neighbours. [_Speaks through the sitting-room doorway._] What is it,
Randina?—Very well. [_Goes out, and returns immediately._] Here is a
letter for you, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Let me see. [_Opens the letter and reads._] Aha!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Who is it from?
DR. STOCKMANN.
From the landlord. He gives us notice.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Is it possible? He is such a nice man——
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Looking at the letter._] He daren’t do otherwise, he says. He is very
unwilling to do it; but he daren’t do otherwise—on account of his fellow
citizens—out of respect for public opinion—is in a dependent
position—doesn’t dare to offend certain influential men——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
There, you see, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, yes, I see well enough; they are all cowards, every one of them, in
this town; no one dares do anything for fear of all the rest. [_Throws
the letter on the table._] But it’s all the same to us, Katrina. We will
shape our course for the new world, and then——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
But are you sure this idea of going abroad is altogether wise, Thomas?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Would you have me stay here, where they have pilloried me as an enemy of
the people, branded me, smashed my windows! And look here, Katrina,
they’ve torn a hole in my black trousers, too.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Oh dear; and these are the best you have!
DR. STOCKMANN.
A man should never put on his best trousers when he goes out to battle
for freedom and truth. Well, I don’t care so much about the trousers;
them you can always patch up for me. But that the mob, the rabble,
should dare to attack me as if they were my equals—_that_ is what I
can’t, for the life of me, stomach!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, they have behaved abominably to you here, Thomas; but is that any
reason for leaving the country altogether?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Do you think the plebeians aren’t just as insolent in other towns? Oh
yes, they are, my dear; it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.
Well, never mind; let the curs yelp; _that’s_ not the worst; the worst
is that every one, all over the country, is the slave of his party. Not
that I suppose—very likely it’s no better in the free West either; the
compact majority, and enlightened public opinion, and all the other
devil’s trash is rampant there too. But you see the conditions are
larger there than here; they may kill you, but they don’t slow-torture
you; they don’t screw up a free soul in a vice, as they do at home here.
And then, if need be, you can keep out of it all. [_Walks up and down._]
If I only knew of any primeval forest, or a little South Sea island to
be sold cheap——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, but the boys, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Comes to a standstill._] What an extraordinary woman you are, Katrina!
Would you rather have the boys grow up in such a society as ours? Why,
you could see for yourself yesterday evening that one half of the
population is stark mad, and if the other half hasn’t lost its wits,
that’s only because they are brute beasts who haven’t any wits to lose.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
But really, my dear Thomas, you do say such imprudent things.
DR. STOCKMANN.
What! Isn’t it the truth that I tell them? Don’t they turn all ideas
upside down? Don’t they stir up right and wrong into one hotch-potch?
Don’t they call lies everything that I know to be the truth? But the
maddest thing of all is to see crowds of grown men, calling themselves
Liberals, go about persuading themselves and others that they are
friends of freedom! Did you ever hear anything like it, Katrina?
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, yes, no doubt. But——
PETRA _enters from the sitting-room._
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Back from school already?
PETRA.
Yes; I have been dismissed.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Dismissed?
DR. STOCKMANN.
You too!
PETRA.
Mrs. Busk gave me notice, and so I thought it best to leave there and
then.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You did perfectly right!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Who could have thought Mrs. Busk was such a bad woman!
PETRA.
Oh mother, Mrs. Busk isn’t bad at all; I saw clearly how sorry she was.
But she dared not do otherwise, she said; and so I am dismissed.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Laughing and rubbing his hands._] She dared not do otherwise—just like
the rest! Oh, it’s delicious.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Oh well, after that frightful scene last night——
PETRA.
It wasn’t only that. What do you think, father——?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well?
PETRA.
Mrs. Busk showed me no fewer than three letters she had received this
morning——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Anonymous, of course?
PETRA.
Yes.
DR. STOCKMANN.
They never dare give their names, Katrina!
PETRA.
And two of them stated that a gentleman who is often at our house said
at the club last night that I held extremely advanced opinions upon
various things——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Of course you didn’t deny it.
PETRA.
Of course not. You know Mrs. Busk herself is pretty advanced in her
opinions when we’re alone together; but now that this has come out about
me, she dared not keep me on.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Some one that is often at our house, too. There, you see, Thomas, what
comes of all your hospitality.
DR. STOCKMANN.
We won’t live any longer in such a pig-sty! Pack up as quickly as you
can, Katrina; let’s get away—the sooner the better.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Hush! I think there is some one in the passage. See who it is, Petra.
PETRA.
[_Opening the door._] Oh, is it you, Captain Horster? Please come in.
HORSTER.
[_From the hall._] Good morning. I thought I might just look in and ask
how you are.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Shaking his hand._] Thanks; that’s very good of you.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
And thank you for helping us through the crowd last night, Captain
Horster.
PETRA.
How did you ever get home again?
HORSTER.
Oh, that was all right. I am tolerably able-bodied, you know; and those
fellows' bark is worse than their bite.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, isn’t it extraordinary, this piggish cowardice? Come here, and let
me show you something! Look, here are all the stones they threw in at
us. Only look at them? Upon my soul there aren’t more than two
decent-sized lumps in the whole heap; the rest are nothing but
pebbles—mere gravel. They stood down there, and yelled, and swore they’d
half kill me;—but as for really doing it—no, there’s mighty little fear
of _that_ in this town!
HORSTER.
You may thank your stars for that this time, Doctor.
DR. STOCKMANN.
So I do, of course. But it’s depressing all the same; for if ever it
should come to a serious national struggle, you may be sure public
opinion would be for taking to its heels, and the compact majority would
scamper for their lives like a flock of sheep, Captain Horster. _That_
is what’s so melancholy to think of; it grieves me to the heart.—But
deuce take it—it’s foolish of me to feel anything of the sort! They have
called me an enemy of the people; well then, let me be an enemy of the
people!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
That you’ll never be, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You’d better not take your oath of it, Katrina. A bad name may act like
a pin-scratch in the lung. And that confounded word—I can’t get rid of
it; it has sunk deep into my heart; and there it lies gnawing and
sucking like an acid. And no magnesia can cure me.
PETRA.
Pooh; you should only laugh at them, father.
HORSTER.
People will think differently yet, Doctor.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, Thomas, that’s as certain as that you are standing here.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, perhaps, when it is too late. Well, as they make their bed so they
must lie! Let them go on wallowing here in their pig-sty, and learn to
repent having driven a patriot into exile. When do you sail, Captain
Horster?
HORSTER.
Well—that’s really what I came to speak to you about——
DR. STOCKMANN.
What? Anything wrong with the ship?
HORSTER.
No; but the fact is, I shan’t be sailing in her.
PETRA.
Surely you have not been dismissed?
HORSTER.
[_Smiling_.] Yes, I have.
PETRA.
You too!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
There, you see, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And for the truth’s sake! Oh, if I could possibly have imagined such a
thing——
HORSTER.
You mustn’t be troubled about this; I shall soon find a berth with some
other company, elsewhere.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And this is that man Vik! A wealthy man, independent of every one!
Faugh!
HORSTER.
Oh, for that matter, he’s a very well-meaning man. He said himself he
would gladly have kept me on if only he dared——
DR. STOCKMANN.
But he didn’t dare? Of course not!
HORSTER.
It’s not so easy, he said, when you belong to a party——
DR. STOCKMANN.
My gentleman has hit it there! A party is like a sausage-machine; it
grinds all the brains together in one mash; and that’s why we see
nothing but porridge-heads and pulp-heads all around!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Now really, Thomas!
PETRA.
[_To HORSTER._] If only you hadn’t seen us home, perhaps it would not
have come to this.
HORSTER.
I don’t regret it.
PETRA.
[_Gives him her hand._] Thank you for that!
HORSTER.
[_To DR. STOCKMANN._] And then, too, I wanted to tell you this: if you
are really determined to go abroad, I've thought of another way——
DR. STOCKMANN.
That’s good—if only we can get off quickly——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Hush! Isn’t that a knock?
PETRA.
I believe it is uncle.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Aha! [_Calls._] Come in!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
My dear Thomas, now do promise me——
_The BURGOMASTER enters from the hall._
BURGOMASTER.
[_In the doorway._] Oh, you are engaged. Then I'd better——
DR. STOCKMANN.
No no; come in.
BURGOMASTER.
But I wanted to speak to you alone.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
We can go into the sitting-room.
HORSTER.
And I shall look in again presently.
DR. STOCKMANN.
No no; go with the ladies, Captain Horster; I must hear more about——
HORSTER.
All right, then I'll wait.
[_He follows_ MRS. STOCKMANN _and_ PETRA _into the sitting-room.
The_ BURGOMASTER _says nothing, but casts glances at the
windows._
DR. STOCKMANN.
I daresay you find it rather draughty here today? Put on your cap.
BURGOMASTER.
Thanks, if I may. [_Does so._] I fancy I caught cold yesterday evening.
I stood there shivering——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Really. On my soul, now, I found it quite warm enough.
BURGOMASTER.
I regret that it was not in my power to prevent these nocturnal
excesses.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Have you anything else in particular to say to me?
BURGOMASTER.
[_Producing a large letter._] I have this document for you from the
Directors of the Baths.
DR. STOCKMANN.
My dismissal?
BURGOMASTER.
Yes; dated from to-day. [_Places the letter on the table._] We are very
sorry—but frankly, we dared not do otherwise, on account of public
opinion.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Smiling._] Dared not? I've heard that phrase already to-day.
BURGOMASTER.
I beg you to realise your position clearly. For the future, you cannot
count upon any sort of practice in the town.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Devil take the practice! But how can you be so sure of that?
BURGOMASTER.
The House-owners' Association is sending round a circular from house to
house, in which all well-disposed citizens are called upon not to employ
you; and I dare swear that not a single head of a family will venture to
refuse his signature; he simply _dare_ not.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well well; I don’t doubt that. But what then?
BURGOMASTER.
If I might advise, I would suggest that you should leave the town for a
time——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, I've had some such idea in my mind already.
BURGOMASTER.
Good. And when you have had six months or so for mature deliberation, if
you could make up your mind to acknowledge your error, with a few words
of regret——
DR. STOCKMANN.
I might perhaps be reinstated, you think?
BURGOMASTER.
Perhaps it’s not quite out of the question.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, but how about public opinion? You daren’t, on account of public
opinion.
BURGOMASTER.
Opinion is extremely variable. And, to speak candidly, it is of the
greatest importance for us to have such an admission under your own
hand.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, I daresay it would be mightily convenient for you! But you remember
what I've said to you before about such foxes' tricks!
BURGOMASTER.
At that time your position was infinitely more favourable; at that time
you thought you had the whole town at your back——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, and now I have the whole town on my back——[_Flaring up._] But
no—not if I had the devil and his dam on my back—! Never—never, I tell
you!
BURGOMASTER.
The father of a family has no right[13] to act as you are doing. You
have no right to do it, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I have no right! There’s only one thing in the world that a free man has
no right to do; and do you know what that is?
BURGOMASTER.
No.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Of course not; but _I_ will tell you. A free man has no right to wallow
in filth like a cur; he has no right to act so that he ought to spit in
his own face!
BURGOMASTER.
That sounds extremely plausible; and if there were not another
explanation of your obstinacy—but we all know there is——
DR. STOCKMANN.
What do you mean by that?
BURGOMASTER.
You understand well enough. But as your brother, and as a man who knows
the world, I warn you not to build too confidently upon prospects and
expectations that may very likely come to nothing.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Why, what on earth are you driving at?
BURGOMASTER.
Do you really want me to believe that you are ignorant of the terms of
old Morten Kiil’s will?
DR. STOCKMANN.
I know that the little he has is to go to a home for old and needy
artizans. But what has that got to do with me?
BURGOMASTER.
To begin with, “the little he has” is no trifle. Morten Kiil is a
tolerably wealthy man.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I have never had the least notion of that!
BURGOMASTER.
H'm—really? Then I suppose you have no notion that a not inconsiderable
part of his fortune is to go to your children, you and your wife having
a life-interest in it. Has he not told you that?
DR. STOCKMANN.
No, I'll be hanged if he has! On the contrary, he has done nothing but
grumble about being so preposterously over-taxed, But are you really
sure of this, Peter?
BURGOMASTER.
I have it from a thoroughly trustworthy source.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Why, good heavens, then Katrina’s provided for—and the children too! Oh,
I must tell her——[_Calls._] Katrina, Katrina!
BURGOMASTER.
[_Holding him back._] Hush! don’t say anything about it yet.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_Opening the door._] What is it?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Nothing my dear; go in again.
[MRS. STOCKMANN _closes the door._
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Pacing up and down._] Provided for! Only think—all of them provided
for! And for life! After all, it’s a grand thing to feel yourself
secure!
BURGOMASTER.
Yes, but that is just what you are not. Morten Kiil can revoke his will
any day or hour he chooses.
DR. STOCKMANN.
But he won’t, my good Peter. The Badger is only too delighted to see me
fall foul of you and your wiseacre friends.
BURGOMASTER.
[_Starts and looks searchingly at him._] Aha! That throws a new light on
a good many things.
DR. STOCKMANN.
What things?
BURGOMASTER.
So the whole affair has been a carefully-concocted intrigue. Your
recklessly violent onslaught—in the name of truth—upon the leading men
of the town——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, what of it?
BURGOMASTER.
It was nothing but a preconcerted requital for that vindictive old
Morten Kiil’s will.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Almost speechless._] Peter—you are the most abominable plebeian I have
ever known in all my born days.
BURGOMASTER.
All is over between us. Your dismissal is irrevocable—for now we have a
weapon against you. _He goes out._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Shame! shame! shame! [_Calls._] Katrina! The floor must be scrubbed
after him! Tell her to come here with a pail—what’s her name? confound
it—the girl with the smudge on her nose——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_In the sitting-room doorway._] Hush, hush Thomas!
PETRA.
[_Also in the doorway._] Father, here’s grandfather; he wants to know if
he can speak to you alone.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, of course he can. [_By the door._] Come in, father-in-law.
MORTEN KIIL _enters._ DR. STOCKMANN _closes the door behind him._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, what is it? Sit down.
MORTEN KIIL.
I won’t sit down. [_Looking about him._] It looks cheerful here to-day,
Stockmann.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, don’t you think so?
MORTEN KIIL.
Sure enough. And you’ve plenty of fresh air too; you’ve got your fill of
that oxygen you were talking about yesterday. You must have a rare good
conscience to-day, I should think.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, I have.
MORTEN KIIL.
So I should suppose. [_Tapping himself on the breast._] But do you know
what _I_ have got here?
DR. STOCKMANN.
A good conscience too, I hope.
MORTEN KIIL.
Pooh! No; something far better than that.
[_Takes out a large pocket-book, opens it, and shows_ STOCKMANN
_a bundle of papers._
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Looking at him in astonishment._] Shares in the Baths!
MORTEN KIIL.
They weren’t difficult to get to-day.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And you’ve gone and bought these up——?
MORTEN KIIL.
All I had the money to pay for.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Why, my dear sir,—just when things are in such a desperate way at the
Baths——
MORTEN KIIL.
If you behave like a reasonable being, you can soon set the Baths all
right again.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, you can see for yourself I'm doing all I can. But the people of
this town are mad!
MORTEN KIIL.
You said yesterday that the worst filth came from my tannery. Now, if
that’s true, then my grandfather, and my father before me, and I myself,
have for ever so many years been poisoning the town with filth, like
three destroying angels. Do you think I'm going to sit quiet under such
a reproach?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Unfortunately, you can’t help it.
MORTEN KIIL.
No, thank you. I hold fast to my good name, I've heard that people call
me “the Badger.” A badger’s a sort of a pig, I know; but I'm determined
to give them the lie. I will live and die a clean man.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And how will you manage _that_?
MORTEN KIIL.
You shall make me clean, Stockmann.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I!
MORTEN KIIL.
Do you know what money I've used to buy these shares with? No, you can’t
know; but now I'll tell you. It’s the money Katrina and Petra and the
boys are to have after my death. For, you see, I've laid by something
after all.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Flaring up._] And you’ve taken Katrina’s money and done _this_ with
it!
MORTEN KIIL.
Yes; the whole of it is invested in the Baths now. And now I want to see
if you’re really so stark, staring mad; after all, Stockmann. If you go
on making out that these beasts and other abominations dribble down from
my tannery, it’ll be just as if you were to flay broad stripes of
Katrina’s skin—and Petra’s too, and the boys'. No decent father would
ever do that—unless he were a madman.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Walking up and down._] Yes, but I _am_ a madman; I _am_ a madman!
MORTEN KIIL.
You surely can’t be so raving, ramping mad where your wife and children
are concerned.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Stopping in front of him._] Why couldn’t you have spoken to me before
you went and bought all that rubbish?
MORTEN KIIL.
What’s done can’t be undone.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Walking restlessly about._] If only I weren’t so certain about the
affair——! But I am absolutely convinced that I'm right.
MORTEN KIIL.
[_Weighing the pocket book in his hand._] If you stick to this lunacy,
these aren’t worth much.
[_Puts the book into his pocket._
DR. STOCKMANN.
But, deuce take it! surely science ought to be able to hit upon some
antidote, some sort of prophylactic——
MORTEN KIIL.
Do you mean something to kill the beasts?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, or at least to make them harmless.
MORTEN KIIL.
Couldn’t you try ratsbane?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Oh, nonsense, nonsense!—But since every one declares it’s nothing but
fancy, why fancy let it be! Let them have it their own way! Haven’t the
ignorant, narrow-hearted curs reviled me as an enemy of the people?—and
weren’t they on the point of tearing the clothes off my back?
MORTEN KIIL.
And they’ve smashed all your windows for you too!
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, and then there’s one’s duty to one’s family! I must talk that over
with Katrina; such things are more in her line.
MORTEN KIIL.
That’s right! You just follow the advice of a sensible woman.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Turning upon him angrily._] How could you act so preposterously!
Risking Katrina’s money, and putting me to this horrible torture! When I
look at you, I seem to see the devil himself——!
MORTEN KIIL.
Then I'd better be off. But I must, hear from you, yes or no, by two
o’clock. If it’s no, all the shares go to the Hospital—and that this
very day.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And what will Katrina get?
MORTEN KIIL.
Not a rap.
[_The door leading to the hall opens. HOVSTAD and ASLAKSEN are seen
outside it._
MORTEN KIIL.
Hullo! look at these two.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Staring at them._] What! Do you actually venture to come here?
HOVSTAD.
Why, to be sure we do.
ASLAKSEN.
You see, we’ve something to discuss with you.
MORTEN KIIL.
[_Whispers._] Yes or no—by two o’clock.
ASLAKSEN.
[_With a glance at HOVSTAD._] Aha!
[MORTEN KIIL _goes out._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, what do you want with me? Be brief.
HOVSTAD.
I can quite understand that you resent our attitude at the meeting
yesterday——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Your attitude, you say? Yes, it was a pretty attitude! I call it the
attitude of cowards—of old women——Shame upon you!
HOVSTAD.
Call it what you will; but we _could_ not act otherwise.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You _dared_ not, I suppose? Isn’t that so?
HOVSTAD.
Yes, if you like to put it so.
ASLAKSEN.
But why didn’t you just say a word to us beforehand? The merest hint to
Mr. Hovstad or to me——
DR. STOCKMANN.
A hint? What about?
ASLAKSEN.
About what was really behind it all.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I don’t in the least understand you?
ASLAKSEN.
[_Nods confidentially._] Oh yes, you do, Dr. Stockmann.
HOVSTAD.
It’s no good making a mystery of it any longer.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Looking from one to the other._] Why, what in the devil’s name——!
ASLAKSEN.
May I ask—isn’t your father-in-law going about the town buying up all
the Bath stock?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, he has been buying Bath stock to-day but——
ASLAKSEN.
It would have been more prudent to let somebody else do that—some one
not so closely connected with you.
HOVSTAD.
And then you ought not to have appeared in the matter under your own
name. No one need have known that the attack on the Baths came from you.
You should have taken me into your counsels, Dr. Stockmann.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Stares straight in front of him; a light seems to break in upon him,
and he says as though thunderstruck._] Is this possible? Can such things
be?
ASLAKSEN.
[_Smiling._] It’s plain enough that they can. But they ought to be
managed delicately, you understand.
HOVSTAD.
And there ought to be more people in it; for the responsibility always
falls more lightly when there are several to share it.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Calmly._] In one word, gentlemen—what is it you want?
ASLAKSEN.
Mr. Hovstad can best——
HOVSTAD.
No, you explain, Aslaksen.
ASLAKSEN.
Well, it’s this: now that we know how the matter really stands, we
believe we can venture to place the _People’s Messenger_ at your
disposal.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You can venture to _now_, eh? But how about public opinion? Aren’t you
afraid of bringing down a storm upon us?
HOVSTAD.
We must manage to ride out the storm.
ASLAKSEN.
And you must be ready to put about quickly, Doctor. As soon as your
attack has done its work——
DR. STOCKMANN.
As soon as my father-in-law and I have bought up the shares at a
discount, you mean?
HOVSTAD.
I presume it is mainly on scientific grounds that you want to take the
management of the Baths into your own hands.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Of course; it was on scientific grounds that I got the old Badger to
stand in with me. And then we’ll tinker up the water-works a little, and
potter about a bit down at the beach, without its costing the town
sixpence. That ought to do the business? Eh?
HOVSTAD.
I think so—if you have the _Messenger_ to back you up.
ASLAKSEN.
In a free community the press is a power, Doctor.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, indeed; and so is public opinion. And you, Mr. Aslaksen—I suppose
you will answer for the House-owners' Association?
ASLAKSEN.
Both for the House-owners' Association and the Temperance Society. You
may make your mind easy.
DR. STOCKMANN.
But, gentlemen—really I'm quite ashamed to mention such a thing—but—what
return——?
HOVSTAD.
Of course, we should prefer to give you our support for nothing. But the
_Messenger_ is not very firmly established; it’s not getting on as it
ought to; and I should be very sorry to have to stop the paper just now,
when there’s so much to be done in general politics.
DR. STOCKMANN.