CHARACTERS.HALVARD SOLNESS, Master Builder.ALINE SOLNESS, his wife.DOCTOR HERDAL, physician.KNUT BROVIK, formerly an architect, now in SOLNESS'S employment.RAGNAR BROVIK, his son, draughtsman.KAIA BROVIK, his niece, book-keeper.MISS HILDA WANGEL.Some Ladies.A Crowd in the street.The action passes in and about SOLNESS'S house.ACT FIRST.A plainly-furnished work-room in the house of HALVARD SOLNESS.Folding doors on the left lead out to the hall. On the rightis the door leading to the inner rooms of the house. At theback is an open door into the draughtsmen's office. In front,on the left, a desk with books, papers and writing materials.Further back than the folding door, a stove. In the right-hand corner, a sofa, a table, and one or two chairs. On thetable a water-bottle and glass. A smaller table, with arocking-chair and arm-chair, in front on the right. Lightedlamps, with shades, on the table in the draughtmen's office,on the table in the corner, and on the desk.In the draughtsmen's office sit KNUT BROVIK and his son RAGNAR,occupied with plans and calculations. At the desk in the outeroffice stands KAIA FOSLI, writing in the ledger. KNUT BROVICKis a spare old man with white hair and beard. He wears arather threadbare but well-brushed black coat, with spectacles,and a somewhat discoloured white neckcloth. RAGNAR BROVIK isa well-dressed, light-haired man in his thirties, with aslight stoop. KAIA FOSLI is a slightly built girl, a littleover twenty, carefully dressed, and delicate-looking. She hasa green shade over her eyes.—All three go on working for sometime in silence.KNUT BROVIK.[Rises suddenly, as if in distress, from the table; breathes heavily and laboriously as he comes forward into the doorway.] No, I can't bear it much longer!KAIA.[Going up to him.] You are feeling very ill this evening, are you not, Uncle?BROVIK.Oh, I seem to get worse every day.RAGNAR.[Has risen and advances.] You ought to go home, father. Try to get a little sleep—BROVIK.[Impatiently.] Go to bed, I suppose? Would you have me stifled outright?KAIA.Then take a little walk.RAGNAR.Yes, do. I will come with you.BROVIK.[With warmth.] I will not go till he comes! I and determined to have it out this evening with—[in a tone of suppressed bitterness]—with him—with the chief.KAIA.[Anxiously.] Oh no, uncle,—do wait awhile before doing that!RAGNAR.Yes, better wait, father!BROVIK.[Draws is breath laboriously.] Ha—ha—!Ihaven't much time for waiting.KAIA.[Listening.] Hush! I hear him on the stairs.[All three go back to their work. A short silence.HALVARD SOLNESS comes in through the hall door. He is a man nolonger young, but healthy and vigorous, with close-cut curlyhair, dark moustache and dark thick eyebrows. He wears agreyish-green buttoned jacket with an upstanding collar andbroad lapels. On his head he wears a soft grey felt hat,and he has one or two light portfolios under his arm.SOLNESS.[Near the door, points towards the draughtsmen's office, and asks in a whisper:] Are they gone?KAIA.[Softly, shaking her] No.[She takes the shade off her eyes. SOLNESS crosses the room,throws his hat on a chair, places the portfolios on the tableby the sofa, and approaches the desk again. KAIA goes onwriting without intermission, but seems nervous and uneasy.SOLNESS.[Aloud.] What is that you are entering, Miss Fosli?KAIA.[Starts.] Oh, it is only something that—SOLNESS.Let me look at it, Miss Fosli. [Bends over her, pretends to be looking into the ledger, and whispers:] Kaia!KAIA.[Softly, still writing.] Well?SOLNESS.Why do you always take that shade off when I come?KAIA.[As before.] I look so ugly with it on.SOLNESS.[Smiling.] Then you don't like to look ugly, Kaia?KAIA.[Half glancing up at him.] Not for all the world. Not in your eyes.SOLNESS.[Strokes her hair gently.] Poor, poor little Kaia—KAIA.[Bending her head.] Hush—they can hear you![SOLNESS strolls across the room to the right, turns and pausesat the door of the draughtsmen's office.SOLNESS.Has any one been here for me?RAGNAR.[Rising.] Yes, the young couple who want a villa built, out at Lovstrand.SOLNESS.[Growling.] Oh, those two! They must wait. I am not quite clear about the plans yet.RAGNAR.[Advancing, with some hesitation.] They were very anxious to have the drawings at once.SOLNESS.[As before.] Yes, of course—so they all are.BROVIK.[Looks up.] They say they are longing so to get into a house of their own.SOLNESS.Yes, yes—we know all that! And so they are content to take whatever is offered them. They get a—a roof over their heads—an address—but nothing to call a home. No thank you! In that case, let them apply to somebody else. Tell them that, the next time they call.BROVIK.[Pushes his glasses up on to his forehead and looks in astonishment at him.] To somebody else? Are you prepared to give up the commission?SOLNESS.[Impatiently.] Yes, yes, yes, devil take it! If that is to be the way of it—. Rather that, than build away at random. [Vehemently.] Besides, I know very little about these people as yet.BROVIK.The people are safe enough. Ragnar knows them. He is a friend of the family.SOLNESS.Oh, safe—safe enough! That is not at all what I mean. Good lord—don't you understand me either? [Angrily.] I won't have anything to do with these strangers. They may apply to whom they please, so far as I am concerned.BROVIK.[Rising.] Do you really mean that?SOLNESS.[Sulkily.] Yes I do.—For once in a way. [He comes forward.[BROVIK exchanges a glance with RAGNAR, who makes a warninggesture. Then BROVIK comes into the front room.BROVIK.May I have a few words with you?SOLNESS.Certainly.BROVIK.[To KAIA.] Just go in there for moment, Kaia.KAIA.[Uneasily.] Oh, but uncle—BROVIK.Do as I say, child. And shut the door after you.[KAIA goes reluctantly into the draughtsmen's office, glancesanxiously and imploringly at SOLNESS, and shuts the door.BROVIK.[Lowering his voice a little.] I don't want the poor children to know how I am.SOLNESS.Yes, you have been looking very poorly of late.BROVIK.It will soon be all over with me. My strength is ebbing—from day to day.SOLNESS.Won't you sit down?BROVIK.Thanks—may I?SOLNESS.[Placing the arm-chair more conveniently.] Here—take this chair.—And now?BROVIK.[Has seated himself with difficulty.] Well, you see, it's about Ragnar. That is what weighs most upon me. What is to become of him?SOLNESS.Of course your son will stay with me as long as ever he likes.BROVIK.But that is just what he does not like. He feels that he cannot stay here any longer.SOLNESS.Why, I should say he was very well off here. But if he wants more money, I should not mind—BROVIK.No, no! It is not that. [Impatiently.] But sooner or later he, too, must have a chance of doing something on his own account.SOLNESS.[Without looking at him.] Do you think that Ragnar has quite talent enough to stand alone?BROVIK.No, that is just the heartbreaking part of it—I have begun to have my doubts about the boy. For you have never said so much as—as one encouraging word about him. And yet I cannot but think there must be something in him—he can't be without talent.SOLNESS.Well, but he has learnt nothing—nothing thoroughly, I mean. Except, of course, to draw.BROVIK.[Looks at him with covert hatred, and says hoarsely.] You had learned little enough of the business when you were in my employment. But that did not prevent you from setting to work—[breathing with difficulty]—and pushing your way up, and taking the wind out of my sails—mine, and so may other people's.SOLNESS.Yes, you see—circumstances favoured me.BROVIK.You are right there. Everything favoured you. But then how can you have the heart to let me go to my grave—without having seen what Ragnar is fit for? And of course I am anxious to see them married, too—before I go.SOLNESS.[Sharply.] Is it she who wishes it?BROVIK.Not Kaia so much as Ragnar—he talks about it every day. [Appealingly.] You must help him to get some independent work now! I must see something that the lad has done. Do you hear?SOLNESS.[Peevishly.] Hang it, man, you can't expect me to drag commissions down from the moon for him!BROVIK.He has the chance of a capital commission at this very moment. A big bit of work.SOLNESS.[Uneasily, startled.] Has he?BROVIK.I you would give your consent.SOLNESS.What sort of work do you mean?BROVIK.[With some hesitation.] He can have the building of that villa out at Lovstrand.SOLNESS.That! Why I am going to build that myself.BROVIK.Oh you don't much care about doing it.SOLNESS.[Flaring up.] Don't care! Who dares to say that?BROVIK.You said so yourself just now.SOLNESS.Oh, never mind what I say.—Would they give Ragnar the building of that villa?BROVIK.Yes. You see, he knows the family. And then—just for the fun of the thing—he has made drawings and estimates and so forth—SOLNESS.Are they pleased with the drawings? The people who will have to live in the house?BROVIK.Yes. If you would only look through them and approve of them—SOLNESS.Then they would let Ragnar build their home for them?BROVIK.They were immensely pleased with his idea. They thought it exceedingly original, they said.SOLNESS.Oho! Original! Not the old-fashioned stuff thatIam in the habit of turning out!BROVIK.It seemed to them different.SOLNESS.[With suppressed irritation.] So it was to see Ragnar that they came here—whilst I was out!BROVIK.They came to call upon you—and at the same time to ask whether you would mind retiring—SOLNESS.[Angrily.] Retire? I?BROVIK.In case you thought that Ragnar's drawings—SOLNESS.I! Retire in favour of your son!BROVIK.Retire from the agreement, they meant.SOLNESS.Oh, it comes to the same thing. [Laughs angrily.] So that is it, is it? Halvard Solness is to see about retiring now! To make room for younger men! For the very youngest, perhaps! He must make room! Room! Room!BROVIK.Why, good heavens! there is surely room for more than one single man—SOLNESS.Oh, there's not so very much room to spare either. But, be that as it may—I will never retire! I will never give way to anybody! Never of my own free will. Never in this world will I do that!BROVIK.[Rise with difficulty.] Then I am to pass out of life without any certainty? Without a gleam of happiness? Without any faith or trust in Ragnar? Without having seen a single piece of work of his doing? Is that to be the way of it?SOLNESS.[Turns half aside, and mutters.] H'm—don't ask more just now.BROVIK.I must have an answer to this one question. Am I to pass out of life in such utter poverty?SOLNESS.[Seems to struggle with himself; finally he says, in a low but firm voice:] You must pass out of life as best you can.BROVIK.Then be it so. [He goes up the room.SOLNESS.[Following him, half is desperation.] Don't you understand that I cannot help it? I am what I am, and I cannot change my nature!BROVIK.No; I suppose that you can't. [Reels and supports himself against the sofa-table.] May I have a glass of water?SOLNESS.By all means. [Fills a glass and hands it to him.BROVIK.Thanks. [Drinks and puts the glass down again.[SOLNESS goes up and opens the door of the draughtsmen's office.SOLNESS.Ragnar—you must come and take your father home.Ragnar rises quickly. He and KAIA come into the work-room.RAGNAR.What is the matter, father?BROVIK.Give me your arm. Now let us go.RAGNAR.Very well. You had better put your things on, too, Kaia.SOLNESS.Miss Fosli must stay—just for a moment. There is a letter I want written.BROVIK.[Looks at SOLNESS.] Good night. Sleep well—if you can.SOLNESS.Good night.[BROVIK and RAGNAR go out by the hall-door. KAIA goes to thedesk. SOLNESS stands with bent head, to the right, by thearm-chair.KAIA.[Dubiously.] Is there any letter?SOLNESS.[Curtly.] No, of course not. [Looks sternly at her.] Kaia!KAIA.[Anxiously, in a low voice.] Yes!SOLNESS.[Points imperatively to a spot on the floor.] Come here! At once!KAIA.[Hesitatingly.] Yes.SOLNESS.[As before.] Nearer!KAIA.[Obeying.] What do you want with me?SOLNESS.[Looks at her for a while.] Is it you I have to thank for all this?KAIA.No, no, don't think that!SOLNESS.But confess now—you want to get married!KAIA.[Softly.] Ragnar and I have been engaged for four or five years, and so—SOLNESS.And so you think it time there were an end of it. Is not that so?KAIA.Ragnar and Uncle say I must. So I suppose I shall have to give in.SOLNESS.[More gently.] Kaia, don't you really care a little bit for Ragnar, too?KAIA.I cared very much for Ragnar once—before I came here to you.SOLNESS.But you don't now? Not in the least?KAIA.[Passionately, clasping hands and holding them out towards him.] Oh, you know very well there is only one person I care for now! I shall never care for any one else.SOLNESS.Yes, you say that. And yet you go away from me—leave me alone here with everything on my hands.KAIA.But could I not stay with you, even if Ragnar—?SOLNESS.[Repudiating the idea.] No, no, that is quite impossible. If Ragnar leaves me and starts work on his own account, then of course he will need you himself.KAIA.[Wringing her hands.] Oh, I feel as if I could not be separated from you! It's quite, quite impossible!SOLNESS.Then be sure you get those foolish notions out of Ragnar's head. Marry him as much as you please—[Alters his tone.] I mean—don't let him throw up his good situation with me. For then I can keep you too, my dear Kaia.KAIA.Oh yes, how lovely that would be, if it could only be managed!SOLNESS.[Clasps her head with his two hands and whispers.] For I cannot get on without you, you see. I must have you with me every single day.KAIA.[In nervous exaltation.] My God! My God!SOLNESS.[Kisses her hair.] Kaia—Kaia!KAIA.[Sinks down before him.] Oh, how good you are to me! How unspeakably good you are!SOLNESS.[Vehemently.] Get up! For goodness' sake get up! I think I hear some one.[He helps her to rise. She staggers over to the desk.MRS. SOLNESS enters by the door on the right. She looks thinand wasted with grief, but shows traces of bygone beauty.Blonde ringlets. Dressed with good taste, wholly in black.Speaks some-what slowly and in a plaintive voice.MRS. SOLNESS.[In the doorway.] Halvard!SOLNESS.[Turns.] Oh, are you there, my dear—?MRS. SOLNESS.[With a glance at KAIA.] I am afraid I am disturbing you.SOLNESS.Not in the least. Miss Fosli has only a short letter to write.MRS. SOLNESS.Yes, so I see.SOLNESS.What do you want with me, Aline?MRS. SOLNESS.I merely wanted to tell you that Dr. Herdal is in the drawing-room. Won't you come and see him, Halvard?SOLNESS.[Looks suspiciously at her.]. H'm—is the doctor so very anxious to see me?MRS. SOLNESS.Well, not exactly anxious. He really came to see me; but he would like to say how-do-you-do to you at the same time.SOLNESS.[Laughs to himself.] Yes, I daresay. Well, you must ask him to wait a little.MRS. SOLNESS.Then you will come in presently?SOLNESS.Perhaps I will. Presently, presently, dear. In a little while.MRS. SOLNESS.[Glancing again at KAIA.] Well now, don't forget, Halvard.[Withdraws and closes the door behind her.KAIA.[Softly.] Oh dear, oh dear—I am sure Mrs. Solness thinks ill of me in some way!SOLNESS.Oh, not in the least. Not more than usual at any rate. But all the same, you had better go now, Kaia.KAIA.Yes, yes, now I must go.SOLNESS.[Severely.] And mind you get that matter settled for me. Do you hear?KAIA.Oh, if it only depended on me—SOLNESS.I will have it settled, I say! And to-morrow too—not a day later!KAIA.[Terrified.] If there's nothing else for it, I am quite willing to break off the engagement.SOLNESS.[Angrily.] Break it off. Are you mad? Would you think of breaking it off?KAIA.[Distracted.] Yes, if necessary. For I must—I must stay here with you! I can't leave you! That is utterly—utterly impossible!SOLNESS.[With a sudden outburst.] But deuce take it—how about Ragnar then! It's Ragnar that I—KAIA.[Looks at him with terrified eyes.] It is chiefly on Ragnar's account, that—that you—?SOLNESS.[Collecting himself.] No, no, of course not! You don't understand me either. [Gently and softly.] Of course it is you I want to keep.—you above everything, Kaia. But for that very reason, you must prevent Ragnar, too, from throwing up his situation. There, there,—now go home.KAIA.Yes, yes—good-night, then.SOLNESS.Good night. [As she is going.] Oh, stop a moment! Are Ragnar's drawings in there?KAIA.I did not see him take them with him.SOLNESS.Then just go and find them for me. I might perhaps glance over them, after all.KAIA.[Happy.] Oh yes, please do!SOLNESS.For your sake, Kaia dear. Now, let me have them at once, please.[KAIA hurries into the draughtsmen's office, searches anxiouslyin the table-drawer, finds a portfolio and brings it with her.KAIA.Here are all the drawings.SOLNESS.Good. Put them down there on the table.KAIA.[Putting down the portfolio.] Good night, then. [Beseechingly.] And please, please think kindly of me.SOLNESS.Oh, that I always do. Good-night, my dear little Kaia. [Glances to the right.] Go, go now!MRS. SOLNESS and DR. HERDAL enter by the door on the right.He is a stoutish, elderly man, with a round, good-humouredface, clean shaven, with thin, light hair, and gold spectacles.MRS. SOLNESS.[Still in the doorway.] Halvard, I cannot keep the doctor any longer.SOLNESS.Well then, come in here.MRS. SOLNESS.[To KAIA, who is turning down the desk-lamp.] Have you finished the letter already, Miss Fosli?KAIA.[In confusion.] The letter—?SOLNESS.Yes, it was quite a short one.MRS. SOLNESS.It must have been very short.SOLNESS.You may go now, Miss Fosli. And please come in good time to-morrow morning.KAIA.I will be sure to. Good-night, Mrs. Solness.[She goes out by the hall door.SOLNESS.Are you in a hurry, doctor?DR. HERDAL.No, not at all.SOLNESS.May I have a little chat with you?DR. HERDAL.With the greatest of pleasure.SOLNESS.Then let us sit down. [He motions the doctor to take the rocking-chair, and sits down himself in the arm-chair. Looks searchingly at him.] Tell me—did you notice anything odd about Aline?DR. HERDAL.Do you mean just now, when she was here?SOLNESS.Yes, in her manner to me. Did you notice anything?DR. HERDAL.[Smiling.] Well, I admit—one couldn't well avoid noticing that your wife—h'm—DR. HERDAL. —that your wife is not particularly fond of this Miss Fosli.SOLNESS.Is that all? I have noticed that myself.DR. HERDAL.And I must say I am scarcely surprised at it.SOLNESS.At what?DR. HERDAL.That she should not exactly approve of your seeing so much of another woman, all day and every day.SOLNESS.No, no, I suppose you are right there—and Aline too. But it's impossible to make any change.DR. HERDAL.Could you not engage a clerk?SOLNESS.The first man that came to hand? No, thank you—that would never do for me.DR. HERDAL.But now, if your wife—? Suppose, with her delicate health, all this tries her too much?SOLNESS.Even then—I might almost say—it can make no difference. I must keep Kaia Fosli. No one else could fill her place.DR. HERDAL.No one else?SOLNESS.[Curtly.] No, no one.DR. HERDAL.[Drawing his chair closer.] Now listen to me, my dear Mr. Solness. May I ask you a question, quite between ourselves?SOLNESS.By all means.DR. HERDAL.Women, you see—in certain matters, they have a deucedly keen intuition—SOLNESS.They have, indeed. There is not the least doubt of that. But—?DR. HERDAL.Well, tell me now—if your wife can't endure this Kaia Fosli—?SOLNESS.Well, what then?DR. HERDAL. —may she not have just—just the least little bit of reason for this instinctive dislike?SOLNESS.[Looks at him and rises.] Oho!DR. HERDAL.Now don't be offended—but hasn't she?SOLNESS.[With curt decision.] No.DR. HERDAL.No reason of any sort?SOLNESS.No other than her own suspicious nature.DR. HERDAL.I know you have known a good many women in your time.SOLNESS.Yes, I have.DR. HERDAL.And have been a good deal taken with some of them, too.SOLNESS.Oh yes, I don't deny it.DR. HERDAL.But as regards Miss Fosli, then? There is nothing of that sort in this case?SOLNESS.No; nothing at all—on my side.DR. HERDAL.But on her side?SOLNESS.I don't think you have any right to ask that question, doctor.DR. HERDAL.Well, you know, we were discussing your wife's intuition.SOLNESS.So we were. And for that matter—[lowers his voice]—Aline's intuition, as you call it—in a certain sense, it has not been so far astray.DR. HERDAL.Aha! there we have it!SOLNESS.[Sits down.] Doctor Herdal—I am going to tell you a strange story—if you care to listen to it.DR. HERDAL.I like listening to strange stories.SOLNESS.Very well then. I daresay you recollect that I took Knut Brovik and his son into my employment—after the old man's business had gone to the dogs.DR. HERDAL.Yes, so I have understood.SOLNESS.You see, they really are clever fellows, these two. Each of them has talent in his own way. But then the son took it into his head to get engaged; and the next thing, of course, was that he wanted to get married—and begin to build on his own account. That is the way with all these young people.DR. HERDAL.[Laughing.] Yes, they have a bad habit of wanting to marry.SOLNESS.Just so. But of course that did not suit my plans; for I needed Ragnar myself—and the old man too. He is exceedingly good at calculating bearing strains and cubic contents—and all that sort of devilry, you know.DR. HERDAL.Oh yes, no doubt that's indispensable.SOLNESS.Yes, it is. But Ragnar was absolutely bent on setting to work for himself. He would hear of nothing else.DR. HERDAL.But he has stayed with you all the same.SOLNESS.Yes, I'll tell you how that came about. One day this girl, Kaia Fosli, came to see them on some errand or other. She had never been here before. And when I saw how utterly infatuated they were with each other, the thought occurred to me: if I cold only get her into the office here, then perhaps Ragnar too would stay where he is.DR. HERDAL.That was not at all a bad idea.SOLNESS.Yes, but at the time I did not breathe a word of what was in my mind. I merely stood and looked at her—and kept on wishing intently that I could have her here. Then I talked to her a little, in a friendly way—about one thing and another. And then she went away.DR. HERDAL.Well?SOLNESS.Well then, next day, pretty late in the evening, when old Brovik and Ragnar had gone home, she came here again, and behaved as if I had made an arrangement with her.DR. HERDAL.An arrangement? What about?SOLNESS.About the very thing my mind had been fixed on. But I hadn't said one single word about it.DR. HERDAL.That was most extraordinary.SOLNESS.Yes, was it not? And now she wanted to know what she was to do here—whether she could begin the very next morning, and so forth.DR. HERDAL.Don't you think she did it in order to be with her sweetheart?SOLNESS.That was what occurred to me at first. But no, that was not it. She seemed to drift quite away from him—when once she had come here to me.DR. HERDAL.She drifted over to you, then?SOLNESS.Yes, entirely. If I happen to look at her when her back is turned, I can tell that she feels it. She quivers and trembles the moment I come near her. What do you think of that?DR. HERDAL.H'm—that's not very hard to explain.SOLNESS.Well, but what about the other thing? That she believed I had said to her what I had only wished and willed—silently—inwardly—to myself? What do you say to that? Can you explain that, Dr. Herdal?DR. HERDAL.No, I won't undertake to do that.SOLNESS.I felt sure you would not; and so I have never cared to talk about it till now.—But it's a cursed nuisance to me in the long run, you understand. Here have I got to go on day after day, pretending—. And it's a shame to treat her so, too, poor girl. [Vehemently.] But I cannot do anything else. For if she runs away from me—then Ragnar will be off too.DR. HERDAL.And you have not told your wife the rights of the story?SOLNESS.No.DR. HERDAL.The why on earth don't you?SOLNESS.[Looks fixedly at him, and says in a low voice:] Because I seem to find a sort of—of salutary self-torture in allowing Aline to do me an injustice.DR. HERDAL.[Shakes his head.] I don't in the least understand what you mean.SOLNESS.Well, you see—it is like paying off a little bit of a huge, immeasurable debt—DR. HERDAL.To your wife?SOLNESS.Yes; and that always helps to relieve one's mind a little. One can breathe more freely for a while, you understand.DR. HERDAL.No, goodness knows, I don't understand at all—SOLNESS.[Breaking off, rises again.] Well, well, well—then we won't talk any more about it. [He saunters across the room, returns, and stops beside the table. Looks at the doctor with a sly smile.] I suppose you think you have drawn me out nicely now, doctor?DR. HERDAL.[With some irritation.] Drawn you out? Again I have not the faintest notion of what you mean, Mr. Solness.SOLNESS.Oh come, out with it; I have seen it quite clearly, you know.DR. HERDAL.What have you seen?SOLNESS.[In a low voice, slowly.] That you have been quietly keeping an eye upon me.DR. HERDAL.ThatIhave! And why in all the world should I do that?SOLNESS.Because you think that I—— [Passionately.] Well devil take it—you think the same of me as Aline does.DR. HERDAL.And what does she think about you?SOLNESS.[Having recovered his self-control.] She has begun to think that I am—that I am—ill.DR. HERDAL.Ill! You! She has never hinted such a thing to me. Why, what can she think is the matter with you?SOLNESS.[Leans over the back of the chair and whispers.] Aline has made up her mind that I am mad. That is what she thinks.DR. HERDAL.[Rising.] Why, my dear fellow—!SOLNESS.Yes, on my soul she does! I tell you it is so. And she has got you to think the same! Oh, I can assure you, doctor, I see it in your face as clearly as possible. You don't take me in so easily, I can tell you.DR. HERDAL.[Looks at him in amazement.] Never, Mr. Solness—never has such a thought entered my mind.SOLNESS.[With and incredulous smile.] Really? Has it not?DR. HERDAL.No, never! Nor your wife's mind either, I am convinced. I could almost swear to that.SOLNESS.Well, I wouldn't advise you to. For, in a certain sense, you see, perhaps—perhaps she is not so far wrong in thinking something of the kind.DR. HERDAL.Come now, I really must say—SOLNESS.[Interrupting, with a sweep of his hand.] Well, well, my dear doctor—don't let us discuss this any further. We had better agree to differ. [Changes to a tone of quiet amusement.] But look here now, doctor—h'm—DR. HERDAL.Well?SOLNESS.Since you don't believe that I am—ill—and crazy—and mad, and so forth—DR. HERDAL.What then?SOLNESS.Then I daresay you fancy that I am an extremely happy man.DR. HERDAL.Is that mere fancy?SOLNESS.[Laughs.] No, no—of course not! Heaven forbid! Only think—to be Solness the master builder! Halvard Solness! What could be more delightful?DR. HERDAL.Yes, I must say it seems to me you have had the luck on your side to an astounding degree.SOLNESS.[Suppresses a gloomy smile.] So I have. I can't complain on that score.DR. HERDAL.First of all that grim old robbers' castle was burnt down for you. And that was certainly a great piece of luck.SOLNESS.[Seriously.] It was the home of Aline's family. Remember that.DR. HERDAL.Yes, it must have been a great grief to her.SOLNESS.She has not got over it to this day—not in all these twelve or thirteen years.DR. HERDAL.But you—yourself—you rose upon the ruins. You began as a poor boy from a country village—and now you are at the head of your profession. Ah, yes, Mr. Solness, you have undoubtedly had the luck on your side.SOLNESS.[Looking at him with embarrassment.] Yes, but that is just what makes me so horribly afraid.DR. HERDAL.Afraid? Because you have the luck on your side!SOLNESS.It terrifies me—terrifies me every hour of the day. For sooner or later the luck must turn, you see.DR. HERDAL.Oh nonsense! What should make the luck turn?SOLNESS.[With firm assurance.] The younger generation!DR. HERDAL.Pooh! The younger generation! You are not laid on the shelf yet, I should hope. Oh no—your position here is probably firmer now than it has ever been.SOLNESS.The luck will turn. I know it—I feel the day approaching. Some one or other will take it into his head to say: Give me a chance! And then all the rest will come clamouring after him, and shake their fists at me and shout: Make room—make room—! Yes, just you see, doctor—presently the younger generation will come knocking at my door—DR. HERDAL.[Laughing.] Well, and what if they do?SOLNESS.What if they do? Then there's an end of Halvard Solness.
HALVARD SOLNESS, Master Builder.ALINE SOLNESS, his wife.DOCTOR HERDAL, physician.KNUT BROVIK, formerly an architect, now in SOLNESS'S employment.RAGNAR BROVIK, his son, draughtsman.KAIA BROVIK, his niece, book-keeper.MISS HILDA WANGEL.Some Ladies.A Crowd in the street.
The action passes in and about SOLNESS'S house.
A plainly-furnished work-room in the house of HALVARD SOLNESS.Folding doors on the left lead out to the hall. On the rightis the door leading to the inner rooms of the house. At theback is an open door into the draughtsmen's office. In front,on the left, a desk with books, papers and writing materials.Further back than the folding door, a stove. In the right-hand corner, a sofa, a table, and one or two chairs. On thetable a water-bottle and glass. A smaller table, with arocking-chair and arm-chair, in front on the right. Lightedlamps, with shades, on the table in the draughtmen's office,on the table in the corner, and on the desk.In the draughtsmen's office sit KNUT BROVIK and his son RAGNAR,occupied with plans and calculations. At the desk in the outeroffice stands KAIA FOSLI, writing in the ledger. KNUT BROVICKis a spare old man with white hair and beard. He wears arather threadbare but well-brushed black coat, with spectacles,and a somewhat discoloured white neckcloth. RAGNAR BROVIK isa well-dressed, light-haired man in his thirties, with aslight stoop. KAIA FOSLI is a slightly built girl, a littleover twenty, carefully dressed, and delicate-looking. She hasa green shade over her eyes.—All three go on working for sometime in silence.
[Rises suddenly, as if in distress, from the table; breathes heavily and laboriously as he comes forward into the doorway.] No, I can't bear it much longer!
[Going up to him.] You are feeling very ill this evening, are you not, Uncle?
Oh, I seem to get worse every day.
[Has risen and advances.] You ought to go home, father. Try to get a little sleep—
[Impatiently.] Go to bed, I suppose? Would you have me stifled outright?
Then take a little walk.
Yes, do. I will come with you.
[With warmth.] I will not go till he comes! I and determined to have it out this evening with—[in a tone of suppressed bitterness]—with him—with the chief.
[Anxiously.] Oh no, uncle,—do wait awhile before doing that!
Yes, better wait, father!
[Draws is breath laboriously.] Ha—ha—!Ihaven't much time for waiting.
[Listening.] Hush! I hear him on the stairs.
[All three go back to their work. A short silence.
HALVARD SOLNESS comes in through the hall door. He is a man nolonger young, but healthy and vigorous, with close-cut curlyhair, dark moustache and dark thick eyebrows. He wears agreyish-green buttoned jacket with an upstanding collar andbroad lapels. On his head he wears a soft grey felt hat,and he has one or two light portfolios under his arm.
[Near the door, points towards the draughtsmen's office, and asks in a whisper:] Are they gone?
[Softly, shaking her] No.
[She takes the shade off her eyes. SOLNESS crosses the room,throws his hat on a chair, places the portfolios on the tableby the sofa, and approaches the desk again. KAIA goes onwriting without intermission, but seems nervous and uneasy.
[Aloud.] What is that you are entering, Miss Fosli?
[Starts.] Oh, it is only something that—
Let me look at it, Miss Fosli. [Bends over her, pretends to be looking into the ledger, and whispers:] Kaia!
[Softly, still writing.] Well?
Why do you always take that shade off when I come?
[As before.] I look so ugly with it on.
[Smiling.] Then you don't like to look ugly, Kaia?
[Half glancing up at him.] Not for all the world. Not in your eyes.
[Strokes her hair gently.] Poor, poor little Kaia—
[Bending her head.] Hush—they can hear you!
[SOLNESS strolls across the room to the right, turns and pausesat the door of the draughtsmen's office.
Has any one been here for me?
[Rising.] Yes, the young couple who want a villa built, out at Lovstrand.
[Growling.] Oh, those two! They must wait. I am not quite clear about the plans yet.
[Advancing, with some hesitation.] They were very anxious to have the drawings at once.
[As before.] Yes, of course—so they all are.
[Looks up.] They say they are longing so to get into a house of their own.
Yes, yes—we know all that! And so they are content to take whatever is offered them. They get a—a roof over their heads—an address—but nothing to call a home. No thank you! In that case, let them apply to somebody else. Tell them that, the next time they call.
[Pushes his glasses up on to his forehead and looks in astonishment at him.] To somebody else? Are you prepared to give up the commission?
[Impatiently.] Yes, yes, yes, devil take it! If that is to be the way of it—. Rather that, than build away at random. [Vehemently.] Besides, I know very little about these people as yet.
The people are safe enough. Ragnar knows them. He is a friend of the family.
Oh, safe—safe enough! That is not at all what I mean. Good lord—don't you understand me either? [Angrily.] I won't have anything to do with these strangers. They may apply to whom they please, so far as I am concerned.
[Rising.] Do you really mean that?
[Sulkily.] Yes I do.—For once in a way. [He comes forward.
[BROVIK exchanges a glance with RAGNAR, who makes a warninggesture. Then BROVIK comes into the front room.
May I have a few words with you?
Certainly.
[To KAIA.] Just go in there for moment, Kaia.
[Uneasily.] Oh, but uncle—
Do as I say, child. And shut the door after you.
[KAIA goes reluctantly into the draughtsmen's office, glancesanxiously and imploringly at SOLNESS, and shuts the door.
[Lowering his voice a little.] I don't want the poor children to know how I am.
Yes, you have been looking very poorly of late.
It will soon be all over with me. My strength is ebbing—from day to day.
Won't you sit down?
Thanks—may I?
[Placing the arm-chair more conveniently.] Here—take this chair.—And now?
[Has seated himself with difficulty.] Well, you see, it's about Ragnar. That is what weighs most upon me. What is to become of him?
Of course your son will stay with me as long as ever he likes.
But that is just what he does not like. He feels that he cannot stay here any longer.
Why, I should say he was very well off here. But if he wants more money, I should not mind—
No, no! It is not that. [Impatiently.] But sooner or later he, too, must have a chance of doing something on his own account.
[Without looking at him.] Do you think that Ragnar has quite talent enough to stand alone?
No, that is just the heartbreaking part of it—I have begun to have my doubts about the boy. For you have never said so much as—as one encouraging word about him. And yet I cannot but think there must be something in him—he can't be without talent.
Well, but he has learnt nothing—nothing thoroughly, I mean. Except, of course, to draw.
[Looks at him with covert hatred, and says hoarsely.] You had learned little enough of the business when you were in my employment. But that did not prevent you from setting to work—[breathing with difficulty]—and pushing your way up, and taking the wind out of my sails—mine, and so may other people's.
Yes, you see—circumstances favoured me.
You are right there. Everything favoured you. But then how can you have the heart to let me go to my grave—without having seen what Ragnar is fit for? And of course I am anxious to see them married, too—before I go.
[Sharply.] Is it she who wishes it?
Not Kaia so much as Ragnar—he talks about it every day. [Appealingly.] You must help him to get some independent work now! I must see something that the lad has done. Do you hear?
[Peevishly.] Hang it, man, you can't expect me to drag commissions down from the moon for him!
He has the chance of a capital commission at this very moment. A big bit of work.
[Uneasily, startled.] Has he?
I you would give your consent.
What sort of work do you mean?
[With some hesitation.] He can have the building of that villa out at Lovstrand.
That! Why I am going to build that myself.
Oh you don't much care about doing it.
[Flaring up.] Don't care! Who dares to say that?
You said so yourself just now.
Oh, never mind what I say.—Would they give Ragnar the building of that villa?
Yes. You see, he knows the family. And then—just for the fun of the thing—he has made drawings and estimates and so forth—
Are they pleased with the drawings? The people who will have to live in the house?
Yes. If you would only look through them and approve of them—
Then they would let Ragnar build their home for them?
They were immensely pleased with his idea. They thought it exceedingly original, they said.
Oho! Original! Not the old-fashioned stuff thatIam in the habit of turning out!
It seemed to them different.
[With suppressed irritation.] So it was to see Ragnar that they came here—whilst I was out!
They came to call upon you—and at the same time to ask whether you would mind retiring—
[Angrily.] Retire? I?
In case you thought that Ragnar's drawings—
I! Retire in favour of your son!
Retire from the agreement, they meant.
Oh, it comes to the same thing. [Laughs angrily.] So that is it, is it? Halvard Solness is to see about retiring now! To make room for younger men! For the very youngest, perhaps! He must make room! Room! Room!
Why, good heavens! there is surely room for more than one single man—
Oh, there's not so very much room to spare either. But, be that as it may—I will never retire! I will never give way to anybody! Never of my own free will. Never in this world will I do that!
[Rise with difficulty.] Then I am to pass out of life without any certainty? Without a gleam of happiness? Without any faith or trust in Ragnar? Without having seen a single piece of work of his doing? Is that to be the way of it?
[Turns half aside, and mutters.] H'm—don't ask more just now.
I must have an answer to this one question. Am I to pass out of life in such utter poverty?
[Seems to struggle with himself; finally he says, in a low but firm voice:] You must pass out of life as best you can.
Then be it so. [He goes up the room.
[Following him, half is desperation.] Don't you understand that I cannot help it? I am what I am, and I cannot change my nature!
No; I suppose that you can't. [Reels and supports himself against the sofa-table.] May I have a glass of water?
By all means. [Fills a glass and hands it to him.
Thanks. [Drinks and puts the glass down again.
[SOLNESS goes up and opens the door of the draughtsmen's office.
Ragnar—you must come and take your father home.
Ragnar rises quickly. He and KAIA come into the work-room.
What is the matter, father?
Give me your arm. Now let us go.
Very well. You had better put your things on, too, Kaia.
Miss Fosli must stay—just for a moment. There is a letter I want written.
[Looks at SOLNESS.] Good night. Sleep well—if you can.
Good night.
[BROVIK and RAGNAR go out by the hall-door. KAIA goes to thedesk. SOLNESS stands with bent head, to the right, by thearm-chair.
[Dubiously.] Is there any letter?
[Curtly.] No, of course not. [Looks sternly at her.] Kaia!
[Anxiously, in a low voice.] Yes!
[Points imperatively to a spot on the floor.] Come here! At once!
[Hesitatingly.] Yes.
[As before.] Nearer!
[Obeying.] What do you want with me?
[Looks at her for a while.] Is it you I have to thank for all this?
No, no, don't think that!
But confess now—you want to get married!
[Softly.] Ragnar and I have been engaged for four or five years, and so—
And so you think it time there were an end of it. Is not that so?
Ragnar and Uncle say I must. So I suppose I shall have to give in.
[More gently.] Kaia, don't you really care a little bit for Ragnar, too?
I cared very much for Ragnar once—before I came here to you.
But you don't now? Not in the least?
[Passionately, clasping hands and holding them out towards him.] Oh, you know very well there is only one person I care for now! I shall never care for any one else.
Yes, you say that. And yet you go away from me—leave me alone here with everything on my hands.
But could I not stay with you, even if Ragnar—?
[Repudiating the idea.] No, no, that is quite impossible. If Ragnar leaves me and starts work on his own account, then of course he will need you himself.
[Wringing her hands.] Oh, I feel as if I could not be separated from you! It's quite, quite impossible!
Then be sure you get those foolish notions out of Ragnar's head. Marry him as much as you please—[Alters his tone.] I mean—don't let him throw up his good situation with me. For then I can keep you too, my dear Kaia.
Oh yes, how lovely that would be, if it could only be managed!
[Clasps her head with his two hands and whispers.] For I cannot get on without you, you see. I must have you with me every single day.
[In nervous exaltation.] My God! My God!
[Kisses her hair.] Kaia—Kaia!
[Sinks down before him.] Oh, how good you are to me! How unspeakably good you are!
[Vehemently.] Get up! For goodness' sake get up! I think I hear some one.
[He helps her to rise. She staggers over to the desk.
MRS. SOLNESS enters by the door on the right. She looks thinand wasted with grief, but shows traces of bygone beauty.Blonde ringlets. Dressed with good taste, wholly in black.Speaks some-what slowly and in a plaintive voice.
[In the doorway.] Halvard!
[Turns.] Oh, are you there, my dear—?
[With a glance at KAIA.] I am afraid I am disturbing you.
Not in the least. Miss Fosli has only a short letter to write.
Yes, so I see.
What do you want with me, Aline?
I merely wanted to tell you that Dr. Herdal is in the drawing-room. Won't you come and see him, Halvard?
[Looks suspiciously at her.]. H'm—is the doctor so very anxious to see me?
Well, not exactly anxious. He really came to see me; but he would like to say how-do-you-do to you at the same time.
[Laughs to himself.] Yes, I daresay. Well, you must ask him to wait a little.
Then you will come in presently?
Perhaps I will. Presently, presently, dear. In a little while.
[Glancing again at KAIA.] Well now, don't forget, Halvard.
[Withdraws and closes the door behind her.
[Softly.] Oh dear, oh dear—I am sure Mrs. Solness thinks ill of me in some way!
Oh, not in the least. Not more than usual at any rate. But all the same, you had better go now, Kaia.
Yes, yes, now I must go.
[Severely.] And mind you get that matter settled for me. Do you hear?
Oh, if it only depended on me—
I will have it settled, I say! And to-morrow too—not a day later!
[Terrified.] If there's nothing else for it, I am quite willing to break off the engagement.
[Angrily.] Break it off. Are you mad? Would you think of breaking it off?
[Distracted.] Yes, if necessary. For I must—I must stay here with you! I can't leave you! That is utterly—utterly impossible!
[With a sudden outburst.] But deuce take it—how about Ragnar then! It's Ragnar that I—
[Looks at him with terrified eyes.] It is chiefly on Ragnar's account, that—that you—?
[Collecting himself.] No, no, of course not! You don't understand me either. [Gently and softly.] Of course it is you I want to keep.—you above everything, Kaia. But for that very reason, you must prevent Ragnar, too, from throwing up his situation. There, there,—now go home.
Yes, yes—good-night, then.
Good night. [As she is going.] Oh, stop a moment! Are Ragnar's drawings in there?
I did not see him take them with him.
Then just go and find them for me. I might perhaps glance over them, after all.
[Happy.] Oh yes, please do!
For your sake, Kaia dear. Now, let me have them at once, please.
[KAIA hurries into the draughtsmen's office, searches anxiouslyin the table-drawer, finds a portfolio and brings it with her.
Here are all the drawings.
Good. Put them down there on the table.
[Putting down the portfolio.] Good night, then. [Beseechingly.] And please, please think kindly of me.
Oh, that I always do. Good-night, my dear little Kaia. [Glances to the right.] Go, go now!
MRS. SOLNESS and DR. HERDAL enter by the door on the right.He is a stoutish, elderly man, with a round, good-humouredface, clean shaven, with thin, light hair, and gold spectacles.
[Still in the doorway.] Halvard, I cannot keep the doctor any longer.
Well then, come in here.
[To KAIA, who is turning down the desk-lamp.] Have you finished the letter already, Miss Fosli?
[In confusion.] The letter—?
Yes, it was quite a short one.
It must have been very short.
You may go now, Miss Fosli. And please come in good time to-morrow morning.
I will be sure to. Good-night, Mrs. Solness.
[She goes out by the hall door.
Are you in a hurry, doctor?
No, not at all.
May I have a little chat with you?
With the greatest of pleasure.
Then let us sit down. [He motions the doctor to take the rocking-chair, and sits down himself in the arm-chair. Looks searchingly at him.] Tell me—did you notice anything odd about Aline?
Do you mean just now, when she was here?
Yes, in her manner to me. Did you notice anything?
[Smiling.] Well, I admit—one couldn't well avoid noticing that your wife—h'm—
DR. HERDAL. —that your wife is not particularly fond of this Miss Fosli.
Is that all? I have noticed that myself.
And I must say I am scarcely surprised at it.
At what?
That she should not exactly approve of your seeing so much of another woman, all day and every day.
No, no, I suppose you are right there—and Aline too. But it's impossible to make any change.
Could you not engage a clerk?
The first man that came to hand? No, thank you—that would never do for me.
But now, if your wife—? Suppose, with her delicate health, all this tries her too much?
Even then—I might almost say—it can make no difference. I must keep Kaia Fosli. No one else could fill her place.
No one else?
[Curtly.] No, no one.
[Drawing his chair closer.] Now listen to me, my dear Mr. Solness. May I ask you a question, quite between ourselves?
By all means.
Women, you see—in certain matters, they have a deucedly keen intuition—
They have, indeed. There is not the least doubt of that. But—?
Well, tell me now—if your wife can't endure this Kaia Fosli—?
Well, what then?
DR. HERDAL. —may she not have just—just the least little bit of reason for this instinctive dislike?
[Looks at him and rises.] Oho!
Now don't be offended—but hasn't she?
[With curt decision.] No.
No reason of any sort?
No other than her own suspicious nature.
I know you have known a good many women in your time.
Yes, I have.
And have been a good deal taken with some of them, too.
Oh yes, I don't deny it.
But as regards Miss Fosli, then? There is nothing of that sort in this case?
No; nothing at all—on my side.
But on her side?
I don't think you have any right to ask that question, doctor.
Well, you know, we were discussing your wife's intuition.
So we were. And for that matter—[lowers his voice]—Aline's intuition, as you call it—in a certain sense, it has not been so far astray.
Aha! there we have it!
[Sits down.] Doctor Herdal—I am going to tell you a strange story—if you care to listen to it.
I like listening to strange stories.
Very well then. I daresay you recollect that I took Knut Brovik and his son into my employment—after the old man's business had gone to the dogs.
Yes, so I have understood.
You see, they really are clever fellows, these two. Each of them has talent in his own way. But then the son took it into his head to get engaged; and the next thing, of course, was that he wanted to get married—and begin to build on his own account. That is the way with all these young people.
[Laughing.] Yes, they have a bad habit of wanting to marry.
Just so. But of course that did not suit my plans; for I needed Ragnar myself—and the old man too. He is exceedingly good at calculating bearing strains and cubic contents—and all that sort of devilry, you know.
Oh yes, no doubt that's indispensable.
Yes, it is. But Ragnar was absolutely bent on setting to work for himself. He would hear of nothing else.
But he has stayed with you all the same.
Yes, I'll tell you how that came about. One day this girl, Kaia Fosli, came to see them on some errand or other. She had never been here before. And when I saw how utterly infatuated they were with each other, the thought occurred to me: if I cold only get her into the office here, then perhaps Ragnar too would stay where he is.
That was not at all a bad idea.
Yes, but at the time I did not breathe a word of what was in my mind. I merely stood and looked at her—and kept on wishing intently that I could have her here. Then I talked to her a little, in a friendly way—about one thing and another. And then she went away.
Well?
Well then, next day, pretty late in the evening, when old Brovik and Ragnar had gone home, she came here again, and behaved as if I had made an arrangement with her.
An arrangement? What about?
About the very thing my mind had been fixed on. But I hadn't said one single word about it.
That was most extraordinary.
Yes, was it not? And now she wanted to know what she was to do here—whether she could begin the very next morning, and so forth.
Don't you think she did it in order to be with her sweetheart?
That was what occurred to me at first. But no, that was not it. She seemed to drift quite away from him—when once she had come here to me.
She drifted over to you, then?
Yes, entirely. If I happen to look at her when her back is turned, I can tell that she feels it. She quivers and trembles the moment I come near her. What do you think of that?
H'm—that's not very hard to explain.
Well, but what about the other thing? That she believed I had said to her what I had only wished and willed—silently—inwardly—to myself? What do you say to that? Can you explain that, Dr. Herdal?
No, I won't undertake to do that.
I felt sure you would not; and so I have never cared to talk about it till now.—But it's a cursed nuisance to me in the long run, you understand. Here have I got to go on day after day, pretending—. And it's a shame to treat her so, too, poor girl. [Vehemently.] But I cannot do anything else. For if she runs away from me—then Ragnar will be off too.
And you have not told your wife the rights of the story?
No.
The why on earth don't you?
[Looks fixedly at him, and says in a low voice:] Because I seem to find a sort of—of salutary self-torture in allowing Aline to do me an injustice.
[Shakes his head.] I don't in the least understand what you mean.
Well, you see—it is like paying off a little bit of a huge, immeasurable debt—
To your wife?
Yes; and that always helps to relieve one's mind a little. One can breathe more freely for a while, you understand.
No, goodness knows, I don't understand at all—
[Breaking off, rises again.] Well, well, well—then we won't talk any more about it. [He saunters across the room, returns, and stops beside the table. Looks at the doctor with a sly smile.] I suppose you think you have drawn me out nicely now, doctor?
[With some irritation.] Drawn you out? Again I have not the faintest notion of what you mean, Mr. Solness.
Oh come, out with it; I have seen it quite clearly, you know.
What have you seen?
[In a low voice, slowly.] That you have been quietly keeping an eye upon me.
ThatIhave! And why in all the world should I do that?
Because you think that I—— [Passionately.] Well devil take it—you think the same of me as Aline does.
And what does she think about you?
[Having recovered his self-control.] She has begun to think that I am—that I am—ill.
Ill! You! She has never hinted such a thing to me. Why, what can she think is the matter with you?
[Leans over the back of the chair and whispers.] Aline has made up her mind that I am mad. That is what she thinks.
[Rising.] Why, my dear fellow—!
Yes, on my soul she does! I tell you it is so. And she has got you to think the same! Oh, I can assure you, doctor, I see it in your face as clearly as possible. You don't take me in so easily, I can tell you.
[Looks at him in amazement.] Never, Mr. Solness—never has such a thought entered my mind.
[With and incredulous smile.] Really? Has it not?
No, never! Nor your wife's mind either, I am convinced. I could almost swear to that.
Well, I wouldn't advise you to. For, in a certain sense, you see, perhaps—perhaps she is not so far wrong in thinking something of the kind.
Come now, I really must say—
[Interrupting, with a sweep of his hand.] Well, well, my dear doctor—don't let us discuss this any further. We had better agree to differ. [Changes to a tone of quiet amusement.] But look here now, doctor—h'm—
Well?
Since you don't believe that I am—ill—and crazy—and mad, and so forth—
What then?
Then I daresay you fancy that I am an extremely happy man.
Is that mere fancy?
[Laughs.] No, no—of course not! Heaven forbid! Only think—to be Solness the master builder! Halvard Solness! What could be more delightful?
Yes, I must say it seems to me you have had the luck on your side to an astounding degree.
[Suppresses a gloomy smile.] So I have. I can't complain on that score.
First of all that grim old robbers' castle was burnt down for you. And that was certainly a great piece of luck.
[Seriously.] It was the home of Aline's family. Remember that.
Yes, it must have been a great grief to her.
She has not got over it to this day—not in all these twelve or thirteen years.
But you—yourself—you rose upon the ruins. You began as a poor boy from a country village—and now you are at the head of your profession. Ah, yes, Mr. Solness, you have undoubtedly had the luck on your side.
[Looking at him with embarrassment.] Yes, but that is just what makes me so horribly afraid.
Afraid? Because you have the luck on your side!
It terrifies me—terrifies me every hour of the day. For sooner or later the luck must turn, you see.
Oh nonsense! What should make the luck turn?
[With firm assurance.] The younger generation!
Pooh! The younger generation! You are not laid on the shelf yet, I should hope. Oh no—your position here is probably firmer now than it has ever been.
The luck will turn. I know it—I feel the day approaching. Some one or other will take it into his head to say: Give me a chance! And then all the rest will come clamouring after him, and shake their fists at me and shout: Make room—make room—! Yes, just you see, doctor—presently the younger generation will come knocking at my door—
[Laughing.] Well, and what if they do?
What if they do? Then there's an end of Halvard Solness.