TEKLA. At nine! [A noise is heard from the adjoining room] Who can be
living in there that makes such a racket?
GUSTAV. Let's see! [Goes over and looks through the keyhole] There's a
table that has been upset, and a smashed water caraffe--that's all! I
shouldn't wonder if they had left a dog locked up in there.--At nine
o'clock then?
TEKLA. All right! And let him answer for it himself.--What a depth of
deceit! And he who has always preached about truthfulness, and tried
to teach me to tell the truth!--But wait a little--how was it now?
He received me with something like hostility--didn't meet me at the
landing--and then--and then he made some remark about young men on
board the boat, which I pretended not to hear--but how could he know?
Wait--and then he began to philosophise about women--and then the
spectre of you seemed to be haunting him--and he talked of becoming a
sculptor, that being the art of the time--exactly in accordance with
your old speculations!
GUSTAV. No, really!
TEKLA. No, really?--Oh, now I understand! Now I begin to see what a
hideous creature you are! You have been here before and stabbed him to
death! It was you who had been sitting there on the sofa; it was you who
made him think himself an epileptic--that he had to live in celibacy;
that he ought to rise in rebellion against his wife; yes, it was
you!--How long have you been here?
GUSTAV. I have been here a week.
TEKLA. It was you, then, I saw on board the boat?
GUSTAV. It was.
TEKLA. And now you were thinking you could trap me?
GUSTAV. It has been done.
TEKLA. Not yet!
GUSTAV. Yes!
TEKLA. Like a wolf you went after my lamb. You came here with a
villainous plan to break up my happiness, and you were carrying it out,
when my eyes were opened, and I foiled you.
GUSTAV. Not quite that way, if you please. This is how it happened
in reality. Of course, it has been my secret hope that disaster might
overtake you. But I felt practically certain that no interference on
my part was required. And besides, I have been far too busy to have any
time left for intriguing. But when I happened to be moving about a bit,
and happened to see you with those young men on board the boat, then I
guessed the time had come for me to take a look at the situation. I came
here, and your lamb threw itself into the arms of the wolf. I won his
affection by some sort of reminiscent impression which I shall not be
tactless enough to explain to you. At first he aroused my sympathy,
because he seemed to be in the same fix as I was once. But then he
happened to touch old wounds--that book, you know, and "the idiot"--and
I was seized with a wish to pick him to pieces, and to mix up these so
thoroughly that they couldn't be put together again--and I succeeded,
thanks to the painstaking way in which you had done the work of
preparation. Then I had to deal with you. For you were the spring that
had kept the works moving, and you had to be taken apart--and what a
buzzing followed!--When I came in here, I didn't know exactly what to
say. Like a chess-player, I had laid a number of tentative plans, of
course, but my play had to depend on your moves. One thing led to the
other, chance lent me a hand, and finally I had you where I wanted
you.--Now you are caught!
TEKLA. No!
GUSTAV. Yes, you are! What you least wanted has happened. The world at
large, represented by two lady tourists--whom I had not sent for, as
I am not an intriguer--the world has seen how you became reconciled
to your former husband, and how you sneaked back repentantly into his
faithful arms. Isn't that enough?
TEKLA. It ought to be enough for your revenge--But tell me, how can you,
who are so enlightened and so right-minded--how is it possible that you,
who think whatever happens must happen, and that all our actions are
determined in advance--
GUSTAV. [Correcting her] To a certain extent determined.
TEKLA. That's the same thing!
GUSTAV. No!
TEKLA. [Disregarding him] How is it possible that you, who hold me
guiltless, as I was driven by my nature and the circumstances into
acting as I did--how can you think yourself entitled to revenge--?
GUSTAV. For that very reason--for the reason that my nature and the
circumstances drove me into seeking revenge. Isn't that giving both
sides a square deal? But do you know why you two had to get the worst of
it in this struggle?
(TEKLA looks scornful.)
GUSTAV. And why you were doomed to be fooled? Because I am stronger than
you, and wiser also. You have been the idiot--and he! And now you may
perceive that a man need not be an idiot because he doesn't write novels
or paint pictures. It might be well for you to bear this in mind.
TEKLA. Are you then entirely without feelings?
GUSTAV. Entirely! And for that very reason, you know, I am capable of
thinking--in which you have had no experience whatever-and of acting--in
which you have just had some slight experience.
TEKLA. And all this merely because I have hurt your vanity?
GUSTAV. Don't call that MERELY! You had better not go around hurting
other people's vanity. They have no more sensitive spot than that.
TEKLA. Vindictive wretch--shame on you!
GUSTAV. Dissolute wretch--shame on you!
TEKLA. Oh, that's my character, is it?
GUSTAV. Oh, that's my character, is it?--You ought to learn something
about human nature in others before you give your own nature free rein.
Otherwise you may get hurt, and then there will be wailing and gnashing
of teeth.