his mallet in
+vain.)
+
+Koll (when peace is restored). I must ask the meeting to show some
+respect for its chairman. If not, I will leave the chair.--Mr. Gran will
+address the meeting.
+
+Gran. The plan that we are proposing is no new one. It has been in
+practice for a long time. In America--
+
+The Priest, Alstad, and others. Yes, in America!
+
+The Mayor (getting up). Mr. Chairman, are we to have politics, after
+all?
+
+Koll. I cannot see that to mention America is to talk politics.
+
+The Mayor. Then what is politics, if America isn't?
+
+Koll. To talk politics is--for instance--to use the arguments your
+worship did. Mr. Gran will proceed.
+
+Gran. I see that the Priest wishes to speak. I shall be happy to give
+way.
+
+Koll. The Priest will address the meeting.
+
+The Priest. I see here, in this assembly, a number of those whom I am
+accustomed to address in more solemn surroundings. My dear
+parishioners, it was for your sake that I came here. You have heard
+for yourselves--the whole question is a political one; and, dear fellow
+Christians, let me entreat you to shun politics! Did not our Lord
+Himself say: "My kingdom is not of this world"? This freedom, this
+equality, of which they talk is not the soul's freedom, not that
+equality which--
+
+Koll. I would suggest to the reverend speaker that he should postpone
+his remarks until the next time he gets into the pulpit. (Slight
+laughter.)
+
+The Priest. One should be instant in season and out of season;
+therefore--
+
+Koll. I forbid you to continue.
+
+The Priest. It is written: "Thou shalt obey God rather than man"! My
+dear parishioners, let us all leave this meeting! Who will follow his
+priest? (Takes a few steps towards the door, but no one follows him.
+Laughter. He sighs deeply, and sits down again.)
+
+Koll. If no one else wishes to speak--
+
+Vinäger. Mr. Chairman!
+
+Koll. Mr. Vinäger wishes to speak.
+
+Vinäger. These proceedings remind me of China, and of the Chinese
+mandarins who will not allow any one of lesser degree to come near
+them--although at moments I have felt as if I were still in Europe
+in the presence of a still greater power, greater even than the Grand
+Turk--I mean this democratic envy which grudges others what it has
+not got itself. To reconcile both parties I should like to make the
+following suggestion. Build the carriages, as is often done, in two
+stories. Then those who wish to ensure their privacy can do so by
+sitting upstairs; and the others will be satisfied too, because they
+will all be in the same carriage after all. (Loud laughter.)
+
+Koll. If no one else wishes to speak (looks at GRAN, who shakes his
+head) I shall proceed to put the question to the vote. The motion
+submitted by the directors, which is now before the meeting, is as
+follows--
+
+The Mayor. Excuse me, but what of my motion wit h regard to a saloon for
+his Majesty?
+
+Koll. I did not understand your worship to mean your suggestion as a
+formal motion.
+
+The Mayor. I did, though.
+
+Koll. Then I will put it to the vote after the director, motion has been
+voted upon.
+
+The Mayor. A motion that concerns the King should take precedence of all
+others.
+
+Koll. Even the King is subject to the rules of logic. The directors'
+motion is: "That only one class of railway carriage shall be purchased,
+of a type slightly more comfortable than the ordinary third-class
+carriage." Will those in favour of the motion kindly go to the left--on
+this side of the room; those against the motion, to the right. (Nearly
+all go to the left. Cheers are heard outside, and are gradually taken
+up by those inside. KOLL hammers with his mallet.) Order, please! (The
+cheering ceases, but an animated conversation goes on.) The directors'
+motion is carried!
+
+The Mayor (shouting). I am sure every one did not understand the method
+of voting!
+
+Koll (hammering with his mallet). Order, order. (Quiet is gradually
+restored.) What did your worship say?
+
+The Mayor. That some people must have misunderstood the way of voting;
+because I see my daughter Natalie, who is a shareholder too, on the
+other side of the room. Of course she has made a mistake.
+
+Natalie. Oh no, father, I haven't. (Loud laughter, and applause.)
+
+The Priest. Ah, my poor deluded parishioners, I shall pray for you!
+
+The Mayor. Order!--The Mayor's motion--
+
+Alstad. I would suggest that the Mayor should withdraw it. We know what
+its fate would be in such a meeting as this.
+
+Koll. As long as I occupy the chair, I shall not permit any derogatory
+expressions to be applied to the meeting. Does the Mayor still insist on
+his motion being put? (Whispers to him: "Say no!")
+
+The Mayor. No.
+
+Koll. Then, as no one else wishes to speak, I declare the meeting at an
+end. (Every one begins to move about and discuss affairs vigorously.)
+
+Alstad (to his son VILHELM). So you have the face to vote with
+these--these Americans, against your old father, have you?
+
+Vilhelm. Well, father, I honestly think--
+
+Alstad. Just you wait till I get you home!
+
+Vilhelm. Oh, that's it, is it? Then I shan't go home--so there! I shall
+stay here and get drunk, I shall.
+
+Alstad. Oh, come, come!
+
+Vilhelm. Yes, I shall! I shall stay here and get drunk!
+
+Alstad. But, Vilhelm, listen to me! (Takes him by the arm. Meantime a
+STRANGER has taken KOLL and GRAN by the arm, to their manifest surprise,
+and brought the forward away from the crowd. He stands for a moment,
+looking them in the face, till suddenly KOLL gives a start and cries
+out: "The King!")
+
+The King. Hush!
+
+Gran. It really is--!
+
+The King (to GRAN). You are at home here; take up into a room--and give
+us some champagne. My throat is as dry as a lime-kiln!
+
+Curtain
+
+
+SCENE II
+
+(SCENE.--A room built in Gothic style, comfortably furnished and
+decorated with trophies of the chase. GRAN ushers in the KING and KOLL.)
+
+Gran. We can be quite alone here. (ANNA, a deaf and dumb girl of about
+fifteen, brings in some bottles of champagne, and, during the following
+dialogue, sets out glasses, refreshments, cigars, and pipes. She is
+quick and attentive to render the slightest service required of her;
+when not employed, she sits on a stool in the background. She talks to
+GRAN on her fingers, and receives orders from him in the same manner.)
+
+The King. Ah, this is like old times! I know the setting: "Gothic room
+in mediaeval style, decorated with trophies of the chase. Furnished with
+an eye to bachelor comfort!" You always had bachelor habits, you know,
+even when you were quite a boy. (To KOLL.) We never called him anything
+but "the Bachelor" on board ship. He never had a love affair in all the
+three years our cruise lasted; but the rest of us had them in every port
+we touched at!
+
+Koll. He is just the same in that respect now.
+
+Gran (offering the KING some champagne). Allow me!
+
+The King. Thanks; I shall be glad of it. (To KOLL.) Your health, my
+former tutor! (To GRAN.) And yours! (They drink.) Ah, that has done me
+good!--Well now, let me ask you this: isn't it true that, all through
+the meeting, you were talking nothing but republicanism, although you
+didn't actually mention the word?
+
+Koll (laughing). You are not far wrong.
+
+The King. And you, who in the old days were considered to be too
+advanced in your opinions to be retained as my tutor, are now not
+considered advanced enough! They nearly--threw you over, didn't they?
+
+Koll. Yes! That shows you, if I may say so, the result of government by
+a minority.
+
+The King. And the result of mixing with such people as our excellent
+friend the millionaire here, I suppose?
+
+Gran. It is always a mistake to lay the blame of public opinion on
+individuals.
+
+The King. I quite agree with you. And now it is time you knew the reason
+of my coming here--in the strictest incognito, as you see. By the way, I
+hope no one recognised me?
+
+Gran and Koll. Not a soul!
+
+(FLINK comes in.)
+
+Flink. Ah, here you are! (Comes forward, rubbing his hands delightedly.)
+Well, what did you think of the meeting, my boys?
+
+The King (aside to GRAN). Who is that?
+
+Gran (to the KING). We will get rid of him. (To FLINK.) Look here, old
+chap--!
+
+Flink (catching sight of the KING). Oh, I beg your pardon, I thought we
+were--
+
+Gran (obliged to introduce him). Let me introduce Mr.--? Mr.--? (Looks
+at the KING inquiringly.)
+
+The King. Speranza.
+
+Flink. An Italian?
+
+The King. In name only.
+
+Gran (completing the introduction). Mr. Flink.
+
+The King. Surely not A. B. Flink?
+
+Gran. Yes.
+
+The King (interested). Our peripatetic philosopher? (Shakes hands with
+him.) I have read one or two of your books.
+
+Flink (laughing). Really?
+
+The King. Are you meditating another expedition?
+
+Flink. That's it.
+
+The King. And on foot?
+
+Flink. Always on foot.
+
+The King. Upon my word, I don't believe there is a man in the country
+that can gauge popular opinion as accurately as you! Let us sit down and
+have a chat. Do you drink champagne?
+
+Flink. Yes--when I can't get anything better!
+
+The King (lifting his glass to FLINK). Your health, (They all drink, and
+then seat themselves.) What part the country were you in last?
+
+Flink. I have just been shooting with our friend here.
+
+The King. So he is your friend? He is mine, too! My best friend, ever
+since I was a boy. (He stretches out his hand; GRAN gets up and grasps
+it in both of his.)
+
+Koll (to FLINK, who is looking astonished). Mr. Speranza was a naval
+cadet at the same time as Gran.
+
+Flink. Really! Were they on the same ship?
+
+The King. Yes, we were on a cruise round the world together--
+
+Flink. Do you mean the time when the Prince went on account of his
+lungs?--the present King, I mean?
+
+The King. The Prince that afterwards became King--yes.
+
+Flink. There is quite a royal flavour about our little gathering, then!
+Here is the King's shipmate, and here is his tutor in jurisprudence--
+
+Koll. You are forgetting yourself! You are the King's tutor's tutor, you
+know--
+
+The King. Were you Koll's tutor? Really?
+
+Flink (with a laugh). Yes, I had that misfortune!
+
+The King. You hadn't so great a misfortune in your pupil as he had in
+his!
+
+Koll. The King was a very apt pupil.
+
+Flink (jestingly). He has shown traces of it in his reign, hasn't he!
+
+Koll. Don't speak ill of the King, please.
+
+Flink (ironically). Heaven forbid! (Takes a pinch of snuff.) I know
+all about his talent--his great talent, his genial talent! (Offers his
+snuff-box to the KING.)
+
+Gran. But it was public opinion we were talking about, Flink; is it very
+much like what we heard to-day?
+
+Flink. I wouldn't say that; your opinions are rather advanced in these
+parts.
+
+The King. Is the tendency republican, rather than monarchical?
+
+Flink. That depends how you look at it. The King has just been paying
+some visits in the country districts; he is, so to speak, the commercial
+traveller for his firm--as all kings and crown princes are. Of course he
+was cheered everywhere. But go and ask the agricultural classes if
+they set great store by the pomp and circumstance of royalty; they will
+unanimously answer: "It costs an infernal lot to keep up!" Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Gran. Your farmer is a realist.
+
+Flink. A brutal realist! Ha, ha, ha! Self-government is cheaper. He has
+it all at his fingers' ends, the scoundrel!
+
+The King. He is not a republican by conviction, then
+
+Flink. Not universally, no. At least, not _yet_. But things are moving
+that way; and our reactionary government is helping the movement--that,
+and the letter they get from America.
+
+The King. The letters they get from America?
+
+Koll. Letters from their relations in America.
+
+Gran. There is scarcely a family in the country now that has not
+relations in America.
+
+The King. And they write home about self-government?--about republican
+principles?
+
+Flink. And republican institutions. That is the situation!
+
+The King. Have you read any of these letters?
+
+Flink. Lots!
+
+The King. This is excellent champagne! (Drinks.)
+
+Gran. Let me fill your glasses. (They all drink.)
+
+Flink. It doesn't really agree with me.
+
+The King. But suppose the King were to establish democratic government?
+Suppose he were to live like an ordinary citizen in every way?
+
+Flink. In every way? What do you mean by that?
+
+The King. Kept house like an ordinary citizen--were married like an
+ordinary citizen--were to be found in his office at regular hours like
+any other official?
+
+Gran. And had no court, I suppose?
+
+The King. No. (KOLL and GRAN exchange glances.)
+
+Flink (shrugging his shoulders). It would be the last sensation left for
+him to try.
+
+The King (who did not observe his shrug, eagerly). That is so, isn't it?
+You agree with me as to that? I am delighted to have had this talk with
+you, Mr. Flink.
+
+Flink. The same to you, Mr.--Mr.--. (In an undertone, to KOLL.) Is he a
+republican?
+
+The King (who has overheard him). Am I a republican? I have had too
+much experience not to be! Ha, ha! (Takes up his glass.) Devilish good
+champagne, this!
+
+Flink (drinking). But, you know, Mr.--Mr. Republican--ha, ha!--(smiles
+and whispers)--the King simply would not be allowed to do what you
+suggest. Ha, ha!
+
+The King. What do you mean?
+
+Gran (aside to KOLL, who gets up). Are you sure this is right?
+
+Koll. It will do him good, anyway, to hear all sides.
+
+Flink (who has got up and gone to the table on the other side to get a
+pipe). He simply would not be allowed to, poor chap! What is monarchy,
+I ask you? Nothing more or less than an insurance business in which
+a whole crew of priests, officials, noblemen, landed proprietors,
+merchants and military men hold shares? And, goodness knows, _they_ are
+not going to give their director leave to commit any such folly! Ha, ha,
+ha!
+
+The King (getting up). Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Flink (vociferously, to him). Don't you think that is true?
+
+The King. Good Lord!--perfectly true! Ha, ha ha!
+
+Flink (who has cleaned and filled a pipe, but forgotten to light it,
+going up to the KING). And what do they insure themselves again,
+these beauties? (More seriously.) Against the great mass of the
+people--against _his_ people! (The KING looks at him and makes a
+movement of dislike.)
+
+Gran. Look here, Flink; suppose we go out into the garden for a little?
+These spring evenings are so lovely.
+
+Flink. Compared to a political talk, the loveliest spring evenings have
+no attraction for me--no more than warm water, offered me in place of
+fine cooling wine, would have. No, let us stay where we are. What is the
+matter with this pipe? (ANNA signs that she will put it right for him,
+but he does not understand.)
+
+Gran. Give her your pipe; she will put it right.
+
+Koll. What I have always said is that, if the King had an opportunity of
+understanding the situation, he would interfere.
+
+Flink. The King? He doesn't care a brass farthing about the whole
+matter! He has something else to do! Ha, ha!
+
+The King. Ha, ha, ha!
+
+Koll. The King is an unusually gifted man; he would not remain
+indifferent in the long run.
+
+Flink. He has so many unusual gifts that have gone to the devil--!
+
+The King. Tralalla! Tralalalalala! Tralala! It feels quite odd to be
+with you fellows again! (Drinks.)
+
+Flink (in an undertone, to GRAN). Is he drunk?
+
+The King (sitting down). Give me a cigar--! And let us discuss the
+matter a little more seriously. (KOLL and GRAN sit down.)
+
+Gran. As a matter of fact, it is not a thing that can be discussed.
+It must be tried. If, one day, the King were to say: "I mean to live
+a natural life among my people, and to withdraw my name from the
+old-established royal firm, which has lost all its reputation for
+honesty"--that day everything else would follow of itself.
+
+Flink. Yes, that day, I dare say!
+
+Gran. Remember you are the guest of a man who is a friend of the King's!
+
+The King. Don't play the domestic despot--you who are a republican! Let
+us have free discussion!
+
+Flink. I certainly don't intend to insult the King. He has never done me
+any harm. But surely you will allow me to doubt whether he is really the
+shining light you make him out to be?
+
+The King. That is true enough!
+
+Flink (eagerly). You agree with me as to that, then?
+
+The King. Absolutely! But--leaving him out of the question--suppose we
+_had_ a king who made himself independent of others, and, as a necessary
+consequence, rose superior to questions of party--?
+
+Flink (interrupting him). It is a vain supposition, my dear fellow! A
+king bound to no party? (Puffs at his pipe.) It wouldn't work!
+(Puffs again.) It wouldn't work!--It wouldn't work!--Falsehood is the
+foundation of constitutional monarchy. A king superior to questions of
+party? Rubbish!
+
+Gran. It would be expecting something superhuman of him, too.
+
+Flink. Of course it would!
+
+The King. But the president of a republic is even less independent of
+party, isn't he?
+
+Flink (turning to hint). He doesn't make any pretence that he isn't.
+Haha! That's the difference! (Comes forward, repeating to himself.) It
+is the falsehood that makes the difference.
+
+Koll. Oh, there are falsehoods enough in republics too, unfortunately!
+
+Flink. I know; but they are not old-established institutions! Ha, ha!
+
+The King. That is an idea you have got from Professor Ernst's writings.
+
+Flink (eagerly). Have you read them?
+
+The King. I have scarcely read anything else for the last few months.
+(KOLL and GRAN exchange glances.)
+
+Flink. Indeed?--Then there is no need for me to say anything more.
+
+Koll. But, after all this talk, we have got no further. Our friend
+(pointing to the KING) wants to know, I think, whether a real, serious
+attempt at what one might call "democratic monarchy" could not reckon on
+being understood and supported--
+
+The King (breaking in, eagerly). Yes, that's just it!
+
+Koll.--understood and supported by the most enlightened section of the
+people, who are weary of falsehood and long for a generous but secure
+measure of self-government.
+
+The King. That's just it!
+
+Flink (who was just going to sit down, jumps up again, lays down
+his pipe and stands with arms akimbo, as he says:) But what sort of
+ridiculous ideas are these? Aren't you republicans, then?
+
+Koll. I am not.
+
+Gran. I am; but that does not prevent my being of opinion that the
+change of government should be made gradually and gently--
+
+Flink. That would be treason!
+
+Gran. Treason!
+
+Flink. Treason against the truth--against our convictions!
+
+Koll. Don't let us use big words! Monarchy is strongly rooted in the
+existing order of things.
+
+Flink (with a laugh). In the insurance company!
+
+Koll. Well, call it so if you like. It _exists_; that is the point. And,
+since it exists, we must make it as honest and as serviceable as we can.
+
+The King. Your health, Koll! (Drinks to him.)
+
+Flink (moving away from them). No true republican would agree with you.
+
+Gran. You are wrong there. (FLINK gives a start of surprise.)
+
+The King (who has seen FLINK's surprise, gets up). Listen to me! Suppose
+we had a king who said: "Either you help me to establish a democratic
+monarchy--purged of all traces of absolutism, purged of falsehood--or
+else I abdicate--"
+
+Flink. Bah!
+
+The King. I only say, "suppose"! You know quite well that the cousin of
+the present king, the heir apparent, is a bigoted--
+
+Koll (who has been exchanging glances with GRAN while the KING was
+speaking, breaks in hurriedly). Don't go on!
+
+The King (with a laugh). I won't!--And his mother, who rules him--
+
+Flink.--is even worse!
+
+The King. What would be your choice, then? Would you help the king to
+establish a democratic monarchy or--?
+
+Flink (impetuously). I would ten thousand times rather have the bigoted
+prince, with all his own and his mother's follies!--the madder the
+better!
+
+Gran. No, no, no, no!
+
+The King (to GRAN and KOLL). We see his true colours now! (Moves away
+from them.)
+
+Koll (to FLINK). That is the way you republicans always ride your
+principles to death.
+
+Gran. Patriotism ought to come before--
+
+Flink.--before truth? No; a short sharp pang of agony is better than
+endless doubt and falsehood, my friend! That is true patriotism.
+
+Koll. Oh, these theories!--these phrases!
+
+Gran. I am a republican as well as you, and, I think, as sincere a one.
+But I should have no hesitation--
+
+Flink.--in playing the traitor?
+
+Gran. Why do you use such words as that?
+
+Flink. Words! Do you think it is nothing but words? No, my friend, if
+you did what--what I did not allow you to say--I should come here one
+day to call you to account. And if you refused to fight me, I should
+shoot you like a dog!
+
+Gran (gently). You would not do that.
+
+Flink (heatedly). Not do it?--Have I given you the deepest affection of
+which my heart is capable, only for you to turn traitor to it? Am I
+to see the man whose character is the crowning achievement of my life,
+betraying our cause--and, by reason of his great personal
+prestige, dragging thousands down with him? On the head of all the
+disillusionments I have suffered, am I to have this one in the evening
+of my life--? (Stops, overcome by his emotion. A pause.) You shouldn't
+jest about such things you know. (Walks away. ANNA has placed herself in
+front of GRAN, as if to protect him.)
+
+Koll. I think we had better change the subject, and go out for a little!
+
+The King (aside, to him). Yes, get him away!
+
+Flink (in the background, as if he were addressing an invisible
+audience). We must have discipline in the ranks!
+
+Koll. Gran, ask your maid to hurry up with the supper.
+
+Gran. Yes, I will.
+
+Koll (to the KING). What do you say to a turn in the garden, meanwhile?
+
+The King. By all means!
+
+Flink (coming forward to GRAN). This friendship of yours with the
+King--to which I had attached no particular importance--I hope it has
+not altogether--(Stops short.)
+
+Gran.--not altogether corrupted me, you mean?
+
+Flink. Exactly.
+
+The King (laughing). Politically?
+
+Flink. Politics are not unconnected with morals, sir!
+
+The King. But why get so heated, sir? We know that the present King is
+a--
+
+Koll (breaking in hurriedly). Don't say any more!
+
+The King (with a laugh). You said yourself that he doesn't care a brass
+farthing about the whole matter--he has something else to do! And so the
+whole thing ends in smoke!
+
+Flink (more amiably). I dare say you are right.
+
+The King. Of course I am. You are all agreed that, under his rule,
+republican sentiments are growing in real earnest.
+
+Flink. You are right! He couldn't help things on better if he were a
+republican himself, I assure you!
+
+The King. Perhaps he _is_ a republican?
+
+Flink (animatedly). Perhaps he _is_! Splendid! And works against his own
+interests--!
+
+The King. A sort of commercial traveller working for the downfall of his
+own firm!
+
+Flink (excitedly). For the downfall of his own firm! Splendid! Props
+up his reactionary rule by means of royal pronouncements, confidential
+communications, public speeches--
+
+The King.--in a suicidal manner!
+
+Flink. Splendidly suicidal! Ah, that makes you laugh, does it?
+
+Koll. Hush, some one might hear us!
+
+Flink. I don't care who hears us! (The KING bursts out laughing.) But
+you ought, as one of the King's officials, to stop _his_ laughing!
+(Points to the KING.) It's shocking!--It's high treason!
+
+Koll. Listen to me!
+
+Flink. You ought to arrest him for laughing like that! Suppose the
+King--
+
+Gran. That _is_ the King! (The KING goes on laughing. FLINK looks from
+him to the others, and from the others to him.)
+
+The King. This is too much for me! (Sits down. FLINK rushes out.)
+
+Koll. That was very bad of you.
+
+The King. I know it was; but forgive me! I couldn't help it! Ha, ha, ha,
+ha, ha!
+
+Koll. For all his queer ways, he is too good a fellow to be made a fool
+of.
+
+The King. Yes, scold me; I deserve it. But, all the same--ha, ha, ha,
+ha!
+
+Gran. Hush!--he is coming back. (The KING gets up as FLINK comes in
+again.)
+
+Flink. Your Majesty may be assured that I would never have expressed
+myself as I did in your Majesty's presence if I had been fairly treated
+and told whom I was addressing.
+
+The King. I know. The fault is mine alone.
+
+Flink. The fault is that of others--my so-called friends.
+
+The King (earnestly). By no means! It is mine--mine alone. I have had a
+scolding for it!--And in your presence I ask my friends' pardon; I have
+put them in a false position. And, in the next place, I ask for your
+forgiveness. My sense of humour got the better of me. (Laughs again.)
+
+Flink. Yes, it was extremely amusing.
+
+The King. It really was! And, after all, what have you to complain of?
+You had an opportunity of speaking your mind, any way!
+
+Flink. I certainly did!
+
+The King. Very well, then!--And when you wanted to show any respect, _I_
+prevented you. So I think we are quits.
+
+Flink. No, we are not.
+
+The King (impatiently). Indeed?--What do you want from me, then?
+
+Flink (proudly). Nothing!
+
+The King. I beg your pardon! I did not mean to offend you.
+
+Flink. You have done so to a degree that you are naturally incapable of
+appreciating. (Goes out.)
+
+The King. This is a nice business! (Laughs. Then notices GRAN, who is
+standing at his desk with his back to the KING, and goes up to him.) You
+are angry with me.
+
+Gran (looking up slowly). Yes.
+
+The King. Why didn't you stop me?
+
+Gran. It all happened too quickly. But to think that you could have the
+heart to do it--in my own house--to a man who was my father's oldest
+friend, and is mine--!
+
+The King. Harald! (Puts his arm round his shoulders.) Have I ever asked
+you for anything that you have not given me?
+
+Gran. No.
+
+The King. Then I ask you now to admit that you know that, if I had
+thought this would hurt you, I would never have done it--not for worlds!
+Do you still believe as well of me as that?
+
+Gran. Yes.
+
+The King. Thank you. Then I will admit to you, in return, that for
+months past I have lived in a state of horrible tension of mind; and
+that is why I jump too easily from one extreme to the other. So, my
+friends, you must forgive me! Or finish my scolding some other time!
+Because now I must talk to you of the matter which induced me to come
+here. You are the only ones I can turn to; so be good to me!--Shall we
+sit down again?
+
+Koll. As you please.
+
+The King (moving towards the table). I know you both want to ask me the
+same question: why I have never come before now. My answer is: because
+I have only now arrived at a clear conception of my own position. Some
+months ago some hard words that were used to me lit a fire in my heart
+and burnt out a heap of rubbish that had collected there. (ANNA fills
+their glasses.) Won't you send that girl away?
+
+Gran. She is deaf and dumb.
+
+The King. Poor girl! (Sits down.) When I came back from my cruise round
+the world, the old king was dead. My father had come to the throne, and
+I was crown prince, and I went with my father to the cathedral to attend
+a thanksgiving service for my safe return.
+
+Gran. I was there.
+
+The King. The whole thing was a novelty to me, and a solemn one. I was
+overcome with emotion. Seeing that, my father whispered to me: "Come
+farther forward, my boy! The people must see their future king praying."
+That finished it! I was not born to be a king; my soul was still too
+unsullied, and I spurned such falsehood with the deepest loathing. Just
+think of it!--to come back from three years at sea, and begin my life in
+that way--as if perpetually in front of a mirror! I won't dwell on it.
+But when my father died and I became king, I had become so accustomed to
+the atmosphere of falsehood I lived in that I no longer recognised
+truth when I saw it. The constitution prescribed my religion for me--and
+naturally I had none. And it was the same with everything--one thing
+after another! What else could you expect? The only tutor I valued--you,
+Koll--had been dismissed; they considered you to be too freethinking.
+
+Koll (smilingly). Oh, yes!
+
+The King. The only real friend that dated from my happier days--you,
+Harald, had been sent to the right about; you were a republican. It was
+while I was in despair over that loss that I fell really in love for the
+first time--with your sister, Harald. Banishment, again. What then?
+Why, then the craving that every healthy youth feels--the desire for
+love--was turned into dissolute channels. (Drinks.)
+
+Gran. I understand, well enough.
+
+The King. Well, put all those things together. That was what my life
+was--until just lately. Because lately something happened, my dear
+friends. And now you must help me! Because, to make a long story short,
+either I mean to be the chief official in my country in a peaceful,
+citizenlike, genuine way, or--as God is above me--I will no longer be
+king! (Gets up, and the others do so.)
+
+Koll. Ah, we have got it at last!
+
+The King. Do you think I don't know that our republican friend there
+spoke what is every thoughtful man's verdict upon me? (They are silent.)
+But how could I possibly undertake my task, as long as I believed
+everything to be make-believe and falsehood, without exception? Now I
+know the root of the falsehood! It is in our institutions; he was quite
+right. And one kind of falsehood begets another. You cannot imagine how
+ludicrous it appeared to me--who up till then had led such a sinful,
+miserable existence--when I saw honourable men pretending that I was a
+being of some superior mould! I! (Walks up and down, then stops.) It is
+the state--our institutions--that demand this falsehood both on their
+part and on mine. And that for the security and happiness of the
+country! (Moves about restlessly.) From the time I became crown prince
+they kept from me everything that might have instilled truth into
+me--friendship, love, religion, a vocation--for my vocation is quite
+another one; and it was all done in the name of my country! And now
+that I am king, they take away all responsibility from me as well--all
+responsibility for my own acts--the system demands it! Instead of an
+individual, what sort of a contemptible creature do they make of me! The
+kingly power, too?--that is in the hands of the people's representatives
+and the government. I don't complain of that; but what I do complain of
+is that they should pretend that _I_ have it, and that everything should
+be done in _my_ name; that I should be the recipient of petitions,
+cheers, acclamations, obeisances--as if the whole power and
+responsibility were centred in _my_ person! In me--from whom, in the
+interests of all, they have taken away everything! Is that not a pitiful
+and ludicrous falsehood? And, to make it credible, they endow me into
+the bargain with a halo of sanctity! "The King is sacred;" "Our Most
+Gracious Sovereign," "Your Majesty!" It becomes almost blasphemous!
+
+Gran. Quite true.
+
+The King. No, if that cannot be done away with, I can do away with
+myself. But it must be possible to do away with it! It cannot be
+necessary for a people, who are marching on the eternal path towards
+truth, to have a lie marching at the head of them!
+
+Koll. No, it is not necessary.
+
+The King (eagerly). And that is what you will help me to show them.
+
+Koll. I have no objection! There is life in the country yet!
+
+The King (to Gran). And you, my friend? Are you afraid of being shot by
+a mad republican if you help me?
+
+Gran. I am not particularly afraid of death, any way. But the maid is
+telling us that supper is served.
+
+The King. Yes, let us have supper!
+
+Koll. And then, to our task!
+
+Curtain
+
+
+
+
+ACT II
+
+(SCENE.--A park with old lofty trees. In the foreground, to the right,
+an arbour with a seat. The KING is sitting, talking to BANG, who is a
+man of gross corpulence.)
+
+Bang. And I felt so well in every way that, I assure your Majesty, I
+used to feel it a pleasure to be alive.
+
+The King (drawing patterns in the dust with his walking stick). I can
+quite believe it.
+
+Bang. And then I was attacked by this pain in my heart and this
+difficulty in breathing. I run round and round this park, on an empty
+stomach, till I am absolutely exhausted.
+
+The King (absently). Couldn't you drive round, then?
+
+Bang. Drive?--But it is the exercise, your Majesty, that--
+
+The King. Of course. I was thinking of something else.
+
+Bang. I would not mind betting that I know what your Majesty was
+thinking of--if I may say so without impertinence.
+
+The King. What was it, then?
+
+Bang. Your Majesty was thinking of the socialists!
+
+The King. Of the--?
+
+Bang. The socialists!
+
+The King (looking amused). Why particularly of them?
+
+Bang. I was right, you see! Ha, ha, ha! (His laughter brings on a
+violent fit of coughing.) Your Majesty must excuse me; laughing always
+brings on my cough.--But, you know, the papers this morning are full of
+their goings on!
+
+The King. I have not read the paper.
+
+Bang. Then I can assure your Majesty that the way they are going on is
+dreadful. And just when we were all getting on so comfortably! What in
+the world do they want?
+
+The King. Probably they want to get on comfortably too.
+
+Bang. Aren't they well off as it is, the beasts? Excuse me, your
+Majesty, for losing my temper in your Majesty's presence.
+
+The King. Don't mention it.
+
+Bang. You are very good. These strikes, too--what is the object of them?
+To make every one poor? Every one can't be rich. However, I pin my faith
+to a strong monarchy. Your Majesty is the padlock on my cash-box!
+
+The King. I am what?
+
+Bang. The padlock on my cash-box! A figure of speech I ventured to apply
+to your Majesty.
+
+The King. I am much obliged!
+
+Bang. Heaven help us if the liberals come into power; their aim is to
+weaken the monarchy.
+
+(A BEGGAR BOY comes up to them.)
+
+Beggar Boy. Please, kind gentlemen, spare a penny! I've had nothing to
+eat to-day!
+
+Bang (taking no notice of him). Aren't there whispers of the sort about?
+But of course it can't be true.
+
+Beggar Boy (pertinaciously). Please, kind gentlemen, spare a penny! I've
+had nothing to eat to-day.
+
+Bang. You have no right to beg.
+
+The King. You have only the right to starve, my boy! Here! (Gives him
+a gold coin. The BEGGAR Boy backs away from him, staring at him, and
+gripping the coin in his fist.)
+
+Bang. He never even thanked you! Probably the son of a socialist!--I
+would never have opened this park to every one in the way your Majesty
+has done.
+
+The King. It saves the work-people a quarter of am hour if they can go
+through it to get to their work.
+
+(The GENERAL appears, driving the BEGGAR BOY before him with his stick.)
+
+The General (to the BEGGAR). A gentleman sitting on a seat gave it you?
+Point him out to me, then!
+
+Bang (getting up). Good morning, your Majesty!
+
+The King. Good morning! (Looks at his watch.)
+
+The General. That gentleman, do you say?
+
+The King (looking up). What is it?
+
+The General. Your Majesty? Allow me to welcome you back!
+
+The King. Thank you.
+
+The General. Excuse me, sir; but I saw this fellow with a gold coin in
+his hand, and stopped him. He says your Majesty gave it to him--?
+
+The King. It is quite true.
+
+The General. Oh--of course that alters the case! (To the BEGGAR.) It is
+the King. Have you thanked him? (The boy stands still, staring at the
+KING.)
+
+The King. Are you taking a morning walk on an empty stomach because of a
+weak heart, too?
+
+The General. Because of my stomach, sir--because of my stomach! It has
+struck work!
+
+The Beggar Boy. Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho! (Runs away.)
+
+The General. I am astonished at your Majesty's having thrown this park
+open to every one.
+
+The King. It saves the work-people a quarter of an hour if they can
+go through it to get to their work.--Well, General, it seems you have
+become religious all of a sudden?
+
+The General. Ha, ha, ha! Your Majesty has read my Order of the Day,
+then?
+
+The King. Yes.
+
+The General (confidentially). Well, sir, you see things couldn't go on
+any longer as they were. (Whispers.) Debauchery in the ranks! I won't
+say anything about the officers; but when the men take to such courses
+openly--!
+
+The King. Oho!
+
+The General. My brother the bishop and I, between us, composed an Order
+of the Day on the subject of the necessity of religion--religion as the
+basis of discipline.
+
+The King. As a matter of fact the bishop was the first person I met here
+to-day.--Is he suffering from a disordered stomach, too?
+
+The General. More so than any of us, Sir! Ha, ha, ha! (The KING motions
+to him to sit down.) Thank you, Sir.--But, apart from that, I have had
+it in my mind for some time that in these troublous days there ought to
+be a closer co-operation between the Army and the Church--
+
+The King. In the matter of digestion, do you mean?
+
+The General. Ha, ha, ha!--But seriously, Sir, the time is approaching
+when such a co-operation will be the only safeguard of the throne.
+
+The King. Indeed?
+
+The General (hurriedly). That is to say, of course, the throne stands
+firm by itself--God forbid I should hint otherwise! But what I mean is
+that it is the Army ants the Church that must supply the monarchy with
+the necessary splendour and authority--
+
+The King. I suppose, then, that the monarchy has no longer any of its
+own?
+
+The General (jumping up). Heaven forbid that I should say such a thing!
+I would give my life in support of the monarchy!
+
+The King. You will have to die some day, unfortunately (Laughs as he
+gets up.) Who is that coming this way?
+
+The General (putting up his eyeglass). That? It is the Princess and
+Countess L'Estoque, Sir.
+
+The King. Is the Princess suffering from indigestion too?
+
+The General (confidentially). I fancy your Majesty knows best what the
+Princess is suffering from. (The KING moves away from him.) I made a
+mess of that! It comes of my trying to be too clever.--He is walking
+towards her. Perhaps there is something in it, after all? I must tell
+Falbe about it. (Turns to go.) Confound it, he saw that I was watching
+them! (Goes out. The KING returns to the arbour with the PRINCESS on his
+arm. The COUNTESS and one of the royal servants are seen crossing the
+park in the background.)
+
+The Princess. This is a most surprising meeting! When did your Majesty
+return?
+
+The King. Last night.--You look very charming, Princess! Such blushing
+cheeks!--and so early in the morning!
+
+The Princess. I suppose you think it is rouge?--No, Sir, it is nothing
+but pleasure at meeting you.
+
+The King. Flatterer! And I went pale at the sight of you.
+
+The Princess. Perhaps your conscience--?
+
+The King. I am sorry to say my conscience had nothing to do with it. But
+this morning I have been meeting so many people that are suffering from
+indigestion that, when I saw your Highness walking quickly along--
+
+The Princess. Make your mind easy! My reason for my morning walk is to
+keep my fat down. Later in the day I ride--for the same reason. I live
+for nothing else now.
+
+The King. It is a sacred vocation!
+
+The Princess. Because it is a royal one?
+
+The King. Do you attribute your sanctity to me? Wicked Princess!
+
+The Princess. Both my sanctity and any good fortune I enjoy. It
+is nothing but my relationship to your Majesty that induces the
+tradespeople to give me unlimited credit.
+
+The King. You don't feel any awkwardness about it, then?
+
+The Princess. Not a bit! The good folk have to maintain many worse
+parasites than me!--By the way, talking of parasites, is it true that
+you have pensioned off all your lords-in-waiting and their hangers-on?
+
+The King. Yes.
+
+The Princess. Ha, ha, ha! But why did you make the special stipulation
+that they should live in Switzerland?
+
+The King. Because there is no court in Switzerland, and--
+
+The Princess. And so they could not fall into temptation again! I have
+had many a good laugh at the thought of it. But it has its serious side
+too, you know; because your Majesty cannot dispense with a court.
+
+The King. Why not?
+
+The Princess. Well, suppose some day you are "joined in the bonds of
+holy matrimony," as the parsons so beautifully put it?
+
+The King. If I were, it would be for the sake of knowing what family
+life is.
+
+The Princess. Like any other citizen?
+
+The King. Precisely.
+
+The Princess. Are you going to keep no servants?
+
+The King. As many as are necessary--but no more.
+
+The Princess. Then I must secure a place as chambermaid in your
+Majesty's household as soon as possible. Because if my financial
+circumstances are inquired into there will be nothing else left for me
+but that!
+
+The King. You have too sacred a vocation for that, Princess!
+
+The Princess. How pretty! Your Majesty is a poet, and poets are allowed
+to be enthusiastic about ideals. But the people are poets too, in their
+way; they like their figure-head to be well gilded, and don't mind
+paying for it. That is their poetry.
+
+The King. Are you certain of that?
+
+The Princess. Absolutely certain! It is a point of honour with them.
+
+The King. Then I have to weigh my honour against theirs! And my honour
+forbids me--for the honour of my people and their poetry--to keep up my
+palaces, my guards, and my court any longer! _Voilà tout_!
+
+The Princess. My dear King, certain positions carry with them certain
+duties!
+
+The King. Then I know higher duties than those!--But, Princess, here are
+we two seriously discussing--
+
+The Princess. Yes, but there is something at the bottom of it that is
+not to be laughed away. All tradition and all experience proclaim it to
+be the truth that a king--the kingly majesty--should be a dignity apart;
+and should be the ultimate source of law, surrounded with pomp and
+circumstance, and secure behind the fortified walls of wealth, rank,
+and hereditary nobility. If he steps out of that magic circle, the law's
+authority is weakened.
+
+The King. Has your Royal Highness breakfasted yet?
+
+The Princess. No. (Bursts out laughing.)
+
+The King. Because, if you had, I should have had great pleasure is
+giving you a lesson in history; but on an empty stomach that would be
+cruel.
+
+The Princess. Do you know--you used to be such an entertaining king, but
+this last year you have become so tedious!
+
+The King. Most beautiful of princesses! Do you really mean to say that
+I rise and fall in your estimation according as I have my pretty royal
+gew-gaws on or not?
+
+The Princess. In my estimation?
+
+The King. Or in any one's? You know the story of "The Emperor's New
+Clothes"?
+
+The Princess. Yes.
+
+The King. We don't keep up that pretence any longer.
+
+The Princess. But will every one understand?
+
+The King. You understand, don't you?
+
+The Princess. The people or I--that is all the same, I suppose! You are
+very flattering.
+
+The King. Heaven forbid that I should lump your Royal Highness together
+with the common herd; but--
+
+The Princess. We have already had proof of the fact that your Majesty
+does not hold the same place in _every one's_ estimation that you do in
+mine, at all events!
+
+The King. If I occupy a place of honour in your Royal Highness's heart,
+your Royal Highness may be certain that--
+
+The Princess. I will interrupt you to save you from speaking an untruth!
+Because the way to attain to a place of honour in your Majesty's heart
+is not to admire you as I do, but, on the contrary, to shout out: "I
+despise you!"--Au revoir!
+
+The King. You wicked, terrifying, dangerous--
+
+The Princess.--omniscient and ubiquitous Princess! (Makes a deep
+curtsey, and goes away.)
+
+The King (calling after her). In spite of everything, my heart goes with
+you--
+
+The Princess.--to show me the door! I know all about that! (To the
+COUNTESS.) Come, Countess! (Goes out. FALBE, an old gentleman in
+civilian dress, has come in from the side to which the KING'S back is
+turned.)
+
+The King. How the devil did she--?
+
+Falbe (coming up behind him). Your Majesty!
+
+The King (turning quickly). Ah, there you are!
+
+Falbe. Yes, sir--we have been walking about in the park for some time;
+your Majesty was engaged.
+
+The King. Not engaged--I was only deadening thoughts by gossiping. My
+anxiety was too much for me. So they have come?--both of them?
+
+Falbe. Both of them.
+
+The King. Can I believe it! (Appears overcome.) But--you must wait a
+moment! I can't, just at this moment--. I don't know what has come over
+me!
+
+Falbe. Are you unwell, sir? You look so pale.
+
+The King My nerves are not what they should be. Is there any water near
+here?
+
+Falbe (pointing, in astonishment). Why, there is the fountain, Sir!
+
+The King. Of course! Of course!--I don't seem able to collect my
+thoughts. And my mouth is as dry as--. Look here, I am going that way
+(points); and then you can--you can bring the ladies here.--She is here!
+She is here! (Goes out to the left, and turns round as he goes.) Don't
+forget to lock the gates of the inner park!
+
+Falbe. Of course not, Sir. (Goes out to the right, and returns bringing
+in the BARONESS MARC and CLARA.) His Majesty will be here in a moment.
+(Goes out to the right.)
+
+Clara. You must stay near enough for me to be able to call you.
+
+Baroness. Of course, my dear. Compose yourself; nothing can happen.
+
+Clara. I am so frightened.
+
+Baroness. Here is the King! (The KING comes in and bows to them.)
+
+The King. Excuse me, ladies, for having kept you waiting. I am very
+grateful to you both for coming.
+
+Baroness. We only came upon your Majesty's solemn promise--
+
+The King.--which shall be inviolable.
+
+Baroness. I understand that you wish to speak to Miss Ernst alone?
+
+The King. Your ladyship need only go up to the top of that little slope.
+(Points.) I can recommend the view from there.
+
+Baroness. The interview will not be a long one, I suppose?
+
+The King. If it is, I give your ladyship permission to come and
+interrupt us. (The BARONESS goes out. The KING turns to CLARA.) May I be
+permitted to thank you again--you especially--for having been so good as
+to grant me this interview?
+
+Clara. It will be the only one.
+
+The King. I know that. You have not condescended to answer one of my
+letters--
+
+Clara. I have not read them.
+
+The King.--so there was nothing left for me but to address myself to the
+Baroness. She was _obliged_ to listen to me, Miss Ernst.
+
+Clara (trembling). What has your Majesty to say to me?
+
+The King. Indeed, I can't tell it you in a single sentence. Won't you
+sit down? (CLARA remains standing.) You must not be afraid of me. I mean
+you no harm; I never could mean you any harm.
+
+Clara (in tears). Then what do you call the persecution that I have
+endured for more than a year?
+
+The King. If you had condescended to read a single one of my long and
+many letters you would have known I call it a passion that is stronger
+than--. (CLARA turns to go. The KING continues anxiously.) No, Miss
+Ernst, by everything you hold dear, I beg you not to leave me!
+
+Clara. Then you must not insult me!
+
+The King. If that is an insult your terms are very hard.
+
+Clara. Hard? No, but what you have done to me is hard! (Bursts into
+tears.)
+
+The King. Don't cry, Miss Ernst! You don't know how you hurt me!
+
+Clara (angrily). Do you know what it means to try and ruin a young
+girl's reputation?
+
+The King. I repeat that you are doing me an injustice
+
+Clara. An injustice?--Good God! Do you know who I am?
+
+The King (taking of his hat respectfully). You are the woman I love.
+
+Clara (quietly and with dignity). Your Majesty has solemnly promised not
+to insult me.
+
+The King. As sure as there is a heaven above us I will not, and could
+not, insult you! But I will obey your wishes.
+
+Clara. When a king says such a thing as--as you did just now, to a poor
+little governess, it is more than an insult! It is so cowardly, so base!
+And to think that you could have the heart to do it after what you have
+done to my father!
+
+The King. Your father?--I?
+
+Clara. Do you really not know who I am?
+
+The King I don't understand--
+
+Clara. Whose daughter I am, I mean?
+
+The King. I only know that your father's name is Ernst. (Suddenly.)
+Surely your father is not--?
+
+Clara. Professor Ernst.
+
+The King. The republican?
+
+Clara (slowly). Yes. (A pause.) I may remind your Majesty that he was
+sentenced for high treason. And why? Because he warned the young men at
+the university against the bad example set by the King! (A pause.)
+He was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. In escaping from
+his prison he broke both his legs; and now he lives in exile--a
+cripple--supported by what money I am able to earn. (A pause.) You have
+ruined his life--and now you are trying to ruin mine too!
+
+The King. I beg of you--!
+
+Clara. I am ashamed of my tears. It is not compassion for myself or for
+my father that makes them flow; it is the heartless injustice of it all
+that overcomes me.
+
+The King. God knows, if only I could atone for the injustice--! But what
+can I do?
+
+Clara. You can let me alone, so that I may do my work in peace; that is
+what you can do! Neither he nor I ask for more than that--of you!
+
+The King. I must do more than that!
+
+Clara. No! Can you not understand that a girl who is persecuted by the
+king's attentions cannot be a governess? All you will achieve will be to
+rob me and my father of our bread!--Oh, God!
+
+The King. But my intention is not to--
+
+Clara (interrupting him). And you are not even man enough to be ashamed
+of yourself!
+
+The King. Yes, you may say what you please to me!
+
+Clara. I have nothing more to say to you. I have said what I have to
+say. (Turns to go.)
+
+The King. No, don't go! You have not even heard me yet. You don't even
+know what I want to beg of you!
+
+Clara. My dishonour.
+
+The King (vehemently). You misunderstand me utterly! If you had only
+read a single one of my letters you would have known that there is
+standing before you a man whom you have humbled. Ah, don't look so
+incredulous! It is true, if there is any truth in anything. You don't
+believe me? (Despairingly.) How am I to--! A man who has risked your
+contempt for more than a year, and has been faithful to you without even
+being allowed to see you or exchange a word with you--who has had no
+thought for anything or any one else--is not likely to be doing that out
+of mere idleness of heart! Do you not believe that, either?
+
+Clara. No.
+
+The King. Well, then, there must surely be some general truths that you,
+as Ernst's daughter, cannot refuse to believe! Let me ask you if you can
+understand how a man becomes what I was at the time when I repeatedly
+insulted you. You must know, from your father's books, in what an
+unnatural atmosphere a king is brought up, the soul-destroying sense of
+self-importance which all his surroundings foster, until, even in
+his dreams, he thinks himself something more than human; the doubtful
+channels into which his thoughts are forced, while any virtues that he
+has are trumpeted abroad, and his vices glossed over with tactful and
+humorous tolerance. Don't you think that a young king, full of eager
+life, as I was, may plead something in excuse of himself that no other
+man can?
+
+Clara. Yes, I admit that.
+
+The King. Then you must admit that the very position he has to assume as
+a constitutional monarch is an acted lie. Think what a king's vocation
+is; _can_ a vocation of that sort be hereditary? Can the finest and
+noblest vocation in the world be that?
+
+Clara. No!
+
+The King. Then suppose that he realises that himself; suppose that the
+young king is conscious, however dimly and partially, of the lie he is
+living--and suppose that, to escape from it, he rushes into a life of
+pleasure. Is it not conceivable that he may have some good in him, for
+all that? And then suppose that one morning, after a night of revelling,
+the sun shines into his room; and he seems to see upon the wall, in
+letters of fire, some words that were said to him the night before--true
+words (CLARA looks up at him in surprise)--the words: "I despise you!"
+(CLARA gives a start.) Words like that can burn out falsehood. And he,
+to whom they are said, may long to hear again the tones of the voice
+that spoke them. No man has ever hated what has given him new life. If
+you had read a single one of the letters which I felt impelled to write
+even if they were refused acceptance--you would not have called it
+persecution. (CLARA does not answer.) And, as for my persecution of your
+father--I am not going to make any excuses for myself; I will only
+ask you to remember that a king has no control over the law and its
+judgments. I feel the sincerest respect for your father.
+
+Clara. Thank you.
+
+The King. And it is just part of the falsehood I was speaking of, that
+he should be condemned for saying of me what I have said a thousand
+times of myself!
+
+Clara (softly). Dare I believe that?
+
+The King. Ah, if only you had read one of my letters! Or even the little
+book of poems I sent you last! I thought that, if you would not receive
+my letters, perhaps a book--
+
+Clara. I do not accept anonymous gifts.
+
+The King. I see you are on your guard--although I don't admit that the
+poems were mine! May I read it to you?
+
+Clara. I don't understand--.
+
+The King. One that I marked--for you. It will prove to you what you
+refuse to believe.
+
+Clara. But if the poem is not yours?
+
+The King. The fact that I have marked it shows that its sentiments apply
+to me. Will you let me read it to you? (CLARA looks up.) Do not be too
+much surprised, Miss Ernst! (Takes a slim volume from his pocket.) I
+found this somewhere. (Turns over the leaves.) It won't take long to
+read. May I?
+
+Clara. If only I understood--
+
+The King.--why I want to read it? Simply for the reason that you have
+forbidden me to speak to you--or to write to you; but not, as yet, to
+read to you! (CLARA smiles. A pause.) Do you know--a little event has
+just happened in my life?--and yet not such a little one, after all!
+
+Clara. What is that?
+
+The King. I have seen you smile for the first time.
+
+Clara. Your Majesty!
+
+The King. But, Miss Ernst, is it an insult, too, to see you smile?
+
+Clara (smiling). If I consent to hear the poem, shall not the Baroness--
+
+The King.--hear it also? With pleasure; but not at the same time!
+Please! Because I am a very bad reader. You can show it to the Baroness
+afterwards, if you like. (CLARA smiles.) May I?
+
+Clara. You are sure there is nothing in it that--
+
+The King. You can interrupt me, if you think fit. It is called "The
+Young Prince;" and it is about--no, I won't tell you what it is about
+unless you will be so good as to sit down, so that I can sit down
+too. If I stand up I shall be sure to begin declaiming, and I do that
+shockingly badly!--You can get up again when you like, you know! (CLARA
+smiles and sits down. The KING sits down beside her.) Now, then! "The
+Young Prince." (To himself.) I can scarcely breathe. (He begins to
+read.)
+
+ Full fed with early flattery and pride--
+
+(Breaks off.) Excuse me, Miss Ernst! I don't feel--
+
+Clara. Is your Majesty not well?
+
+The King. Quite well! It is only--. Now, then!
+
+ Full fed with early flattery and pride,
+ His sated soul was wearied all too young;
+ Honour and kingly pomp seemed naught to him
+ But whimsies from the people's folly sprung.
+
+ From such pretence he fled to what was real--
+ Fair women's arms, laughter and love and pleasure,
+ All the mad joy of life; whate'er he craved,
+ He found was given him in double measure.
+
+ Whate'er he craved--until one day a maiden
+ To whom he whispered, like a drunken sot,
+ "I'd give my life to make thee mine, my sweeting!"
+ Turned from him silently and answered not.
+
+ He sought by every means to win her to him;
+ But when his love with cold _contempt_ was met,
+ It was as if a judgment had been spoken
+ Upon his life, and doom thereon were set.
+
+ His boon companions left him; in his castles
+ None seemed to be awake but he alone,
+ Racked with remorse, enshrouded in the darkness
+ Of dull despair, yet longing to atone.
+
+ Then through the darkness she appeared! and humbly,
+ Emboldend by her gentleness of mien,
+ He sued once more: "If only thou wouldst listen!
+ If still 'twere not too late--"
+
+(His emotion overcomes him, and he stops suddenly, gets up, and walks
+away from CLARA. She gets up, as he comes back to her.) Excuse me! I had
+no intention of making a scene. But it made me think of--. (Breaks of
+again overcome by emotion, and moves a little way from her. There is a
+pause as he collects himself before returning to her.) As you can hear,
+Miss Ernst, it is nothing much of a poem--not written by a real poet,
+that is to say; a real poet would have exalted his theme, but this is a
+commonplace--
+
+Clara. Has your Majesty anything more to say to me? (A pause.)
+
+The King. If I have anything more to say to any one, it is to you.
+
+Clara. I beg your pardon.
+
+The King. No, it is I should beg yours. But I am sure you do not wish me
+to lie to you.
+
+Clara (turning her head away). No.
+
+The King. You have no confidence in me. (Control, his emotion.) Will you
+ever, I wonder, come to under stand that the only thing I crave for now
+is--one person's confidence!
+
+Clara. Any one who speaks as your Majesty has done to-day surely craves
+for more than that.
+
+The King. More than that, yes; but, first of all, one person's
+confidence.
+
+Clara (turning away). I don't understand--
+
+The King (interrupting her, with emotion). Your life has not been as
+empty and artificial as mine.
+
+Clara. But surely you have your task here to fill it with?
+
+The King. I remember reading once about the way a rock was undermined,
+and the mine filled with gunpowder with an electric wire leading to
+it. Just a slight pressure on a little button and the great rock was
+shattered into a thousand pieces. And in the same way everything is
+ready here; but the little pressure--to cause the explosion--is what I
+am waiting for!
+
+Clara. The metaphor is a little forced.
+
+The King. And yet it came into my mind as unconsciously as you broke
+off that twig just now. If I do not get what I lack, nothing can be
+accomplished--there can be no explosion! I shall abandon the whole thing
+and let myself go under.
+
+Clara. Go under?
+
+The King. Well, not like the hero of a sensational novel--not straight
+to the bottom like a stone--but like a dreamer carried off by pixies
+in a wood, with one name ever upon my lips! And the world would have to
+look after itself.
+
+Clara. But that is sheer recklessness.
+
+The King. I know it is; but I am reckless. I stake everything upon one
+throw! (A pause.)
+
+Clara. Heaven send you may win.
+
+The King. At least I am daring enough to hope that I may--and there are
+moments when I almost feel certain of victory!
+
+Clara (embarrassed). It is a lovely morning--
+
+The King.--for the time of year; yes. And it is lovelier here than it is
+anywhere else!
+
+Clara. I cannot really understand a course of action which implies a
+want of all sense of responsibility--
+
+The King. Every one has their own point of view. A scheme of life, to
+satisfy me, must have its greatest happiness hidden away at its core; in
+my case that would be to have a house of my own--all to myself, like any
+other citizen--from which I should go away to my work, and come back
+to as to a safe refuge. That is the button on the electric wire, do you
+understand? It is the little pressure on it that I am waiting for. (A
+pause.)
+
+Clara. Have you read my father's book, _Democratic Monarchy_?
+
+The King. Yes.
+
+Clara. He wrote it when I was a child; and so I may say that I grew up
+amongst ideas like--like those I have heard from you to-day. All the
+friends that came to our house used to talk to me about it.
+
+The King. Then no doubt you heard the crown prince talked about, too!
+
+Clara. I think I heard his name oftener mentioned at home than any
+one's. I believe the book was written expressly for you.
+
+The King. I can feel that when I read it. If only I had been allowed to
+read it in those days! Do you remember how in it your father maintains,
+too, that all reform depends on the beating down of the hedge that
+surrounds royalty?--on a king's becoming, as he says, "wedded to
+his people" in the fullest sense of the word, not irregularly or
+surreptitiously? No king can share his people's thoughts if he lives
+apart from them in a great palace, married to a foreign princess. There
+is no national spirit behind a complicated court life of outlandish
+ceremonial.
+
+Clara (turning away her head). You should have heard how vehemently my
+father used to assert those ideas.
+
+The King. And yet he abandoned them.
+
+Clara. Became a republican, you mean?
+
+The King. Yes.
+
+Clara. He was so disappointed. (A pause.)
+
+The King. I sometimes wonder every one isn't a republican! It must come
+to that in the end; I can see that. If only royalties nowadays thought
+seriously enough about it to realise it!
+
+Clara. It is made so difficult for them by those who surround them.
+
+The King. Yes, you see, that is another reason why any such reform must
+begin at home. Do you think that a king, who went every day to his work
+from a home that was in every respect like that of one of his people,
+could fail in the long run?
+
+Clara. There are so many different kinds of homes.
+
+The King. I mean a home that holds love instead of subservience--comfort
+instead of ceremony-truth instead of flattery; a home where--ah, well, I
+need not teach a woman what a home means.
+
+Clara. We make them what they are.
+
+The King. Surely; but they are especially what women make them. (A
+pause.)
+
+Clara. The sun is quite strong now.
+
+The King. But it can scarcely pierce through the screen of leaves here.
+
+Clara. When the sun shines down like this and the leaves tremble--
+
+The King. The sunshine seems to tremble too.
+
+Clara. Yes, but it makes one feel as if everything were trembling--even
+deep down into our hearts!
+
+The King. That is true.--Yes, its homes are the most precious things a
+nation makes. Their national characteristics mean reverence for their
+past and possibilities for their future.
+
+Clara. I understand better now what you meant.
+
+The King. When I said I wanted to begin at the beginning?
+
+Clara. Yes. (A pause.)
+
+The King. I cannot do otherwise. My heart must be in my work.
+
+Clara (smiling). My father had his heart in his work, too.
+
+The King. Forgive me--but don't you think it was just the want of
+an object in his life that led your father to push his theories too
+far?--an object outside himself, I mean?
+
+Clara. Perhaps. If my mother had lived--. (Stops.)
+
+The King.--he might have taken it differently; don't you think so?
+
+Clara. I have sometimes thought so. (A pause.)
+
+The King. How still it is! Not a sound!
+
+Clara. Yes, there is the fountain.
+
+The King. That is true; but one ends by hardly hearing a continuous
+sound like that.
+
+Clara. There is a tremulousness in _that_ too. (Looks round her.)
+
+The King. What are you looking for?
+
+Clara. It is time to look for the Baroness.
+
+The King. She is up on that slope. Shall I call her? Or--perhaps you
+would like to see a fine view?
+
+Clara. Yes.
+
+The King. Then let us go up to her together! (They go.)
+
+
+
+
+ACT III
+
+
+SCENE I
+
+(SCENE. An open place in the town. It is evening, and the square is
+badly lit. On the right is the club, a large building, standing alone;
+lights are shining from all its windows. Steps lead from the door, above
+which is a balcony. The square is full of people. In the background,
+standing on the lowest step of the pedestal of an equestrian statue,
+is a BALLAD SINGER, singing to the accompaniment of his guitar. Cigars,
+oranges, and other wares are being sold by hawkers. The singer's voice
+is heard before the curtain rises. The crowd gradually joins him in the
+refrain which he repeats after each verse of his ballad.)
+
+The Ballad Singer (sings).
+
+ The Princeling begged and begged and begged
+ Her love, on bended knee.
+ The Maid said craftily, "Nay, nay,
+ I doubt your high degree!"
+
+    Refrain.
+
+  She knew the might, the might, the might
+  Of love's distracting hour;
+  How royalty, with all its pomp,
+  Will curtsey to its power.
+
+ The Princeling said: "Consent, my dear,
+ And you shall marry me."
+ The Maiden answered mockingly,
+ "Over the left, maybe!"
+
+ "Nay, as my Queen, enchanting maid,
+ And that this very day!"
+ The Maiden answered him, "Gadzooks!"
+ And fainted right away.
+
+ Recovering, she sighed, "My Lord,
+ Princesses will be wroth;
+ On every side they sit and wait
+ To plight to you their troth."
+
+ He answered, "Bosh!"--"But what of those
+ Who counselled you before?"
+ "Whom do you mean?"--"Your ministers!"
+ "I'll show them to the door!"
+
+ "But think, my dear--your generals,
+ Your nobles, court, and priest;
+ They'll try to drag you from my side
+ Or shun us as the pest."
+
+ "Nay, be not feared! I'll make you more
+ By dozens at a word,
+ Who'll bow and grovel if they be
+ To rank and place preferred."
+
+ "But think of the republicans!
+ My father!--what if he--?"
+ "The cock that crows the loudest, then,
+ Prime minister shall be!"
+
+ "Suppose the people stoutly swear
+ They'll none of me?"--"Nay, nay,
+ An order here, a title there,
+ And all will homage pay."
+
+ "Then I am yours!"--"Hurrah!" He holds
+ Her tight his arms between;
+ "Nay, not so fast, my kingly love!
+ Not till I am your Queen!"
+
+  She knew the might, the might, the might
+  Of love's distracting hour;
+  How royalty, with all its pomp,
+  Will curtsey to its power.
+
+An Old Gentleman (to another). What is going on here?
+
+Second Old Gentleman. I don't know. I have only just come.
+
+A Workman. Why, the King is coming past here with her!
+
+First Old Gentleman. Coming past here with her? To hold a court at the
+palace?
+
+The Workman. Yes.
+
+Second Old Gentleman (taking a pinch of snuff). And I suppose those
+fellows in the club mean to make a demonstration?--hiss them, or
+something of that sort?
+
+The Workman. So they say.
+
+First Old Gentleman. Have they decided not to attend the court then?
+
+A Dandy. Unanimously decided.
+
+A Woman. It's filthy!
+
+The Dandy. I beg your pardon?
+
+The Woman. I say that those fellows in there will condescend to seduce
+our daughters, right enough; but they won't condescend to marry them.
+But, you see, the King does.
+
+The Workman. I am not sure it wouldn't be better if he didn't.
+
+The Woman. Well, I know people who say that she is quite a respectable
+person.
+
+The Dandy. I imagine that you have not read the newspapers?
+
+First Old Gentleman. Hm!--one has to be a little careful as to how far
+one believes the newspapers.
+
+Second Old Gentleman (offering him his snuff-box). I am delighted to
+hear you say that! There is such a lot of slander flying about. That
+bawdy ballad just now; for instance.
+
+The Woman. Yes, that's poking fun at _him_--I know that.
+
+The Dandy. You had better take care what you are saying, my good woman!
+
+The Woman. Ah, I only say what I know.
+
+(FLINK appears on the steps of the statue beside the BALLAD SINGER.)
+
+Flink. Stop your stupid songs! I want to speak!
+
+Voice in the Crowd. Who is that?
+
+Flink. You don't know me. I have never made public speeches--and least
+of all to street mobs.
+
+Voice in the Crowd. Why are you doing it now, then?
+
+Flink. Because I have been charged with a message to you! (The members
+of the club rush to the windows and on to the balcony and steps.
+Uproar.)
+
+Voice in the Crowd. Be quiet! Let us hear him!
+
+Flink. Listen to me, good people! You don't know me. But you used to
+know a tall chap, with long white hair and a big hat, who often made
+speeches to you. I mean Professor Ernst.
+
+Voice in the Crowd. Three cheers for Professor Ernst. (Cheers.)
+
+Flink. He was sent to prison, as you know, for high treason; escaped
+from prison, but broke his legs. Now he is living in exile, hopelessly
+crippled.
+
+Voice in the Crowd. He got a pardon.
+
+Another. No one knows where he is.
+
+Flink. I know where he is. He has charged me to deliver a message to you
+to-day.
+
+Voices from the Club. Bravo!
+
+Voices from the Crowd. Has he! Bravo, Ernst!
+
+Voices from the Club. Be quiet, down there!
+
+Flink. He made me promise that, on the day on which his daughter was to
+be presented at the palace as the King's betrothed, I would stand up
+in some public place where she would pass by, and say that it was being
+done against her father's will and in spite of his urgent entreaties and
+commands. (Loud cries of "Bravo!" from the club. A voice in the crowd:
+"That is just what we thought!") I am charged to announce publicly that
+he despises her for it and sends her his curse! (Fresh cries of "Bravo!"
+from the club. Voices in the crowd: "That's shocking!"--"No, he was
+quite right;" etc., etc. Uproar.) Quiet, good people!
+
+A Young Man in the Crowd. May I be allowed to ask a question? (Shouts of
+"Yes!" and "No!" and laughter are heard.)
+
+Flink. By all means.
+
+The Young Man. Did not Professor Ernst himself advocate a king's doing
+just what our King has done?
+
+Voices in the Crowd. Hear, hear!
+
+Flink. Yes, and in return was thrown into prison and is now an incurable
+cripple. No one has been more cruelly treated by the King's hirelings.
+And now here is his daughter willing to become Queen!
+
+Count Platen (from the club balcony). I don't see why you want to
+blame her! No; what I say is, that it is our dissolute King's fault
+altogether! (Renewed uproar. Cries of: "Turn him out!" from the club.)
+
+Flink. I had something more to say about those who--. But make those
+fellows at the club be quiet first.
+
+A Voice. They are fighting over there! (Laughter. Wild uproar is heard
+from the club, amidst which COUNT PLATEN'S voice is heard shouting: "Let
+me be! Let me alone!"--and other voices: "Don't let him go out!"--"He is
+drunk!" Eventually COUNT PLATEN comes out on to the steps, hatless and
+dishevelled.)
+
+Count Platen. I'm going to make a speech to you! I am better than that
+crew in there! (Cries of "Bravo!") What I say is, that the King is
+coming past here directly with a woman. (Applause, and laughter. Every
+one crowds towards him. The police try to pull him down. A free
+fight ensues.) Hiss them when they come! (Cries of "Throw him
+down!"--"Bravo!"--"Hurrah!") I, Count Platen, tell you to do so! Hiss
+him, howl at him, make a regular hullabaloo when he comes! I, Count
+Platen, tell you to! (Cries of "Three cheers for Count Platen!" are
+mingled with cries of "Three cheers for the King!" There is a general
+tumult. COUNT PLATEN is hustled up and down the steps, and tries to
+go on making his speech every time he comes up.) He is defiling the
+throne!--He wants to marry a traitor's daughter! Shame! I, Count Platen,
+say so! Here I stand--! (A trumpet-call is heard; then cries of "Here is
+the King!"--"No, it's the cavalry!"--"The cavalry are coming!"--"Clear
+the square!" A shot is heard, followed by a scream; the people take to
+their heels as another trumpet-call is heard. Curtain.)
+
+
+SCENE II
+
+(SCENE.--A room in the BARONESS' house. The BARONESS is sitting reading.
+A MAID enters and brings her a card.)
+
+Baroness (looking at the card). The Minister of the Interior!--Show him
+in! (GRAN comes in.) I am glad to see you back, your Excellency!--You
+have found him, then?
+
+Gran. Yes, we have discovered him.
+
+Baroness. And spoken to him?
+
+Gran. Yes.
+
+Baroness. May I send for his daughter?
+
+Gran. For heaven's sake
+
+Baroness. What is the matter?
+
+Gran. He is a dying man.
+
+Baroness. What!
+
+Gran. The King desires me to tell you that he has ordered a special
+train to be ready at 10 o'clock, so that as soon as the court is over
+she can go to her father. The King will accompany her.
+
+Baroness. That is kind of him!
+
+Gran. Then you will get ready everything that she needs for a night's
+journey?
+
+Baroness. Yes.
+
+Gran. And without her being aware of it? The King does not wish her to
+know anything of her father's condition till after the court.
+
+Baroness. The court is to be held, then?
+
+Gran. The court is to be held. After it is over, His Majesty will tell
+her the news himself.
+
+Baroness. I am thankful for that.--But what did Professor Ernst say? Why
+has he not answered his daughter's letter? Why has he hidden from her?
+Is he really irreconcilable?
+
+Gran. Irreconcilable? He hates her!
+
+Baroness. Good heavens!
+
+Gran. And not only her, but every one that has made common cause with
+the King--every one!
+
+Baroness. I suppose it was to be expected.--But won't you sit down?
+
+Gran (bows, but remains standing). I had a talk with his doctor before I
+saw him. He had some hesitation about letting me in. It was a fortnight
+since his patient had been able to move. But when I told him my errand,
+and that I had come from the King, he let me see him.
+
+Baroness. How did he look? He was a fine man once.
+
+Gran. He was sitting in a big chair, a mere paralysed wreck of a man.
+But when he saw me and realised who I was--and probably, too, what my
+errand was--he found the strength not only to move, but to seize both
+his crutches and raise himself on them! I shall never forget his gaunt
+ashen-grey face, the feverish gleam in his sunken eyes, his unkempt hair
+and beard--
+
+Baroness. He must have looked terrible!
+
+Gran. He was like a creature from beyond the grave--with an eternity of
+hatred in his eyes!
+
+Baroness. Oh, my God!
+
+Gran. When at last I could find my voice, I gave him his daughter's
+greeting, and asked if she might come and see him. A dark look came into
+his eyes, and his face flushed for a moment, as he gasped out: "May she
+be--." He could not finish the sentence. His crutches slipped from his
+grasp and he fell down, blood pouring from his mouth. The doctor rushed
+to him; and for a long time we thought he was dead.
+
+Baroness. But he came round?
+
+Gran. I waited an hour or two before I started back. Then the doctor
+told me that he had recovered consciousness, but that the end could
+certainly not be far off--perhaps not twenty-four hours.
+
+Baroness. It must have been a shock to you.
+
+Gran. It was.
+
+Baroness. But what did he mean by: "May she be--"
+
+Gran. That is what I have been wondering.
+
+Baroness. He cannot do her any harm, can he?
+
+Grad. He may give her the same reception that he gave me; if she goes.
+
+Baroness, Even if the King is with her?
+
+Gran. All the more then!
+
+Baroness. Oh, that would be horrible! But it won't prevent her going.
+
+Gran. Let us hope so!
+
+Baroness. I am certain of it! She has extraordinary strength of
+character--just like her father's.
+
+Gran. Yes, that is the one thing I rely on.
+
+Baroness. What do you mean? Your words sound so despondent!
+
+Gran. I mean what is perfectly true--that everything will depend upon
+her strength of character.
+
+Baroness. What about the King, then?
+
+Gran. I could say a great deal on that topic, Baroness; but (bows) you
+must excuse me--I haven't time now.
+
+Baroness. How are the elections going?
+
+Gran. They are going well--if nothing happens now?
+
+Baroness. What could happen?
+
+Gran. The situation is very strained; one must expect anything.
+
+Baroness. Are you anxious, your Excellency?
+
+Gran. I must beg leave to retire now. (A MAID comes in.)
+
+Maid (to GRAN). The Inspector of Police, who came with your Excellency,
+wishes to know if he may speak to your Excellency.
+
+Gran. I will come at once. (To the BARONESS.) There is rioting going on
+in the town, not far from here--in front of the club.
+
+Baroness (in alarm). What?--Isn't the King coming along that way?
+
+Gran. Don't be afraid! We have taken our precautions--Good-bye! (Goes
+out.)
+
+Baroness.--He has quite alarmed me--everything seems to come at the same
+time! She has had a suspicion that there was something amiss with her
+father; I have noticed that, but she hasn't wanted to speak about it.
+(CLARA comes in, dressed for the court.) Ah, there you are, my dear!
+Quite ready?
+
+Clara. Quite.
+
+Baroness (looking at her). Well, I daresay there have been royal brides
+more elaborately dressed, but I am sure there has never been one more
+charming. (Kisses her.)
+
+Clara. I think I hear a carriage?
+
+Baroness. I expect it is the King!
+
+Clara. I am afraid it is too early yet--but all the same I hope it is
+he!
+
+Baroness. Do you feel afraid?
+
+Clara. No, no--it is not that at all; it is something--something that
+you don't--a kind of feeling as if--as if some one were haunting me; and
+I know who it is. I only feel secure when the King is with me. I hope it
+may be he coming. (Goes to the window.)
+
+(The MAID comes in.)
+
+Maid. A lady wishes to speak to you, Miss Ernst--
+
+Baroness. A lady?
+
+Clara. Didn't she give her name?
+
+Maid. She is veiled--and very handsomely dressed.
+
+Clara (with decision). No! I can see no one.
+
+Baroness. No one that we do not know. (To the MAID.) You ought to know
+that.
+
+Maid (hesitatingly). But I think it is--. (The door opens and the
+PRINCESS comes in.)
+
+Baroness. What does this mean? Clara! leave us, my dear.
+
+Princess (drawing aside her veil). Do you know me?
+
+Clara and Baroness. The Princess!
+
+Princess. Are you Clara Ernst?
+
+Clara. Yes.
+
+Princess (haughtily, to the BARONESS). Leave us alone! (The BARONESS
+goes out.) Before going to the palace I wanted to come here--even at the
+risk of meeting the King.
+
+Clara. He has not come yet. (A long pause.)
+
+Princess. Have you thought well over what you are going to do?
+
+Clara. I think so.
+
+Princess. I don't think you have. Have you read what the papers say
+about it--every one of them--to-day?
+
+Clara. No. The King has advised me not to.
+
+Princess. But the letters that have been sent to you? I know letters
+have been written to you.
+
+Clara. The King has advised me not to read them either. He takes all the
+letters.
+
+Princess. Do you know that they are rioting in the streets close to
+here?
+
+Clara (in alarm). No!
+
+Princess. You will be received with hisses, hooting--perhaps with stone
+throwing. You didn't expect anything like that, did you?
+
+Clara. No.
+
+Princess. What shall you do?
+
+Clara (after a moment, quietly). I shall go with the King.
+
+Princess. A nice road you are dragging him along, truly! And I assure
+you that the farther you go along it, the worse it will become. You
+cannot possibly have prepared yourself for all that you will have to go
+through.
+
+Clara. I think I have.
+
+Princess (in surprise). What do you mean? How?
+
+Clara (bending her head). I have prayed to God.
+
+Princess. Pshaw! I mean that you cannot have considered the misery into
+which you are dragging the King--and the disgrace and trouble you are
+bringing upon all his people. (CLARA is silent.) You are young still;
+your heart cannot be altogether hardened yet, whatever your past may
+have been.
+
+Clara (proudly). I have no reason to be ashamed of my past.
+
+Princess. Indeed? What sort of a past has it been, then?
+
+Clara. One full of suffering, princess--and of work. (A pause.)
+
+Princess. Do you know what the King's past has been?
+
+Clara (drooping her head). Ah, yes.
+
+Princess. Yours will be tarred with the same brush--no matter what it
+really has been.
+
+Clara. I know that. He has told me so.
+
+Princess. Really!--After all, is it a sacrifice you are making for his
+sake? Do you love the King?
+
+Clara (faintly). Yes.
+
+Princess. Then listen to me. If you loved the King, you would have made
+a _real_ sacrifice for him. We are women, you and I; we can understand
+these things without many words. But such a sacrifice does not consist
+in consenting to be his queen.
+
+Clara. It is not I that wished it.
+
+Princess. You have allowed yourself to be persuaded?--Well, you are
+either deceiving yourself, my girl, or you are deceiving him. Perhaps
+you began with the one and are ending with the other. Anyway, it is time
+you had your eyes opened as to which of you it is that is making the
+sacrifice. Do you not know that, on your account, he is already the
+target for general contempt? (CLARA bursts into tears.) If that makes
+you repent, show it--show it by your deeds!
+
+Clara. I repent of nothing.
+
+Princess (in astonishment). What state of mind are you in, then?
+
+Clara. I have suffered terribly. But I pray God for strength to bear it.
+
+Princess. Don't talk nonsense! The whole thing is a horrible confusion
+of ideas--half remorse and half cant--the one so mixed up with the other
+in your mind that you cannot disentangle them. But, believe me, others
+feel very sure that sacred things and--and what I won't call bluntly by
+its name, go very ill together! So don't waste those airs on me; they
+only irritate me!
+
+Clara. Princess, don't be cruel to me. I _am_ suffering, all the same.
+
+Princess. Why on earth do you want to go any farther with the affair?
+If you aren't clear about it, take advice! Your father is opposed to it,
+isn't he?
+
+Clara. Yes. (Throws herself into a chair.)
+
+Princess. He has hidden himself away from you. You don't know where
+he is, or how he is--though you know he is crippled and ill. And,
+meanwhile, here you are in full dress, with a rose in your hair, waiting
+to set out to a court at the palace! Are you willing to pass through
+contemptuous rioting crowds, and over your sick father's body, to become
+queen? What callous levity! What a presumptuous mixture of what you
+think is love, duty, sacrifice, trial--with an unscrupulous ambition--!
+The King? Are you depending on him? He is a poet. He loves anything
+unusual or sensational. Resistance stimulates him; and that is what
+drives him into believing that his love will be unending. When you
+have been married a week, it will be all over. If he had not met with
+resistance, it would have been all over before this. I know the
+King better than you; for I know his faithlessness. It is like his
+love--unending! It hurts you to hear that, does it? Well, it hurts one's
+eyes to look at the sun. But I can tell you about these things. The only
+reason I had for coming was to tell you what I know. And now that I have
+seen you, I can tell you that I know one thing more--and I will tell you
+what it is. If you actually allow the King, with his ardent temperament,
+to stray into a path which will lead to the ruin of his career, your
+action will, in the fullness of time, recoil so appallingly upon
+your own head that it will kill you. I know you are one of those
+that faithlessness, remorse and contempt _would_ kill.--Don't look so
+beseechingly at me; I cannot retract a word of what I have said. But I
+can tell you now what I had decided upon before I came. _I_ will look
+after your future. I am not rich; but, as sure as I stand here before
+you, you shall live free from care--you shall have everything that you
+need--for the rest of your life. I want no thanks! I do it for the sake
+of the King, and for the sake of the country to which I belong. It is my
+duty. Only get up now and come with me to my carriage. (Offers CLARA her
+hand.)
+
+Clara. If it were as easy as that, I should have done it long, long ago.
+
+Princess (turns away. Then comes back). Get up. (Pulls her on to her
+feet.) Do you love the King?
+
+Clara. Do I love him? I am a motherless child, and have lived alone
+with a father who has been constantly persecuted on account of his
+principles; I shared his ideals from a very early age, and I have never
+abandoned them since. Then one day I was given the chance of making
+these ideals real. "What _I_ long to do, _you_ shall accomplish!"
+he said. There is something great about that, Princess--something
+all-powerful--a call from God Himself. Of that I am certain.
+
+Princess. It is merely a rhapsody of the King's--nothing else!
+
+Clara. Then I will make it real and live it! I have given my whole soul
+to it, and have strengthened his to the same end. It has been my ideal
+all my life.
+
+Princess. And you believe that it will last?
+
+Clara. Yes.
+
+Princess. Then let me beg you to believe this, too--it will last until
+he has attained his end.
+
+Clara. If you mean our marriage, let me tell you that _that_ is not our
+end.
+
+Princess (in surprise). What is, then?
+
+Clara. Our end is to accomplish something together. That task shall be
+consecrated and ennobled by our love. Yes, you may look at me! Those
+were his own words.
+
+Princess. That answer!--That thought!--But what certainty have you?
+
+Clara. Of what?
+
+Princess. That you did not put the thought into his mind?--and that the
+fire in his soul may not flicker out?
+
+Clara. If I needed any assurance, I should find it in the fact that he
+changed his whole life for my sake; he waited for me for more than a
+year. Has he ever done that for any one before? I am sure he has never
+needed to! (The PRINCESS winces.) It is those who have seduced that
+"ardent" temperament of his--you called it that yourself--that are to
+blame, and not I, Princess! (A pause.) I checked him to the best of
+my power when he came to me as he was wont to go to others. (A pause.)
+Indeed it is no sacrifice to become his wife. When one loves, there is
+no question of sacrifice. But the position in which I now stand exposes
+me to more suspicion than the humblest of his subjects, to more scorn
+than if I were his mistress. Think how you have spoken to me to-day
+yourself, Princess! (A pause.) It is no sacrifice to endure such things
+for the man one loves. It was not I that used the word "sacrifice,"
+either; and as for the sacrifice you implied that I ought to have made,
+I don't wish to understand what you meant by that, even though I am a
+woman as well as you! But if you knew, Princess, how hard a fight I have
+been through before I found the strength to cast in my lot with his,
+against my father's wish and against you all--you would not have spoken
+to me about making a sacrifice. At all events you would not have spoken
+to me as you have done to-day; because you are not cruel, and I know
+that at bottom you mean me well. (A longer pause.)
+
+Princess. This is more serious than I knew.--Poor child, your
+disappointment will be all the more serious.
+
+Clara. Not with him!
+
+Princess (half to herself). Is it possible he can be so changed? Was
+that what was needed to secure a hold on him--? (To CLARA.) Is he coming
+here to fetch you?
+
+Clara. Yes.
+
+Princess. What does he want to hold this court for? What is the good
+of throwing down this challenge to all the dignitaries of his
+kingdom?--especially if, after all, he means to live the life of an
+ordinary citizen?
+
+Clara. He wished it.
+
+Princess. An exciting episode in his rhapsody! Why did you not dissuade
+him?
+
+Clara. Because I agree with him.
+
+Princess. Perhaps you don't fully realise what it means?--what
+humiliation the King will have to undergo?
+
+Clara. I only know that it seems to me that these things should be done
+openly, and that he has plenty of courage.
+
+Princess. That is mere bravado. Are you going in that dress?--to court
+in that dress? (CLARA is silent.) I say it is mere bravado.
+
+Clara. I have no better dress.
+
+Princess. What do you mean? Surely the King can--? Are you jesting?
+
+Clara (shyly). I do not allow the King to give me anything; not until--.
+
+Princess. Doesn't he pay your expenses here, then? (Looks round the
+room.)
+
+Clara. No.
+
+Princess. It is the Baroness?
+
+Clara. She and I. We are both poor.
+
+Princess. Ah, yes--she has lost her post now, hasn't she?
+
+Clara. On my account--yes. And you, Princess, who have known her--for
+she was once your governess--can you really suppose that she would
+have been faithful to me if she did not trust me and feel that this was
+right? You treated her so contemptuously when you came in.
+
+Princess. I seem to have broken in upon the most incomprehensible
+romance!--Then you love the King? (CLARA nods her head.) He knows how to
+love, and make a woman happy! He is a dazzling creature!--We shall see
+now whether you are to suffer for all the hearts he has broken. You are
+not the first woman he has loved.
+
+Clara. Princess!
+
+Princess. Yes, let that sink into your mind! Your happiness is
+embroidered with tears!
+
+Clara. It is cruel of you to reproach me with it.
+
+Princess. Forgive me! I really did not mean that.--But there is still
+time to put on a more suitable dress. If you dare accept no gifts from
+the King--you might from some one else? A King's bride is a King's bride
+after all, you know!
+
+Clara. He told me I should not need anything more than this.
+
+Princess. Not in his eyes, I dare say. But we women know a little
+better!--If it were only a necklace? Will you accept this one? (Begins
+to unfasten hers.)
+
+Clara. I knew you were kind.--But I daren't.
+
+Princess. Why not?
+
+Clara. Because--because people would think that--. (Bursts into tears. A
+pause.)
+
+Princess. Listen, my child. The whole thing is sheer lunacy; but--as it
+cannot be altered--as soon as the court assembles I shall take my place
+at your side and not leave you till it is all over. Tell the King that!
+Good-bye!
+
+Clara (going towards her). Princess!
+
+Princess (kisses her, and whispers). Haven't you allowed him to kiss
+you, either?
+
+Clara (in a whisper). Yes, I have.
+
+Princess (kissing her once snore). Love him! (The sound of carriage
+wheels is heard. The BARONESS comes in.)
+
+Baroness. I hear the King's carriage.
+
+Princess. I don't wish to meet him. (Stretches out her hand to the
+BARONESS.) Baroness! (Points to the door through which the BARONESS has
+come in.) Can I get out that way?
+
+Baroness. Yes. (She takes the PRINCESS out. A moment later the MAID
+ushers in the KING, who is dressed in plain clothes and wearing no
+decorations.)
+
+The King. Clara!
+
+Clara. My friend! (They embrace.)
+
+The King. What does it mean?
+
+Clara. What?
+
+The King. The Princess' carriage here?
+
+Clara. She told me to greet you. She has just gone, and--
+
+The King. And--?
+
+Clara. She said as soon as the court assembled she would take her place
+beside me and stay there till we left the palace.
+
+The King. Is it possible?
+
+Clara. It is _true_.
+
+The King. You have conquered her! I know she could be conquered--she
+has a heart, as well as a head! It is a good omen!--So she offered to do
+_that_! What will our precious nobility have to say to that?
+
+Clara. They are about the streets, aren't they?
+
+The King. Ah, then you know?
+
+Clara. I know, too, that there has been rioting outside the club.
+
+The King. You know that too?--and are not afraid?
+
+Clara. Perhaps I might have been--but there is something else that I am
+more afraid of. (Draws closer to the KING.)
+
+The King. What is that?
+
+Clara. You know. (A pause.)
+
+The King. Have you been uneasy about him to-day too?
+
+Clara. All day--incessantly. Something must have happened.
+
+The King. Well, now I can tell you where he is.
+
+Clara (eagerly). At last! Have you found him?
+
+The King. Gran has been to see him.
+
+Clara. Thank God! Is it far from here?
+
+The King. This evening, immediately after the court, you and I will both
+start for there in a special train. We shall be there early to-morrow.
+
+Clara (throwing her arms round his neck). Thanks, thanks! How good you
+are! Thanks! How is he? Is he ill!
+
+The King. Yes.
+
+Clara. I knew it? And implacable?
+
+The King. Yes.
+
+Clara. I feel it! (Nestles closer in his arms.)
+
+The King. Are you afraid?
+
+Clara. Yes!
+
+The King. Dear, when you see him perhaps your fear will go.
+
+Clara. Yes, only let me see him! Whatever he says, let me see him!
+
+The King. Within twelve hours from now you shall! And I shall be with
+you.
+
+Clara. The finest thing about you is your kindness. Oh, I am so glad you
+have come! I could not endure my fears any longer.
+
+The King. There are dissensions going on about you!
+
+Clara. Oh!--(Nestles in his arms again.)
+
+The King. Bear up!--It will soon be over.
+
+Clara. I believe it will. Yes, I know it will.--Let me walk about a
+little! (The KING walks up and down with her.)
+
+The King. And turn our thoughts to something else! Do you know where I
+have come from?
+
+Clara. Where?
+
+The King. From our little house in the park.
+
+Clara. Why, we drove past it yesterday!
+
+The King. You will feel only _one_ person's presence there! Wherever you
+go, you will be surrounded by the thoughts I have had of you there. If
+you look out of the window, or go out on to the balcony--on every rock,
+by each turn of the stream--on the lawns, under the trees, among the
+bushes--everywhere you will find a thousand thoughts of you hidden.
+Breathe the words "my darling girl," and they will all come clustering
+round you!--Let us sit down.
+
+Clara. It is all like a fairy tale.
+
+The King. And I am the latest fairy prince! (He sits down and draws
+her on to his knee.) And you are the little maid who comes, led by good
+fairies, to the enchanted castle to wake him. He has been kept asleep by
+wicked spells for many, many years.
+
+Clara. For many, many years!
+
+The King. I am not really _I_, nor you _you_. The monarch was bewitched
+long ago. He was turned into a wild beast who gave reign to his passion
+by night and slept by day. And now the maiden of humble degree has
+become a woman and freed him from the spells.
+
+Clara. Really! Ah, you are so clever at inventing things to cheat my
+fears away from me. And you always succeed. But after all, you know, I
+have no strength and no courage; I am so weak.
+
+The King. You have more strength than I!--more than any one I have ever
+known.
+
+Clara. No, don't say that; but--you may be sure of this!--if I did not
+feel that I had _some_ strength I would never try to throw in my lot
+with yours.
+
+The King. I will explain to you what you are! Some people are
+tremendously more spiritual, more delicately constituted than others;
+and they are a hundred times more sensitive. And they fancy that is
+weakness. But it is just they who draw their strength from _deeper_
+sources, through a thousand imperceptible channels. You will often find
+them with heads erect and valiant when others have gone under; they
+merely bend before the storm, with supple strength, when others break
+under it. You are like that!
+
+Clara. You are very ingenious when you start explaining me!
+
+The King. Well, listen to this! At the time when I was behaving so badly
+to you, your terror, every time I approached you, was so piteous that it
+was always before my eyes and rang in my ears like a cry of agony from
+a wounded heart. It is true! It filled me with terror, too. Do you
+call that weakness, to feel things so intensely that another person is
+influenced by your feelings against his will?
+
+Clara. No.
+
+The King. And then, when I found you again--the way you listened to me--
+
+Clara (stopping him with a kiss). Don't let us talk about it now!
+
+The King. What shall we talk about, then? It is a little too early to
+start yet.--Ah, I have it! We will talk about the impression you will
+make this evening when you come forward through the brightly lit rooms,
+radiant against the background of ugly calumny! That was prettily put,
+wasn't it? "Is _that_ she?" they will think. And then something will
+come into their eyes that will cheat them into thinking that pearls and
+gold are strewn over your hair, over your dress, over your--
+
+Clara (putting her hand over his mouth). No, no, no! Now I am going to
+tell you a little story!
+
+The King. Tell away!
+
+Clara. When I was a child, I saw a balloon being filled one day, and
+there was a horrible smell from the gas. Afterwards, when I saw the
+gleaming balloon rising in the air, I thought to myself: "Ah, that
+horrid smell was something burning; they had to burn it for the balloon
+to be able to rise." And after that, every time I heard anything horrid
+said about my father, I felt as if something was burning inside me, and
+I thought of the balloon and imagined I could smell the smell. And then
+all at once I imagined I saw it rising; the horrid part was burnt, and
+it was able to mount aloft! I assure you that balloon was a good genius
+to me. And now, years afterwards, when I have been a target for calumny
+myself--and you for my sake--I have felt just the same thing. Every word
+has burned; but I have got over it in a moment, and risen high, high
+above it all! I never seem to breathe so pure an atmosphere as a little
+while after something cruel has been said of me.
+
+The King. I shall certainly set to work and abuse you at once, if it
+has such delightful results! I will begin with a selection from to-day's
+papers: "You Aspasia! You Messalina! You Pompadour! You Phylloxera, that
+are eating into our whole moral vine-crop! You blue-eyed curse of the
+country, that are causing panics in the money-market, overthrowing
+ministries, and upsetting all calculations in the elections! You
+mischievous hobgoblin, who are pouring gall into the printers' ink and
+poison into the people's coffee, filling all the old ladies' heads with
+buzzing flies, and the King's Majesty with a million lover's follies!"
+Do you know that, besides all the harm you are doing to-day, you are
+hastening a revolution by ten years? You are! And no one can be sure
+whether you haven't been pursuing the same wicked courses for the last
+hundred years or more! All our royal and noble ancestors are turning in
+their graves because of you! And if our deceased queens have any noses
+left--
+
+Clara (interrupting him). The Baroness! (They get up. The BARONESS comes
+in wearing a cloak over her court dress and carrying CLARA'S cloak over
+her arm.)
+
+Baroness. I must take the liberty of disturbing you. Time is up!
+
+The King. We have been killing it by talking nonsense.
+
+Baroness. And that has put you in a good humour?
+
+The King (taking his hat). In the best of humours! Here, my darling
+(fastens CLARA'S cloak about her shoulders), here is the last scandalous
+bit of concealment for you! When we take it off again, you shall stand
+radiant in the light of your own truth. Come! (Gives her his arm, and
+they go trippingly up to the back of the room. Suddenly the phantom of
+an emaciated figure leaning on crutches appears in their path, staring
+at them. His hair and beard are in wild disorder, and blood is pouring
+from his mouth. CLARA gives a terrified scream.)
+
+The King. In Heaven's name, what is it?
+
+Clara. My father!
+
+The King. Where? (To the BARONESS.) Go and see! (The BARONESS opens the
+doors at the back and looks out).
+
+Baroness. I can see no one.
+
+The King. Look down the corridor!
+
+Baroness. No--no one there, either! (CLARA has sunk lifelessly into the
+KING'S arms. After one or two spasmodic twitchings of her hands, her
+arms slip away from him and her head falls back.)
+
+The King. Help, help!
+
+The Baroness (rushing to him with a shriek). Clara!
+
+Curtain.
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV
+
+(SCENE.--A room in GRAN's house; the same as in Act I, Scene II. GRAN
+is standing at his desk on the right. FLINK comes in carrying a
+pistol-case, which he puts down upon the table.)
+
+Gran. You?
+
+Flink. As you see. (Walks up and down for a little without speaking.)
+
+Gran. I haven't seen you since the day the King was here.
+
+Flink. No.--Have you taken your holidays?
+
+Gran. Yes; but, anyway, I am likely to have perpetual holidays now! The
+elections are going against us.
+
+Flink (walking about). So I hear. The clerical party and the
+reactionaries are winning.
+
+Gran. That would not have been so, but for her unhappy death--. (Breaks
+off, and sighs.)
+
+Flink. A judgment from heaven--that is what the parsons say, and the
+women, and the reactionaries--
+
+Gran.--and the landlords. And they really believe it.
+
+Flink (stopping). Well, don't you believe it?
+
+Gran (after a pause). At all events I interpret it differently from--
+
+Flink.--from the parson? Naturally. But can any one doubt the fact that
+it was the finger of fate?
+
+Gran. Then fate assumed her father's shape?
+
+Flink. Whether her father appeared to her at the moment of his death or
+not (shrugs his shoulders) is a matter in which I am not interested.
+I don't believe in such things. But that she was suffering pangs of
+conscience, I do believe. I believe it may have brought painful visions
+before her eyes.
+
+Gran. I knew her pretty well, and I will answer for it she had no guilty
+conscience. She was approaching her task with enthusiasm. Any one
+that knew her will tell you the same. With her the King was first and
+foremost.
+
+Flink. What did she die of, then? Of enthusiasm?
+
+Gran. Of being overwrought by the force of her emotions. Her task was
+too great for her. The time was not ripe for it. (Sadly.) Our experiment
+was bound to fail.
+
+Flink. You condemn it when you say that!--But with her last breath she
+called out: "My father!" And, just at that moment, he died, fifty miles
+away from her. Either she _saw_ him, or she _imagined_ she saw him,
+standing before her. But his bloodstained, maltreated, crippled form
+standing in the way of her criminal advance towards the throne--is that
+not a symbol of maltreated humanity revolting against monarchy at the
+very moment when monarchy wishes to atone! Its guilt through thousands
+of years is too black. Fate is inflexible.
+
+Gran. But with what result? Are we rid of monarchy yet?
+
+Flink. We are rid of that treacherous attempt to reconcile it with
+modern conditions. Thank God it emerges, hand in glove with the parsons
+and reactionaries, none the worse for its temporary eclipse.
+
+Gran. So everything is all right, I suppose?
+
+Flink. For the moment--yes. But there used to exist here a strong
+republican party, which enjoyed universal respect, and was making
+extraordinary progress. Where is it now?
+
+Gran. I knew that was why you came.
+
+Flink. I have come to call you to account.
+
+Gran. If I had been in your place I would not have acted so, towards a
+defeated and wounded friend.
+
+Flink. The republican party has often been defeated--but never despised
+till now. Who is to blame for that?
+
+Gran. None of us ever think we deserve contempt.
+
+Flink. A traitor always deserves it.
+
+Gran. It is but a step from the present state of things to a republic;
+and we shall have to take that step in the end.
+
+Flink. But at least we can do so without treachery.
+
+Gran. I honestly believe that what we did was right. It may have
+miscarried the first time, and may miscarry a second and a third; but it
+is the only possible solution.
+
+Flink. You pronounced your doom in those words.
+
+Gran (more attentively). What do you mean by that?
+
+Flink. We must make sure that such an attempt will not be made again.
+
+Gran. So that is it.--I begin to understand you now.
+
+Flink. The republican party is broken up. For a generation it will be
+annihilated by contempt. But a community without a republican party must
+be one without ideals and without any aspirations towards truth in its
+political life--and in other respects as well! That is what you are
+responsible for.
+
+Gran. You pay me too great a compliment.
+
+Flink. By no means! Your reputation, your personal qualities and
+associations are what have seduced them.
+
+Gran. Listen to me for a moment! You used to overrate me in the hopes
+you had of me. You are overrating me now in your censure. You are
+overrating the effects of our failure--you never seem to be able to do
+anything but overshoot your mark. For that reason you are a danger to
+your friends. You lure them on. When things go well you lure them on to
+excess of activity; when things go ill, you turn their despondency into
+despair. Your inordinate enthusiasm obscures your wits. _You_ are not
+called upon to sit in judgment upon any one; because you draw the pure
+truths that lie hidden in your soul into such a frenzied vortex of
+strife that you lose sight of them; and then they have so little of
+truth left in them that in your hands they can be answerable for crimes.
+
+Flink. Oh, spare me your dialectics!--because any skill you have in
+them, _I_ taught you! You cannot excuse your own sins by running over
+the list of mine; that is the only answer I have to make to you! I don't
+stand before you as the embodiment of truth; I am no braggart. No; but
+simply as one who has loved you deeply and now is as deeply offended by
+you, I ask this question of your conscience: What have you done with the
+love we had for one another? Where is the sacred cause we both used to
+uphold? Where is our honour--our friends--our future?
+
+Gran. I feel respect for your sorrow. Can you not feel any for mine? Or
+do you suppose that I am not suffering?
+
+Flink. You cannot act as you have done without bringing unhappiness upon
+yourself. But there are others to be considered besides you, and we have
+the right to call you to account. Answer me!
+
+Gran. And is it really you--you, my old friend--that propose to do that?
+
+Flink. God knows I would sooner some one else did it! But none can do it
+so fitly as I--because no one else has loved you as I have. I expected
+too much of you, you say? The only thing I wanted of you was that you
+should be faithful! I had so often been disappointed; but in you and
+your quiet strength I thought I had splendid security that, as long as
+you lived, our cause would bear itself proudly and confidently. It was
+your prestige that brought it into being; your wealth that supported it.
+It did not cry aloud for the blood of martyrs!--You were the happiness
+of my life; my soul renewed its strength from yours.
+
+Gran. Old friend--!
+
+Flink. I was old, and you were young! Your nature was a harmonious
+whole--it was what I needed to lean upon.
+
+Gran. Flink, my dear old friend--!
+
+Flink. And now, here you stand--a broken man, and our whole cause broken
+with you; all our lives broken--at least mine is--
+
+Gran. Don't say that!
+
+Flink. You have destroyed my faith in mankind--and in myself, for I see
+what a mistake I made; but it will be the last I shall make! I took you
+to my heart of hearts--and now, the only thing I can do is to call you
+to account!
+
+Gran. What do you want me to do? Tell me!
+
+Flink. We must stand face to face--armed! You must die! (A pause.)
+
+Gran (without seeming greatly surprised). Of the two of us, it will go
+hardest with you, old friend.
+
+Flink. You think your aim will be the surer of the two? (Goes towards
+the table.)
+
+Gran. I was not thinking of that--but of what your life would be
+afterwards. I know you.
+
+Flink (opening the pistol-case). You need not be anxious! My life
+afterwards will not be a long one. What you have done has robbed me of
+anything to live for in this generation, and I don't aspire to live till
+the next. So it is all over and done with! (Takes up the pistols.)
+
+Gran. Do you mean _here_--?
+
+Flink. Why not? We are alone here.
+
+Gran. The King is asleep in the next room. (Points to the door near his
+desk.)
+
+Flink. The King here?
+
+Gran. He came here to-night.
+
+Flink. Well, it will wake him up; he will have to wake up some time, any
+way.
+
+Gran. It would be horrible! No!
+
+Flink. Indeed? It is for his sake you have betrayed me. You did that as
+soon as ever you met him again. He has bewitched you. Let him hear and
+see what he has done! (Holds out the pistols.) Here!
+
+Gran. Wait. What you have just said brings a doubt into my mind. Is not
+revenge, after all, the motive for what you are doing?
+
+Flink. Revenge?
+
+Gran. Yes. Don't misunderstand me; I am not trying to shuffle out of
+it. If I were free to choose, I would choose death rather than anything
+else. The King knows that, too. But I ask because there ought to be some
+serious reason for anything that may happen. I am not going to stand up
+and face a sentiment of revenge that is so ill-grounded.
+
+Flink (laying the pistols down). I hate the man who has led you
+astray--that is true. When I was giving you the reasons why I took upon
+myself the task of calling you to account, perhaps I forgot that. I hate
+him. But the instrument that carries out a sentence is one thing; the
+sentence itself is quite another. You arc sentenced to death because you
+have betrayed our cause--and because you say that you were right to do
+so. The world shall learn what that costs. It costs a man's life.
+
+Gran. So be it!
+
+Flink. The pistols are loaded. I loaded them myself. I imagine that you
+still have trust in my honour?
+
+Gran (with a smile). Indeed I have.
+
+Flink. One of them has a blank cartridge in it; the other is fully
+loaded. Choose!
+
+Gran. But what do you mean? Suppose I were to--?
+
+Flink. Don't be afraid! Heaven will decide! _You_ will not choose the
+fully loaded one!--We shall stand face to face.
+
+Gran. You are settling everything--the sentence, the challenge, the
+choice of weapons, the regulations for the duel--!
+
+Flink. Are you dissatisfied with that?
+
+Gran. By no means! You are quite welcome! We are to have no seconds? So
+be it. But the place?
+
+Flink. The place? Here!
+
+Gran. Horrible!
+
+Flink. Why? (Holds out the two pistols to him. The door to the left is
+opened softly. ANNA looks in, sees what is going on, and rushes with
+a pitiful attempt at a scream to GRAN, putting her arms round him
+protectingly, and caressing him with every sign of the utmost terror.)
+
+Gran (bending down and kissing her). She is right! Why should I die for
+the sake of dull theories, when I can hold life in my arms as I do now?
+A man who is loved has something left, after all. I won't die!
+
+Flink. If you were not loved, my friend, you might be allowed to live. A
+cry of sorrow will be heard throughout the land, from the King's palace
+to the meanest hovel, when you have been shot. And that is just why
+I must do it! The louder the cry of sorrow, the greater will be the
+silence afterwards. And in that silence is to be found the answer to the
+question "Why?" The people will not allow themselves to be cheated any
+longer.
+
+Gran. Horrible! I won't do it! (Lifts ANNA in his arms as if she were a
+child.)
+
+Flink (going up to him). It is no mere theory that you are facing. Look
+at me!
+
+Gran. Old friend--_must_ it be?
+
+Flink. It _must_. I have nothing else left to do.
+
+Gran. But not here.
+
+Flink. Since it cannot be here, then come out into the park. (Puts the
+pistols into their case.) You owe me that.
+
+Gran (to ANNA). You must go, my dear!
+
+Flink (putting the pistol-case under his arm). No, let her stay here.
+But you come! (They all three move towards the door. ANNA will not let
+GRAN go, and there is a struggle until he, half commanding and half
+entreating, persuades her to stay behind. The two men go out, shutting
+the door after them. She throws herself against the door, but it has
+been locked on the outside. She sinks down to the floor in despair,
+then gets up, as if struck by a sudden idea, rushes into the room on the
+right, and almost immediately re-appears, dragging the KING after her.
+He is only half-dressed and has no shoes on.)
+
+The King. What is it? (A shot is heard.) What is it? (ANNA pulls him to
+the door. He tries to open it, but in vain. She rushes to the window,
+with the KING after her. Meanwhile the door is opened from outside, and
+FALBE comes in, evidently overcome with emotion.) What is it, Falbe?
+(ANNA runs out.)
+
+Falbe. His Excellency the Minister of the Interior--
+
+The King. Well, what of him?
+
+Falbe.--has been assassinated!
+
+The King. The Minister of the Interior?--Gran?
+
+Falbe. Yes.
+
+The King. Gran?--What did you say?
+
+Falbe. He has been assassinated!
+
+The King. Gran? Impossible!--Where? Why? I heard his voice only just
+now, here!
+
+Falbe. That fellow shot him--the grey-haired fellow--the republican
+
+The King. Flink? Yes, I heard his voice here too!
+
+Falbe. It was in the park! I saw it myself!
+
+The King. Saw it yourself? Wretch! (Rushes out.)
+
+Falbe. How could I prevent a madman--? (Follows the KING. The door
+stands open, and through it a man is seen running past, calling out:
+"Where?" Others follow him, and amidst the sound of hurrying feet,
+cries are heard of "Good God!"--"In the park, did you say?"--"A doctor!
+Fetch a doctor!"--"Who did it?"--"That fellow running towards
+the river!"--"After him! After him!"--"Fetch a barrow from the
+works!"--After a while the KING returns alone, looking distracted. He
+stands motionless and silent for some time.)
+
+The King. What a happy smile there was on his face! Just as she
+smiled!--Yes, it must be happiness! (Hides his face in his hands.) And
+he died for me too! My two only--. (Breaks down.) So that is the price
+they have to pay for loving me!--And at once! At once!--Of course! Of
+course! (The sound of the crowd returning is heard, and cries of: "This
+way!"--"Into the blue room!" Women and children come streaming in, all
+in tears, surrounding ANNA and the men that are carrying GRAN'S body,
+and follow them into the room on the left. Cries are heard of: "Why
+should he die?"--"He was so good!"--"What had he done to deserve
+it!"--"He was the best man in the world!")
+
+The King. "He was the best man in the world!" Yes. And he died for my
+sake! That means something good of me!--the best possible! Are they two
+together now, I wonder? Oh, let me have a sign!--or is that too much to
+ask? (The crowd come out again, sobbing and weeping, and cries are heard
+of: "He looks so beautiful and peaceful!"--"I can't bring myself to
+believe it!" When they see the KING, they hush their voices, and all go
+out as quietly as they can. When they have gone out, the MAYOR's voice
+is heard asking: "Is he in here?" and an answer: "No, in the blue room,
+over there." Then the GENERAL'S voice: "And the murderer escaped?"--An
+answer: "They are looking for him in the river!"--The GENERAL'S voice:
+"In the river? Did he jump into the river?"--The PRIEST's voice:
+"Shocking!" A few moments later the GENERAL with BANG, the MAYOR, and
+the PRIEST come in from the other room. They stop on seeing the KING,
+who is standing at the desk with his back to them, and whisper.)
+
+The General. Isn't that the King?
+
+The Others. The King?
+
+The Mayor. Is the King back? He must have come in the night!
+
+Bang. Let me see!--I know him personally.
+
+The General (holding him back). Of course it is the King.
+
+The Mayor. Really?
+
+Bang. I recognise him by his agitation! It is he.
+
+The General. Hush! Let us go quietly out again! (They begin to move
+off.)
+
+The Mayor. He is grieved. Naturally.
+
+Bang. First of all her death; and then this--!
+
+The Priest. It is the judgment of heaven!
+
+The King (turning round). Who is that? What? (Comes forward.) Who said
+that? (They all stop, take off their hats and bow.) Come back! (They
+come back hastily.) Who said: "It is the judgment of heaven"?
+
+The General. Your Majesty must forgive us--we were just taking a little
+stroll; I am here to spend Christmas with my friend Mr. Bang, who has a
+factory here--a branch of his works--and we happened to meet the Mayor
+and the Priest, and we joined company--and were strolling along when we
+heard a shot. A shot. We did not think anything more about it till we
+came nearer here and saw people running, and heard a great outcry and
+disturbance. Great disturbance--yes. We stopped, of course, and came to
+see what it was. Came to see what it was, of course. And they told us
+that the Minister of the Interior--
+
+The King. What is all that to me! (The GENERAL bows.) Who said: "It is
+the judgment of heaven"? (No one speaks.) Come, answer me!
+
+The Mayor. It was the Priest--I fancy.
+
+The King (to the PRIEST). Haven't you the courage to tell me so
+yourself?
+
+The General. Probably our reverend friend is unaccustomed to find
+himself in the presence of royalty.
+
+The Priest. It is the first time that--that I have had the honour of
+speaking to your Majesty--I did not feel self-possessed enough, for the
+moment, to--
+
+The King. But you were self-possessed enough when you said it! What did
+you mean by saying it was "the judgment of heaven"?--I am asking you
+what you meant by it.
+
+The Priest. I really don't quite know--it slipped out--
+
+The King. That is a lie! Some one said: "First of all her death, and
+then this." And you said: "It is the judgment of heaven."
+
+The Mayor. That is quite right, your Majesty.
+
+The King. First of all _her_ death? That meant the death of my
+betrothed, didn't it?
+
+Bang and The Priest. Yes, your Majesty.
+
+The King. "And then _this_" meant my friend--my dear friend! (With
+emotion.) Why did heaven condemn these two to death? (A pause.)
+
+The General. It is most regrettable that we should, quite involuntarily,
+have disturbed your Majesty at a moment when your Majesty's feelings
+are, naturally, so overcome--
+
+The King (interrupting him). I asked you why heaven condemned these two
+to death. (To the VICAR.) You are a clergyman; cudgel your brains!
+
+The Priest. Well, your Majesty, I was thinking that--I meant that--that
+heaven had in a miraculous way checked your Majesty--
+
+The General. "Ventured to check" would be more suitable, I think.
+
+The Priest.--from continuing in a course which many people thought so
+unfortunate--I mean, so fatal to the nation, and the church; had checked
+your Majesty--
+
+The General (in an undertone). Ventured to check.
+
+The Priest.--by taking away from your Majesty the two persons who--the
+two persons who--in the first place the one who--
+
+The King. The one who--?
+
+The Priest. Who was--
+
+The King. Who was--? A harlot that wanted to sit on the throne?
+
+The Priest. Those are your Majesty's word, not mine. (Wipes his
+forehead.)
+
+The King. Confess that they express what you meant!
+
+The Priest. I confess that I have heard--that people say--that--
+
+The King. Pray to heaven that for a single day your thoughts may be as
+pure as hers were every day. (Bursts into tears. Then says impetuously.)
+How long have you been a clergyman?
+
+The Priest. Fifteen years, your Majesty.
+
+The King. Then you were already ordained at the time when I was leading
+a dissolute life. Why did you never say anything to me then?
+
+The Priest. My most gracious King--
+
+The King. God is the only "most gracious King"! Do not speak blasphemy!
+
+The Priest. It was not my duty to--
+
+The General. Our friend is not a court chaplain. He has merely a parish
+in the town here--
+
+The Mayor. And his work lies chiefly among the factory hands.
+
+The King. And so it is not your duty to speak the truth to me--but
+to attack my dear dead friends by prating about heaven's judgment and
+repeating vile lies? Is that your duty?
+
+The Mayor. I only had the honour to know one of the--the deceased. Your
+Majesty honoured him with your friendship; the greatest honour a subject
+can enjoy. I should like to say that one would rarely find a nobler
+heart, a loftier mind, or more modest fidelity, than his.
+
+The General. I should like, if I may make so bold, to make use of
+the opportunity chance has afforded me of associating myself with my
+sovereign's sorrow, a sorrow for which his whole people must feel the
+deepest respect, but especially those who, in consequence of their high
+position, are more particularly called upon to be the pillars of the
+monarchy; to use this opportunity, I say--and to do so, I know, as the
+representative of many thousands of your Majesty's subjects--to voice
+the sympathy, the unfeigned grief, that will be poured forth at the news
+of this new loss which has wrung your Majesty's heart--a loss which
+will reawaken consternation in the country and make it more than ever
+necessary to take the severest possible measures against a party to
+which nothing is sacred, neither the King's person nor the highest
+dignities of office nor the inviolability of the home--a party whose
+very existence depends on sedition and ought no longer to be tolerated,
+but ought, as the enemy of the throne and of society, to be visited with
+all the terrors of the law, until--
+
+The King. What about compassion, my friend?
+
+The General. Compassion?
+
+The King. Not for the republicans--but for me!
+
+The General. It is just the compassion which the whole nation will feel
+for your Majesty that compels me, in spite of everything, to invoke the
+intervention of justice at this particular crisis! Terror--
+
+The King.--must be our weapon?
+
+The General. Yes! Can any one imagine a more priceless proof of the care
+that a people have for their King, than for the gravely anxious tones
+of their voice to be heard, at this solemn moment, crying: Down with the
+enemies of the throne!
+
+The King (turning away). No, _I_ haven't thews and sinews for that lie!
+
+The Mayor. I must say I altogether agree with the General. The feeling
+of affection, gratitude, esteem--
+
+The General.--the legacy of devotion that your Majesty's ancestors of
+blessed memory--
+
+The King (to the Priest). You, sir--what does my ancestors being "of
+blessed memory" mean?
+
+The Priest (after a moment's thought). It is a respectful manner of
+alluding to them, your Majesty.
+
+The King. A respectful lie, you mean. (A pause. ANNA comes out of the
+room on the left and throws herself at the KING'S feet, embracing his
+knees in despairing sorrow.) Ah, here comes a breath of truth!--And you
+come to me, my child, because you know that we two can mourn together.
+But I do not weep, as you do; because I know that for a long time he had
+been secretly praying for death. He has got his wish now. So you must
+not weep so bitterly. You must wish what he wished, you know. Ah, what
+grief there is in her eyes! (Sobs.)
+
+(The GENERAL signs to the others that they should all withdraw quietly,
+without turning round. They gradually do so; but the KING looks up and
+perceives what they are doing.)
+
+The General. Out of respect for your Majesty's grief, we were going to--
+
+The King. Silence! With my hand on the head of this poor creature, who
+used to trust so unassumingly and devotedly to his goodness of heart,
+I wish to say something in memory of my friend. (ANNA clings to him,
+weeping. The others come respectfully nearer, and wait.) Gran was
+the richest man in the country. Why was it that he had no fear of
+the people? Why was it that he believed that its salvation lay in the
+overthrow of the present state of affairs?
+
+Bang. Mr. Gran, with all his great qualities, was a visionary.
+
+The King. He had not inherited all of his vast fortune; he had amassed a
+great part of it himself.
+
+Bang. As a man of business, Mr. Gran was beyond all praise.
+
+The King. And yet a visionary? The two things are absolutely
+contradictory.--You once called me "the padlock on your cash-box."
+
+Bang. I allowed myself, with all respect, to make that jest--which,
+nevertheless, was nothing but the serious truth!
+
+The King. Why did he, who has met his death, consider that the security
+for _his_ cash-box came from those _below_ him, as long as he did what
+was right, and not from those above him? Because he understood the
+times. No question of selfishness stood in the way of his doing
+that.--That is my funeral oration over him!--(To ANNA.) Get up, my dear!
+Did you understand what I was saying? Do not weep so! (She clings to
+him, sobbing.)
+
+The Priest. He was a very great man! When your Majesty speaks so, I
+fully recognise it. But your Majesty may be certain that, though we may
+not have been so fortunate as to see so far ahead and so clearly--though
+our mental horizon may be narrow--we are none the less loyal to your
+Majesty for that, nor less devoted! It is our duty as subjects to say
+so, although your Majesty in your heaviness of heart seems to forget
+it-seems to forget that we, too, look for everything from your Majesty's
+favour, wisdom and justice. (Perspires freely.)
+
+The King. It is very strange! My dear friend never said anything like
+that to me. (A pause.) He had the most prosperous business in the
+country. When I came to him and asked him to abandon it, he did so at
+once. And in the end he died for me. That is the sort of man he was. (To
+ANNA.) Go in to him, my dear! You are the very picture of dumb loyalty.
+Although I do not deserve to have such as you to watch by my side,
+still, for the sake of him who is dead, I shall have you to do so when
+I too--. (Breaks off.) Yes, yes, go in there now! I shall come. Do you
+understand? I shall come. (ANNA moves towards the other room.) There,
+that's it! (He repeats his words to her every time she looks back as she
+goes.) Yes, directly!--That's it!--In a very little while! Go now!
+
+Bang. Excuse me, your Majesty, but it is terribly hot in here, and the
+affection of my heart which troubles me is attacking me painfully. Will
+your Majesty be pleased to allow me to withdraw?
+
+The Mayor. With all respect, I should like to be allowed to make the
+same request. Your Majesty is obviously very much upset, and I am sure
+we are all unwilling that our presence--which, indeed, was unintentional
+and unsought by us--should augment a distress of mind which is so
+natural in one of your Majesty's noble disposition, and so inevitable
+considering the deep sense of gratitude your Majesty must feel towards a
+friend who--
+
+The King (interrupting him). Hush, hush! Let us have a little respect
+for the truth in the presence of the dead! Do not misunderstand me--I do
+not mean to say that any of you would lie wilfully; but the atmosphere
+that surrounds a king is infected. And, as regards that--just a word or
+two. I have only a short time. But as a farewell message from me--
+
+The Priest. A farewell message?
+
+The King.--give my greeting to what is called Christianity in this
+country. Greet it from me! I have been thinking a great deal about
+Christian folk lately.
+
+The Priest. I am glad to hear it!
+
+The King. Your tone jars on me! Greet those who call themselves
+Christians--. Oh! come, come--don't crane your necks and bend your backs
+like that, as if the most precious words of wisdom were about to drop
+from my lips! (To himself.) Is it any use my saying anything serious to
+them? (Aloud.) I suppose you are Christians?
+
+The General. Why, of course! Faith is invaluable--
+
+The King.--in preserving discipline? (To the Mayor.) How about you?
+
+The Mayor. I was taught by my parents, of blessed memory--
+
+The King. Oh, so they are "of blessed memory" too, are they? Well, what
+did they teach you?
+
+The Mayor. To fear God, honour the King--
+
+The King.--and love the brotherhood! You are a public official, Mr.
+Mayor. That is what a Christian is, nowadays. (To BANG.) And you?
+
+Bang. Of late I have been able to go so little to church, because of my
+cough. And in that unwholesome atmosphere--
+
+The King.--you go to sleep. But you are a Christian?
+
+Bang. Undoubtedly!
+
+The King (to the Priest). And you are one, of course?
+
+The Priest. By the grace of God I hope so!
+
+The King (snapping his fingers). Yes, that is the regulation formula,
+my good fellow! You all answer by the card! Very well, then--you are
+a community of Christians; and it is not my fault if such a
+community refuses to take any serious interest in what really affects
+Christianity. Tell it from me that it ought to keep an eye on the
+monarchy.
+
+The Priest. Christianity has nothing to do with such things. It concerns
+only the souls of men!
+
+The King (aside). That voice. (Aloud.) I know--it does not concern
+itself with the air a patient breathes, but only with his lungs!
+Excellent!--All the same, Christianity ought to keep an eye on the
+monarchy. Ought to tear the falsehood away from it! Ought not to go in
+crowds to stare at a coronation in a church, like apes grinning at a
+peacock! I know what I felt at that moment. I had rehearsed it all once
+that morning already--ha, ha! Ask your Christianity if it may not be
+about time for it to interest itself a little in the monarchy? It
+seems to me that it scarcely ought any longer to allow monarchy, like
+a seductive harlot, to keep militarism before the people's eyes as
+an ideal--seeing that that is exactly contrary to the teachings of
+Christianity, or to encourage class divisions, luxury, hypocrisy and
+vanity. Monarchy has become so all-pervading a lie that it infects even
+the most upright of men.
+
+The Mayor. But I don't understand, your Majesty!
+
+The King. Don't you? You are an upright man yourself, Mr. Mayor--a most
+worthy man.
+
+The Mayor. I do not know whether your Majesty is pleased to jest again?
+
+The King. In sober earnest, I say you are one of the most upright of
+men.
+
+The Mayor. I cannot tell your Majesty how flattered I am to hear your
+Majesty say so!
+
+The King. Have you any decorations?
+
+The Mayor. Your Majesty's government has not, so far, deigned to cast
+their eyes on me.
+
+The King. That fault will be repaired. Be sure of that!
+
+The General (to the Mayor). To have that from his Majesty's own mouth
+is equivalent to seeing it gazetted. I am fortunate to be able to be the
+first to congratulate you!
+
+Bang. Allow me to congratulate you also!
+
+The Priest. And me too! I have had the honour of working hand in hand
+with you, Mr. Mayor, for many years; I know how well deserved such a
+distinction is.
+
+The Mayor. I feel quite overcome; but I must beg to be allowed to lay my
+thanks at your Majesty's feet. I trust I shall not prove unworthy of the
+distinction. One hesitates to make such confessions--but I am a candid
+man, and I admit that one of the chief aims of my ambition has been to
+be allowed some day to participate in--
+
+The King (interrupting him).--in this falsehood. That just points
+my moral. As long as even upright men's thoughts run in that mould,
+Christianity cannot pretend to have any real hold on the nation. As for
+your decoration, you are quite sure to get one from my successor.--In
+a word, Christianity must tackle monarchy! And if it cannot tear the
+falsehood from it without destroying it, then let it destroy it!
+
+The General. Your Majesty!
+
+The King (turning to him). The same thing applies to a standing army,
+which is a creation of monarchy's. I do not believe that such an
+institution--with all its temptations to power, all its inevitable vices
+and habits--could be tolerated if Christianity were a living thing. Away
+with it!
+
+The Priest. Really, your Majesty--!
+
+The King (turning to him). The same applies to an established
+church--another of monarchy's creations! If we had in our country a
+Christianity worth the name, that salvation trade would stink in men's
+nostrils. Away with it!
+
+The Mayor (reproachfully). Oh, your Majesty!
+
+The King (turning on him). The same applies to the artificial disparity
+of circumstances that you prate about with tears in your eyes! I heard
+you once. Class distinctions are fostered by monarchy.
+
+Bang. But equality is an impossibility!
+
+The King. If _you_ would only make it possible--which it can be
+made--even the socialists would cease to clamour for anything else. I
+tell you this: Christianity has destroyed ideals. Christianity lives on
+dogmas and formulas, instead of on ideals.
+
+The Priest. Its ideals lead us away from earth to heaven--
+
+The King. Not in a balloon, even if it were stuffed full of all the
+pages of the Bible! Christianity's ideals will lead to heaven only when
+they are realised on earth--never before.
+
+The Priest. May I venture to say that Christianity's ideal is a pious
+life.
+
+The King. Yes. But does not Christianity aim at more than that, or is it
+going to be content with making some few believers?
+
+The Priest. It is written: "Few are chosen."
+
+The King. Then it has given up the job in advance?
+
+The Mayor. I think our friend is right, that Christianity has never
+occupied itself with such things as your Majesty demands of it.
+
+The King. But what I mean is, could it not bring itself to do so?
+
+The Priest. If it did, it would lose sight of its _inner_ aim. The
+earliest communities are the model for a Christian people!
+
+The King (turning away from him). Oh, have any model you like, so long
+as it leads to something!
+
+The General. I must say I am astonished at the penetration your Majesty
+slows even into the deepest subjects.
+
+Bang. Yes, I have never heard anything like it! I have not had the
+advantage of a university education, so I don't really understand it.
+
+The King. And to think that I imagined that I should find my allies,
+my followers, in Christian people! One is so reluctant to give up _all_
+hope! I thought that a Christian nation would storm the strongholds of
+lies in our modern, so-called Christian communities--storm them, capture
+them!--and begin with monarchy, because that would need most courage,
+and because its falsehood lies deepest and goes farthest. I thought that
+Christianity would one day prove to be the salt of the earth. No, do
+_not_ greet Christianity from me. I have said nothing, and do not mean
+it. I am what men call a betrayed man--betrayed by all the most ideal
+powers of life. There! Now I have done!
+
+The General. But what does your Majesty mean? Betrayed? By whom? Who are
+the traitors? Really--!
+
+The King. Pooh! Think it over!--As a matter of fact I am the only one
+that has been foolish.
+
+Bang. Your Majesty, just now you were so full of vigour--!
+
+The King. Don't let that astonish you, my friend! I am a mixture of
+enthusiasm and world-weariness; the scion of a decrepit race is
+not likely to be any better than that, you know! And as for being a
+reformer--! Ha, ha! Well, I thank you all for having listened to me so
+patiently. Whatever I said had no significance--except perhaps that,
+like the oysters, I had to open my shell before I died.--Good-bye!
+
+The General. I really cannot find it in my heart to leave your Majesty
+when your Majesty is in so despondent a humour.
+
+The King. I am afraid you will have to try, my gallant friend!--Don't
+look so dejected, Mr. Mayor!--Suppose some day serious-minded men
+should feel just as humiliated at such falsehoods existing as you do
+now because you have not been allowed to participate in them. I might
+perhaps be able to endure being king then! But as things are now, I am
+not strong enough for the job. I feel as if I had been shouldered out
+of actual life on to this strip of carpet that I am standing on! That is
+what my attempts at reform have ended in!
+
+The Mayor. May I be allowed to say that the impression made on my mind
+by the somewhat painful scene we have just gone through is that your
+Majesty is overwrought.
+
+The King. Mad, you mean?
+
+The Mayor. God forbid I should use such a word of my King!
+
+The King. Always punctilious!--Well, judging by the fact that every one
+else considers themselves sane, I must undoubtedly be the mad one. It
+is as simple as a sum in arithmetic.--And, in all conscience, isn't
+it madness, when all is said and done, to take such trifles so much to
+heart?--to bother about a few miserable superannuated forms that are not
+of the slightest importance?--a few venerable, harmless prejudices?--a
+few foolish social customs and other trumpery affairs of that sort?
+
+The General. Quite so!
+
+The Mayor. Your Majesty is absolutely right!
+
+Bang. I quite agree!
+
+The Priest. It is exactly what I have been thinking all the time.
+
+The King. And probably we had better add to the list certain
+extravagant ideas--perhaps even certain dangerous ideas, like mine about
+Christianity?
+
+The Priest (hastily and impressively). Your Majesty is mistaken on the
+subject of Christianity.
+
+The Mayor. Christianity is entirely a personal matter, your Majesty.
+
+The General. Your Majesty expects too much of it. Now, as a comfort for
+the dying--!
+
+The King. And a powerful instrument of discipline.
+
+The General (smiling). Ah, your Majesty!
+
+Bang (confidentially). Christianity is no longer such a serious matter
+nowadays, except for certain persons--. (Glances at the PRIEST.)
+
+The King. All I have to say on the head of such unanimous approval
+is this: that in such a shallow society, where there is no particular
+distinction between lies and truth, because most things are mere
+forms without any deeper meaning--where ideals are considered to be
+extravagant, dangerous things--it is not so _very_ amusing to be alive.
+
+The General. Oh, your Majesty! Really, you--! Ha, ha, ha!
+
+The King. Don't you agree with me?--Ah, if only one could grapple with
+it!--but we should need to be many to do that, and better equipped than
+I am.
+
+The General. Better equipped than your Majesty? Your Majesty is the most
+gifted man in the whole country!
+
+All. Yes!
+
+The General. Yes--your Majesty must excuse me--I spoke involuntarily!
+
+The Mayor. There was a tone running through all your Majesty said that
+seemed to suggest that your Majesty was contemplating--. (Breaks off.)
+
+The King.--going away? Yes.
+
+All. Going away?
+
+The General. And abdicating? For heaven's sake, your Majesty--!
+
+Bang. That would mean handing us over to the crown prince--the pietist!
+
+The Priest (betraying his pleasure in spite of himself). And his mother!
+
+The King. You are pleased at the idea, parson! It will be a sight to
+see her and her son prancing along, with all of you in your best clothes
+following them! Hurrah!
+
+The General. Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!
+
+Bang. Ha-ha-ha! (Coughs.) I get such a cough when I laugh.
+
+The King (seriously). I had no intention of provoking laughter in the
+presence of death. I can hear the sounds of mourning through the open
+door.
+
+The Mayor. With all due respect to the church--the vast majority of the
+nation have no desire for things to come to _that_--to the accession of
+a pietist to the throne. If your Majesty threatens to abdicate you will
+have us all at your feet.
+
+The General (with decision). The accession of a new king just now would
+be universally considered a national calamity. I will wager my life on
+that!
+
+Bang. And I too!
+
+The King. My excellent friends--you must take the consequences of your
+actions!
+
+The Mayor (despairingly). But _this_! Who ever imagined such a thing?
+
+The General and Bang. No one--no one!
+
+The King. So much the worse. What is it you are asking me to do? To
+stay where I am, so as to keep another man down? Is that work for a man?
+Shame!
+
+The Mayor (in distress). We ask more than that! Your Majesty is making a
+fatal mistake! The whole of your Majesty's dissatisfaction springs from
+the fact that you believe yourself to be deserted by your people because
+the elections are going contrary to what your Majesty had hoped. Nothing
+is further from the truth! The people fight shy of revolutionary ideas;
+but they love their King!
+
+Bang. They love their King!
+
+The King. And that white dove, who came confidently to my hand--she had
+some experience of what their love was!
+
+The Mayor. The King's associates may displease the people; ideas may
+alter; but love for their King endures!
+
+The Others. Endures!
+
+The King. Cease! Cease!
+
+The General (warmly). Your Majesty may command us to do anything except
+refrain from giving utterance to a free people's freely offered homage
+of devotion, loyalty, and love for its royal house!
+
+The Mayor (emotionally). There is no one who would not give his life for
+his King!
+
+Bang, The General, and The Priest. No one!
+
+The General. Try us! (They all press forward.)
+
+The King. Done with you! (Takes a revolver from his pocket.) Since
+yesterday I have carried this little thing in my pocket. (They all look
+alarmed.)
+
+The Priest. Merciful heavens!
+
+The King (holding out the revolver to him). Will you die for me? If so,
+I will continue to be King.
+
+The Priest. I? What does your Majesty mean? It would be a great sin!
+
+The King. You love me, I suppose?
+
+All (desperately). Yes, your Majesty!
+
+The King. Those who love, believe. Therefore, believe me when I say
+this: If there is a single one of you who, without thinking twice about
+it, will die for his King now--here--at once--then I shall consider that
+as a command laid upon me to go on living and working.
+
+The Mayor (in a terrified whisper). He is insane!
+
+The General (whispers). Yes!
+
+The King. I can hear you!--But I suppose you love your King, even if he
+is insane?
+
+All (in agitated tones). Yes, your Majesty!
+
+The King. Majesty, majesty! There is only One who has any majesty about
+Him--certainly not a madman! But if I have been driven mad by the lies
+that surround me, it would be a holy deed to make me sound again. You
+said you would die for me. Redeem your words! That will make me well
+again!--You, General?
+
+The General. My beloved King, it would be--as our reverend friend so
+aptly put it--a most dreadful sin.
+
+The King. You have let slip a splendid opportunity for showing your
+heroism.--You ought to have seen that I was only putting you to the
+test!--Good-bye! (Goes into the room on the left.)
+
+The General. Absolutely insane!
+
+The Others. Absolutely.
+
+The Mayor. Such great abilities, too! What might not have been made of
+him!
+
+Bang. The pity of it!
+
+The Priest. I got so alarmed.
+
+Bang. So did I! (A loud pistol-shot is heard.)
+
+The Priest. Another shot? (A pitiful woman's cry is heard from the other
+room.)
+
+The Mayor. What on earth was that?
+
+Bang. I daren't think!
+
+The Priest. Nor I! (An old woman rushes out of the room on the left,
+calling out: "Help!--Help!--The King!" and hurries out at the back,
+calling: "The King! Help, help!" The GENERAL and the MAYOR rush into
+the other room. Voices are heard outside asking: "The King?--Was it the
+King?" The confusion and uproar grows. In the midst of it ANNA comes
+stumbling out of the other room, her hands stretched out before her, as
+if she did not know where she was going. The noise and confusion grows
+louder every minute, and crowds of people come rushing into the room
+from outside as the Curtain falls.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Three Dramas, by Björnstjerne M. Björnson
+
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