The men sit down at the table, and eat and drink.GinaandHedviggo in and out waiting on them.
The men sit down at the table, and eat and drink.GinaandHedviggo in and out waiting on them.
Relling.Molvik was horribly drunk yesterday, Mrs. Ekdal.
Gina.What! Yesterday again?
Relling.Didn’t you hear him when I came home with him in the night?
Gina.No, I can’t say I did.
Relling.That’s well; for Molvik was abominable last night.
Gina.Is that true, Molvik?
Molvik.Let us bury in oblivion the proceedings of last night. That sort of thing has nothing to do with my better self.
Relling(toGregers). It comes over him as if he were possessed, and then I have to go out on the spree with him. For you see Mr. Molvik is dæmonic.
Gregers.Dæmonic?
Relling.Yes, Molvik is dæmonic.
Gregers.H’m.
Relling.And dæmonic natures are not created for going through the world on steady legs. They are bound to deviate sometimes. Well, and so you still hold out at those hideous black Works up there?
Gregers.I have held out until now.
Relling.And have you obtained what you went about claiming?
Gregers.Claiming? (Understanding him.) Oh! I see.
Hjalmar.Have you been enforcing claims, Gregers?
Gregers.Oh! nonsense.
Relling.Oh! but he did, though; he used to go about to all the farmers’ cottages presenting something that he called “the claim of the ideal.”
Gregers.I was young then.
Relling.You’re rightthere; you were very young. And the claim of the ideal—you never managed to get them honored as long asIwas up there.
Gregers.Nor since either.
Relling.And so, I dare say you’ve become sensible enough to reduce your demands a little.
Gregers.Never when I am face to face with a true, genuine man.
Hjalmar.No; and that seems sensible enough to me. A little butter, Gina.
Relling.And a little bit of pork for Molvik.
Molvik.Uh! No pork!
There is a knock at the door of the loft.
There is a knock at the door of the loft.
Hjalmar.Open the door, Hedvig; father wants to come out.
Hedvigopens the door a little way,Old Ekdalcomes in with a fresh rabbit-skin; he closes the door after him.
Hedvigopens the door a little way,Old Ekdalcomes in with a fresh rabbit-skin; he closes the door after him.
Ekdal.Good-morning, gentlemen! Have had capital sport to-day. Have shot a big one.
Hjalmar.And you’ve skinned it before I came!
Ekdal.Have salted it, too. It’s good tender meat, is rabbit meat; and it’s sweet, too; tastes like sugar. Hope you’re enjoying yourselves, gentlemen!
He goes into his room.
He goes into his room.
Molvik(rising). Excuse me—I can’t—I must go down at once.
Relling.Have some soda-water, man!
Molvik(hurrying off). Uh! uh!
He goes out at the entrance door.
He goes out at the entrance door.
Relling(toHjalmar). Let us drink to the old hunter.
Hjalmar(touching his glass). Yes,to the bold sportsman on the brink of the grave!
Relling.To the gray-headed—— (Drinking.) I say, is his hair gray or is it white!
Hjalmar.It’s between the two; besides he hasn’t so many hairs left on his head.
Relling.Well; you can get through life with false hair. Yes, at the bottom you’re a happy man, Ekdal; you have that great life-mission to toil for——
Hjalmar.And I do toil, believe me.
Relling.And then you have your active wife, trotting in and out so nicely, in her felt shoes, and pottering about, looking after you and serving you.
Hjalmar.Yes, Gina (nodding to her), you are an excellent helpmate to have on life’s path.
Gina.Oh! don’t sit there a-criticising me.
Relling.And then your Hedvig, Ekdal.
Hjalmar(with emotion). Yes, the child! The child beyond all else. Hedvig, come here to me. (He strokes her hair.) What day is it to-morrow, eh?
Hedvig(shaking him). Oh, no, youmustn’ttell, father.
Hjalmar.It goes to my heart like a knife when I think how small a thing it will be; only a little festive arrangement in the loft——
Hedvig.Ah! but that’s so lovely!
Relling.Only wait till that wonderful invention is completed, Hedvig!
Hjalmar.Yes, then—then you will see!—Hedvig, I have determined to make your future secure. All shall be well with you as long as you live. I will ask something for you—and nothing else.Thatshall be the poor inventor’s sole reward.
Hedvig(whispering, with her arms about his neck). Oh! you dear, dear father!
Relling(toGregers). Well, now, don’t you think it very pleasant, just for a change, to sit at a well-spread table in the midst of a happy family circle?
Hjalmar.Yes, I deeply prize these hours spent at table.
Gregers.I, for my part, do not thrive in the air of a swamp.
Relling.Air of a swamp?
Hjalmar.Oh! now don’t begin with that stuff again!
Gina.Goodness knows there’s no foul air here, Mr. Werle, for I air the place every day.
Gregers(rising from the table). The stench I mean, no amount of your airing would get rid of.
Hjalmar.Stench!
Gina.Yes, what do you think of that, Ekdal?
Relling.Excuse me—I suppose it isn’t you yourself who brings this stench with you from the mines up there?
Gregers.It would be like you to call what I bring into this house a stench.
Relling(going up to him). Listen, Mr. Werle, junior, I strongly suspect you are still going about with “the claim of the ideal” unabridged in your coat-tail pocket.
Gregers.I carry it in my breast.
Relling.Well, wherever you may have it, I’d not advise you to play the dun here as long as I’m about.
Gregers.And suppose I do all the same?
Relling.Then you fly head-foremost down stairs. Now you know.
Hjalmar(rising). But really, Relling!
Gregers.Yes, just you turn me out——
Gina(coming between them). You mustn’t do that, Relling. ButthisI will say, Mr. Werle, that after making all that horrid mess in there with the stove, you shouldn’t come here chattering about stenches.
There is a knock at the door.
There is a knock at the door.
Hedvig.Mother, someone’s knocking.
Hjalmar.That’s it! Now we’re to be bothered with a lot of people!
Gina.Only leave it to me—— (She goes and opens the door; starts, shudders, and draws back.) Oh! oh, dear!
Mr. Werlein a fur coat comes a step forward.
Mr. Werlein a fur coat comes a step forward.
Werle.I beg your pardon; but I am told my son is living here.
Gina(in a choking voice). Yes——
Hjalmar(coming nearer). Won’t you come in, sir?
Werle.Thanks; I only wish to speak to my son.
Gregers.Well! Here I am!
Werle.I should like to speak to you in your room.
Gregers.In my room—well——
About to go out.
About to go out.
Gina.No, goodness knows, that’s not in a fit state to——
Werle.Well, outside in the passage, then; I wish to speak to you alone.
Hjalmar.You can do that here, sir. Come into the sitting-room, Relling.
HjalmarandRellinggo in, right;GinatakesHedvigwith her into the kitchen.
HjalmarandRellinggo in, right;GinatakesHedvigwith her into the kitchen.
Gregers(after a short pause). Well, we’re alone now.
Werle.You let fall a word or two yesterday, and as you’ve come to live at the Ekdals I am compelled to think that you’ve something in your mind against me.
Gregers.I have in mind to open Hjalmar Ekdal’s eyes. He shall see his position as it is; that is all.
Werle.Is that the mission in life you spoke of yesterday?
Gregers.Yes. You have left none other open to me.
Werle.Is it I who have poisoned your mind, Gregers?
Gregers.You have poisoned my whole life—I’m not thinking about all that with mother. But it is you I have to thank for it that I go about hunted and devoured by a guilty conscience.
Werle.Aha! So it’s your conscience that’s amiss.
Gregers.I ought to have stood out against you then, at the time when you laid the snares for Lieutenant Ekdal. I ought to have warned him; for I foresaw whither it would lead him.
Werle.Yes; then, indeed, you ought to have spoken.
Gregers.I didn’t dare to; I was so cowed and scared. I was so afraid of you—both then and for a long time afterwards.
Werle.You’ve got over that fear now it seems.
Gregers.Fortunately. The wrong done old Ekdal, both by me and others can never be made good; but I can free Hjalmar from all this lying and deceit which surround him and are ruining him.
Werle.Do you believe that that would be doing a good deed?
Gregers.I believe so—firmly.
Werle.Perhaps you fancy that the photographer Ekdal, is the man to thank you for such a friendly service?
Gregers.Yes—heisthe man to do so.
Werle.H’m—we shall see.
Gregers.And besides if I am to go on living I must find some healing for my sick conscience.
Werle.That will never be sound. Your conscience has been sick since you were a child. That is a heritage from your mother, Gregers, the only heritage she left you.
Gregers(with a scornful half smile). Haven’t you yet got over your anger at the mistake you made in thinking she would bring you a dowry?
Werle.Don’t let us touch upon irrelevant things—So you hold to your purpose of putting Ekdal on what you assume to be the right scent.
Gregers.Yes; I do hold to my purpose.
Werle.Well, then I might have saved myself the walk up here. For doubtless it’s no use asking if you’ll come home again.
Gregers.No.
Werle.And I suppose you will not enter the firm either?
Gregers.No.
Werle.Good. But as I intend getting married soon, there will have to be a division of the property.[2]
[2]In Norway a widower who marries again is by law compelled to make provisions for his children by his former marriage.
[2]In Norway a widower who marries again is by law compelled to make provisions for his children by his former marriage.
Gregers(hurriedly). No; I do not wish that.
Werle.You do not wish it?
Gregers.No, I dare not for my conscience sake.
Werle(after a short pause). Are you going up to the Works again?
Gregers.No, I consider myself as having left your service.
Werle.But what shall you do then?
Gregers.Only fulfill the mission of my life; nothing else.
Werle.Yes, but afterwards? What will you live on?
Gregers.I have put by a little out of my salary.
Werle.And how long willthatlast!
Gregers.I think it will last my time.
Werle.What do you mean by that?
Gregers.I will answer nothing more now.
Werle.Good-bye then, Gregers.
Gregers.Good-bye.
Mr. Werlegoes out.
Mr. Werlegoes out.
Hjalmar(looking in). He’s gone, hasn’t he?
HjalmarandRellingcome in.GinaandHedvigalso enter from the kitchen.
HjalmarandRellingcome in.GinaandHedvigalso enter from the kitchen.
Relling.So the lunch has come to nothing.
Gregers.Put on your things, Hjalmar; you must go for a long walk with me.
Hjalmar.Gladly. What did your father want? Anything to do with me?
Gregers.Only come along. We must have a little talk together. I’ll go in and put on my overcoat.
He goes out at the entrance door.
He goes out at the entrance door.
Gina.You shouldn’t go out with him, Ekdal.
Relling.No, don’t you. Stop where you are.
Hjalmar(taking his hat and top-coat). What nonsense! When the friend of my youth feels the desire to open his heart to me in private!
Relling.But deuce take it—don’t you see the fellow’s cracked, mad, demented!
Gina.Yes, you can surely hear that. His mother used to have such fits at times.
Hjalmar.He has all the greater need for the vigilant eye of a friend. (ToGina.) Mind dinner’s ready in good time. Good-bye for the present. (He goes out at the entrance-door.)
Relling.It’s a pity that fellow didn’t go to hell by way of one of the Hojdal mines.
Gina.Lord!—why do you say that?
Relling(mutters). Oh, yes! For I’ve my suspicions.
Gina.Do you think young Werle’s really mad?
Relling.No, worse luck, he’s not more mad than most people. But he’s diseased all the same.
Gina.What is it that’s the matter with him then?
Relling.Well, I’ll tell you Mrs. Ekdal. He’s suffering from an acute attack of virtue-fever——
Gina.Virtue-fever?
Hedvig.Is that a disease then?
Relling.Certainly; it’s a national disease; but it only appears sporadically. (Nodding toGina.) Thanks for your hospitality. (He goes out at the entrance-door.)
Gina(walking up and down uneasily). Uf, that Gregers Werle—he always was a horrid beast.
Hedvig(standing by the table and looking at her searchingly). It all seems very strange to me.