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.)