Produced by Nicole Apostola
THREE COMEDIES
By Bjoernstjerne M. Bjoernson
INTRODUCTION
BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON--poet, dramatist, novelist, and politician, and
the most notable figure in contemporary Norwegian history--was born, in
December 1832, at Kvikne in the north of Norway. His father was pastor
at Kvikne, a remote village in the Oesterdal district, some sixty miles
south of Trondhiem; a lonely spot, whose atmosphere and surroundings
Bjoernson afterwards described in one of his short sketches ("Blakken").
The pastor's house lay so high up on the "fjeld" that corn would not
grow on its meadows, where the relentless northern winter seemed to
begin so early and end so late. The Oesterdal folk were a wild, turbulent
lot in those days--so much so, that his predecessor (who had never
ventured into the church without his pistol in his pocket) had
eventually run away and flatly refused to return, with the result that
the district was pastorless for some years until the elder Bjoernson came
to it.
It was in surroundings such as this, and with scarcely any playfellows,
that Bjornstjerne Bjornson spent the first six years of his life; and
the sturdy independence of his nature may have owed something to the
unaccommodating life of his earliest days, just as the poetical
impulse that was so strong in his developed character probably had its
beginnings in the impressions of beauty he received in the years that
immediately followed. For, when he was six, a welcome change came. His
father was transferred to the tranquil pastorate of Naes, at the mouth
of the Romsdal, one of the fairest spots in Norway. Here Bjornson spent
the rest of his childhood, in surroundings of beauty and peacefulness,
going to school first at Molde and afterwards at Christiania, to pass
on later to the Christiania University where he graduated in 1852. As a
boy, his earliest biographer tells us, he was fully determined to be
a poet--and, naturally, the foremost poet of his time!--but, as years
passed, he gained a soberer estimate of his possibilities. At the
University he was one of a group of kindred spirits with eager literary
leanings, and it did not take him long to gain a certain footing in the
world of journalism. His work for the first year or two was mainly in
the domain of dramatic criticism, but the creative instinct was growing
in him. A youthful effort of his--a drama entitled Valborg--was actually
accepted for production at the Christiania theatre, and the author,
according to custom, was put on the "free list" at once. The experience
he gained, however, by assiduous attendance at the theatre so convinced
him of the defects in his own bantling, that he withdrew it before
performance--a heroic act of self-criticism rare amongst young authors.
His first serious literary efforts were some peasant tales, whose
freshness and vividness made an immediate and remarkable impression and
practically ensured his future as a writer, while their success inspired
him with the desire to create a kind of peasant "saga." He wrote of what
he knew, and a delicate sense of style seemed inborn in him. The best
known of these tales are Synnoeve Solbakken (1857) and Arne (1858). They
were hailed as giving a revelation of the Norwegian character, and the
first-named was translated into English as early as 1858. He was thus
made known to (or, at any rate, accessible to) English readers many
years before Ibsen, though his renown was subsequently overshadowed,
out of their own country, by the enormous vogue of the latter's works.
Ibsen, too, has been far more widely translated (and is easier to
translate) into English than Bjornson. Much of the latter's finest work,
especially in his lyrical poetry and his peasant stories, has a charm of
diction that it is almost impossible to reproduce in translation. Ibsen
and Bjornson, who inevitably suggest comparison when either's work is
dealt with, were closely bound by friendship as well as admiration until
a breach was caused by Bjornson's taking offence at a supposed attack
on him in Ibsen's early play The League of Youth, Bjornson considering
himself to be lampooned in the delineation of one of the characters
thereof. The breach, however, was healed many years later, when, at the
time of the bitter attacks that were made upon Ibsen in consequence of
the publication of Ghosts, Bjornson came into the field of controversy
with a vigorous and generous championing of his rival.
Bjornson's dramatic energies, as was the case with Ibsen in his early
days, first took the form of a series of historical dramas--Sigurd
Slembe, Konge Sverre, and others; and he was intimately connected with
the theatre by being for two periods theatrical director, from 1857 to
1859 at Bergen and from 1865 to 1867 at Christiania. Previous to the
latter engagement a stipend granted to him by the Norwegian government
enabled him to travel for two or three years in Europe; and during those
years his pen was never idle--poems, prose sketches, and tales flowing
from it in abundance. De Nygifte (The Newly-Married Couple), the
first of the three plays in the present volume, was produced at the
Christiania theatre in the first year of his directorship there.
The two volumes, Digte og Sange (Poems and Songs) and Arnljot Gelline,
which comprise the greater proportion of Bjornson's poetry, both
appeared in 1870. Digte og Sange was republished, in an enlarged
edition, ten years later. It contains the poem "Ja, vi elsker dette
Landet" ("Yes, we love this land of ours"), which, set to inspiring
music by Nordraak, became Norway's most favourite national song, as
well as another of the same nature--"Fremad! Fremad!" ("Forward!
Forward!")--which, sung to music of Grieg's, ran it hard in popularity.
Of "Ja, vi elsker dette Landet," Bjornson used to say that the greatest
tribute he had ever had to its hold upon his fellow-countrymen's hearts
was when, on one occasion during the poet's years of vigorous political
activity, a crowd of fervid opponents came and broke his windows with
stones; after which, turning to march away triumphantly, they felt the
need (ever present to the Scandinavian in moments of stress) of singing,
and burst out with one accord into the "Ja, vi elsker dette Landet" of
their hated political adversary. "They couldn't help it; they had to
sing it!" the poet used to relate delightedly.
Of the birth of "Fremad! Fremad!" Grieg has left an account which
gives an amusing picture of the infectious enthusiasm that was one
of Bjornson's strongest characteristics. Grieg had given him, as a
Christmas present, the first series of his "Lyrical Pieces" for the
pianoforte, and had afterwards played some of them to the poet, who
was especially struck with one melody which Grieg had called
"Fadrelandssang" ("Song of the Fatherland"). Bjornson there and then, to
the composer's great gratification, protested that he must write words
to fit the air. (It must be mentioned that each strophe of the melody
starts with a refrain consisting of two strongly accented notes, which
suggest some vigorous dissyllabic word.) A day or two later Grieg met
Bjornson, who was in the full throes of composition, and exclaimed to
him that the song was going splendidly, and that he believed all the
youth of Norway would adopt it enthusiastically; but that he was still
puzzled over the very necessary word to fit the strongly marked refrain.
However, he was not going to give it up. Next morning, when Grieg was
in his room peacefully giving a piano lesson to a young lady, a furious
ringing was heard at his front-door bell, as if the ringer would tear
the bell from its wires, followed by a wild shout of "'Fremad! Fremad!'
Hurrah, I have got it! 'Fremad!'" Bjornson, for of course the intruder
was he, rushed into the house the moment the maid's trembling fingers
could open the door, and triumphantly chanted the completed song to
them, over and over again, amidst a din of laughter and congratulations.
His first experiments in the "social drama," plays dealing with the
tragedies and comedies of every-day life in his own country, were made
at about the same time as Ibsen's; that is to say, in the seventies.
Bjornson's first successes in that field, which made him at once a
popular dramatist, were Redaktoeren (The Editor) in 1874 and En Fallit
(A Bankruptcy) in 1875. The latter especially was hailed as the earliest
raising of the veil upon Norwegian domestic life, and as a remarkable
effort in the detection of drama in the commonplace. Before he wrote
these, Bjornson had again been for some years out of Norway; and, as in
the case of Ibsen, who began the writing of his "social dramas" when in
voluntary exile, absence seemed to enable him to observe the familiar
from a new standpoint and in the proper perspective.
After his first successes in this line, when his plays (and his poems
and tales to an equal extent) had made him popular and honoured among
his own people, Bjornson settled at Aulestad, which remained his home
for the rest of his life. He also became a doughty controversialist in
social and religious matters, and the first outcome of this phase was
his play Leonarda (the second in this volume), which was first performed
in 1879, to be followed by Det ny System (The New System) later in
the same year. These works aroused keen controversy, but were not such
popular stage successes as his earlier plays. Moreover, about this time,
on his return from a visit to America, he plunged into the vortex of
political controversy as an aggressive radical. He was a vigorous and
very persuasive orator; and in that capacity, as well as in that of
writer of political articles and essays, was an uncompromising foe to
the opportunist theories which he held to be degrading the public life
of his country. The opposition he aroused by his fearless championship
of whatever he considered a rightful cause was so bitter that he was
eventually obliged to retire from Norway for two or three years. So much
did this temporarily affect his literary reputation at home, that when,
in 1883, he had written En Hanske (A Gauntlet--the third play here
translated) he found at first considerable difficulty in getting it
performed. Later, however, he became a political hero to a large section
of his compatriots, and by degrees won back fully the place he had
occupied in their hearts. He enthusiastically espoused the cause of
the projected separation from Sweden, though when that matter came to a
crisis he exercised an invaluable influence on the side of moderation.
For the remainder of his life he continued to be prolific in literary
production, with an ever increasing renown amongst European men of
letters, and an ever deepening personal hold upon the affections of
his fellow-countrymen. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel prize for
literature. During his later years he, like Ibsen, was a determined
opponent of the movement to replace the Dano-Norwegian language, which
had hitherto been the literary vehicle of Norwegian writers, by the
"Bonde-Maal"--or "Ny Norsk" ("New Norwegian"), as it has lately been
termed. This is an artificial hybrid composed from the Norwegian peasant
dialects, by the use of which certain misguided patriots were (and
unfortunately still are) anxious to dissociate their literature from
that of Denmark. Bjornson, and with him most of the soberer spirits
amongst Norwegian writers, had realised that the door which had so long
shut out Norway from the literature of Europe must be, as he put it,
opened from the inside; and he rightly considered that the ill-judged
"Bonde-Maal" movement could only have the result of wedging the door
more tightly shut.
He died, in April 1910, in Paris, where for some years he had always
spent his winters, and was buried at home with every mark of honour and
regret, a Norwegian warship having been sent to convey his remains back
to his own land.
He was a man of very lovable personality and of the kindest heart;
easily moved by any tale of oppression or injustice, and of wide-armed
(albeit sometimes in judicious) generosity; more apt, in the affairs
of everyday life, to be governed by his heart than by his head, and as
simple as a child in many matters. His wife was an ideal helpmate to
him, and their family life very happy.
The Newly-Married Couple (1865) offers a considerable contrast to the
other two plays here presented. It belongs to the school of Scribe
and the "soliloquy," and the author avails himself of the recognised
dramatic conventions of the day. At the same time, though the characters
may be conventional in type, they are, thanks to Bjornson's sense of
humour, alive; and the theme of the estrangement and reconciliation of
the "newly-married couple" is treated with delicacy and charm. It is
true that it is almost unbelievable that the hero could be so stupid as
to allow the "confidante" to accompany his young wife when he at last
succeeds in wresting her from her parents' jealous clutches; but, on the
other hand, that lady, with her anonymous novel that revealed the truth
to the young couple, was necessary to the plot as a "dea ex machina."
The play was, and is, immensely popular on the Scandinavian stage, and
still holds the boards on others. It has been translated into Swedish,
German, English, Dutch, Italian, Polish and Finnish.
Leonarda (1879) marks just as striking an advance upon Bjornson's early
plays as the first of Ibsen's "social dramas" did upon his. Unreal stage
conventions have disappeared, the characterisation is convincing, and
the dialogue, if more prolix than Ibsen's (as is throughout the case
with Bjornson), is always interesting and individual. The emotional
theme of the play, the love of an older woman for her adopted daughter's
young lover, is treated with the poetic touch that pervades all
Bjornson's work; and the controversial theme, that of religious
tolerance, with a sane restraint. It cannot be denied, however, that
Bjornson's changed and unorthodox attitude towards religious matters--an
attitude little expected except by those who knew him best--contributed
a good deal towards the temporary waning of his popularity at this time.
Leonarda is (like A Gauntlet) a good example of the root difference
between Bjornson's and Ibsen's treatment of problems in their dramas.
Ibsen contented himself with diagnosing social maladies; Bjornson's more
genial nature hints also at the remedy, or at least at a palliative.
Ibsen is a stern judge; Bjornson is, beyond that, a prophet of better
things. Whereas Ibsen is first and foremost a dramatist, Bjornson is
rather by instinct the novelist who casts his ideas in dramatic form,
and is concerned to "round up" the whole. As Brandes says, in the course
of his sympathetic criticism of the two writers, "Ibsen is in love
with the idea, and its psychological and logical consequences....
Corresponding to this love of the abstract idea in Ibsen, we have in
Bjornson the love of humankind." Bjornson, moreover, was a long way
behind Ibsen in constructive skill. As regards the technical execution
of Leonarda, its only obvious weakness is a slight want of vividness
in the presentation of the thesis. The hiatuses between the acts leave
perhaps too much to the imagination, and the play needs more than a
cursory reading for us to grasp the full import of the actions and
motives of its personages. Leonarda has not been previously translated
into English; though Swedish, French, German and Finnish versions of it
exist.
A Gauntlet (finished in 1883) shows a great advance in dramatic
technique. The whole is closely knit and coherent, and the problems
involved are treated with an exhaustiveness that is equally fair to both
sides. As has been already said, the plays that had preceded it from
Bjornson's pen aroused such active controversy that he found it at first
impossible to get A Gauntlet produced in his own country. Its first
performance was in Hamburg, in 1883, and for that the author modified
and altered it greatly. Eventually it was played, in its original form,
in the Scandinavian countries, and in its turn stirred up a bitter
controversy on the ethics of male and female morality as regards
marriage. It was currently said that hundreds of contemplated marriages
were broken off in Norway as an effect of its statement of a vital
problem. The remodelling the play originally underwent for its
performance in Germany was drastic. The second and third acts were
entirely recast, the character of Dr. Nordan was omitted and others
introduced, and the ending was changed. The first version was, however,
evidently the author's favourite, and it is that that is presented
here. Bjornson never published the recast version, and in the "memorial
edition" of his works it is the present version that is given. The
recast version was translated into English by Mr. Osman Edwards and
produced (in an "adapted" and mangled form, for which the translator was
not responsible) at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1894.
R. FARQUHARSON SHARP.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DRAMATIC AND POETIC WORKS.--Mellem Slagene (Between the Battles), 1857.
Halte-Hulda (Lame Hulda), 1858. Kong Sverre (King Sverre), 1861. Sigurd
Slembe (Sigurd the Bastard), 1862; translated by W. M. Payne, 1888.
Maria Stuart i Skotland, 1864. De Nygifte (The Newly-Married Couple),
1865; translated by T. Soelfeldt, 1868; by S. and E. Hjerleid, 1870; as
A Lesson in Marriage, by G. I. Colbron, 1911. Sigurd Jorsalfar (Sigurd
the Crusader), 1872. Redaktoeren (The Editor), 1874. En Fallit (A
Bankruptcy), 1874. Kongen (The King), 1877. Leonarda, 1879. Det
ny System (The New System), 1879. En Hanske, 1883; translated as A
Gauntlet, by H. L. Braekstad 1890; by Osman Edwards 1894. Over AEvne
(Beyond our Strength), Part I., 1883; translated as Pastor Sang, by
W. Wilson, 1893; Part II., 1895. Geografi og Kaerlighed (Geography and
Love), 1885; Paul Lange og Tora Parsberg, 1898; translated by H. L.
Braekstad, 1899. Laboremus, 1901; translation published by Chapman and
Hall, 1901. Paa Storhove (At Storhove), 1904; Daglannet, 1904; Naar den
ny Vin blomstrer (When the Vineyards are in Blossom), 1909.
Digte og Sange (Poems and Songs), 1870; Arnljot Gelline, 1870.
FICTION.--Synnoeve Solbakken 1857; translated as Trust and Trial, by Mary
Howitt, 1858; as Love and Life in Norway, by Hon. Augusta Bethell and A.
Plesner, 1870; as The Betrothal, in H. and A. Zimmern's Half-hours with
Foreign Novelists, 1880; also translated by Julie Sutter, 1881; by R. B.
Anderson, 1881. Arne, 1858; translated by T. Krag, 1861; by A. Plesner
and S. Rugeley-Powers, 1866; by R. B. Anderson, 1881; by W. Low (Bohn's
Library), 1890. Smaastykker (Sketches), 1860. En glad Gut, 1860;
translated as Ovind, by S. and E. Hjerleid 1869; as The Happy Boy, by
R. B. Anderson, 1881; as The Happy Lad (published by Blackie), 1882.
Fiskerjenten, 1868 translated as The Fisher Maiden, by M. E. Niles,
1869; as The Fishing Girl, by A. Plesner and F. Richardson, 1870; as The
Fishing Girl, by S. and E. Hjerleid, 1871; as The Fisher Maiden, by R.
B. Anderson, 1882. Brude-Slaatten, 1873; translated as The Bridal March,
by R. B. Anderson, 1882; by J. E. Williams, 1893. Fortaellinger (Tales),
1872. Magnhild, 1877; translated by R. B. Anderson, 1883. Kaptejn
Mansana, 1879; translated as Captain Mansana by R. B. Anderson, 1882.
Det flager i Byen og paa Havnen (Flags are Flying in Town and Port),
1884; translated as The Heritage of the Kurts, by C Fairfax 1892. Paa
Guds Veje, 1889; translated as In God's Way, by E. Carmichael, 1890.
Nye Fortaellinger (New Tales), 1894; To Fortaelinger (Two Tales), 1901;
Mary, 1906. Collected edition of the Novels, translated into English,
edited by E. Gosse, 13 vols., 1895-1909.
[See Life of Bjornson by W. M. Payne, 1910; E. Gosse's Study of the
Writings of Bjornson, in edition of Novels, 1895; H. H. Boyesen's Essays
on Scandinavian Literature, 1895; G. Brandes' Critical Studies of Ibsen
and Bjornson, 1899.]
CONTENTS
THE NEWLY-MARRIED COUPLE
LEONARDA
A GAUNTLET
THE NEWLY-MARRIED COUPLE
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
The FATHER.
The MOTHER.
LAURA, their daughter.
AXEL, her husband.
MATHILDE, her friend.
ACT I
(SCENE.--A handsomely furnished, carpeted room, with a door at the back
leading to a lobby. The FATHER is sitting on a couch on the left-hand
side, in the foreground, reading a newspaper. Other papers are lying on
a small table in front of him. AXEL is on another couch drawn up in a
similar position on the right-hand side. A newspaper, which he is not
reading, is lying on his knee. The MOTHER is sitting, sewing, in an
easy-chair drawn up beside a table in the middle of the room.)
[LAURA enters.]
Laura. Good morning, mother! (Kisses her.)
Mother. Good morning, dear. Have you slept well?
Laura. Very well, thanks. Good morning, dad! (Kisses him.)
Father. Good morning, little one, good morning. Happy and in good
spirits?
Laura. Very. (Passes in front of AXEL.) Good morning, Axel! (Sits down
at the table, opposite her mother.)
Axel. Good morning.
Mother. I am very sorry to say, my child, that I must give up going to
the ball with you to-night. It is such a long way to go, in this cold
spring weather.
Father (without looking up from his paper). Your mother is not well. She
was coughing in the night.
Laura. Coughing again?
Father. Twice. (The MOTHER coughs, and he looks up.) There, do you hear
that? Your mother must not go out, on any account.
Laura. Then I won't go, either.
Father. That will be just as well; it is such raw weather. (To the
MOTHER.) But you have no shawl on, my love; where is your shawl?
Laura. Axel, fetch mother's shawl; it is hanging in the lobby. (AXEL
goes out into the lobby.)
Mother. We are not really into spring yet. I am surprised the stove is
not lit in here.
Laura (to AXEL, who is arranging the shawl over the MOTHER'S shoulders).
Axel, ring the bell and let us have a fire. (He does so, and gives the
necessary instructions to the Servant.)
Mother. If none of us are going to the ball, we ought to send them a
note. Perhaps you would see to that, Axel?
Axel. Certainly--but will it do for us to stay away from this ball?
Laura. Surely you heard father say that mother has been coughing in the
night.
Axel. Yes, I heard; but the ball is being given by the only friend I
have in these parts, in your honour and mine. We are the reason of the
whole entertainment--surely we cannot stay away from it?
Laura. But it wouldn't be any pleasure to us to go without mother.
Axel. One often has to do what is not any pleasure.
Laura. When it is a matter of duty, certainly. But our first duty is to
mother, and we cannot possibly leave her alone at home when she is ill.
Axel. I had no idea she was ill.
Father (as he reads). She coughed twice in the night. She coughed only a
moment ago.
Mother. Axel means that a cough or two isn't illness, and he is quite
right.
Father (still reading). A cough may be a sign of something very serious.
(Clears his throat.) The chest--or the lungs. (Clears his throat again.)
I don't think I feel quite the thing myself, either.
Laura. Daddy dear, you are too lightly clothed.
Mother. You dress as if it were summer--and it certainly isn't that.
Father. The fire will burn up directly. (Clears his throat again.) No,
not quite the thing at all.
Laura. Axel! (He goes up to her.) You might read the paper to us till
breakfast is ready.
Axel. Certainly. But first of all I want to know if we really are not to
go to the ball?
Laura. You can go, if you like, and take our excuses.
Mother. That wouldn't do. Remember you are married now.
Axel. That is exactly why it seems to me that Laura cannot stay at home.
The fact that she is my wife ought to have most weight with her now; and
this ball is being given for us two, who have nothing the matter with
us, besides being mainly a dance for young people--
Mother. And not for old folk.
Laura. Thank you; mother has taken to dancing again since I have grown
up. I have never been to a ball without mother's leading off the dances.
Mother. Axel apparently thinks it would have been much better if I had
not done so.
Father (as he reads). Mother dances most elegantly.
Axel. Surely I should know that, seeing how often I have had the honour
of leading off with mother. But on this occasion forty or fifty people
have been invited, a lot of trouble and expense incurred and a lot of
pleasure arranged, solely for our sakes. It would be simply wicked to
disappoint them.
Father (still reading). We can give a ball for them, in return.
Mother. All the more as we owe heaps of people an invitation.
Laura. Yes, that will be better; we have more room here, too. (A pause.)
Axel (leaning over LAURA'S chair). Think of your new ball dress--my
first present to you. Won't that tempt you? Blue muslin, with silver
stars all over it? Shall they not shine for the first time to-night?
Laura (smiling). No, there would be no shine in the stars if mother were
not at the dance.
Axel. Very well--I will send our excuses. (Turns to go out.)
Father (still reading). Perhaps it will be better for me to write. (AXEL
stops.)
Mother. Yes, you will do it best.
[MATHILDE comes in, followed by a Servant, who throws the doors open.]
Mathilde. Breakfast is ready.
Father (taking his wife's arm). Keep your shawl on, my dear; it is cold
in the hall. (They go out.)
Axel (as he offers LAURA his arm and leads her towards the door). Let me
have a word with you, before we follow them!
Laura. But it is breakfast time.
Axel (to MATHILDE, who is standing behind them waiting). Do you mind
going on? (MATHILDE goes out, followed by the Servant. AXEL turns to
LAURA.) Will nothing move you? Go with me to this dance!
Laura. I thought that was what you were going to say.
Axel. For _my_ sake!
Laura. But you saw for yourself that mother and father do not wish it?
Axel. _I_ wish it.
Laura. When mother and father do not?
Axel. Then I suppose you are their daughter in the first place, and my
wife only in the second?
Laura (with a laugh). Well, that is only natural.
Axel. No, it is not natural; because two days ago you promised to
forsake your father and your mother and follow me.
Laura (laughing). To the ball? I certainly never promised that.
Axel. Wherever I wish.
Laura. But you mustn't wish that, Axel darling--because it is quite
impossible.
Axel. It is quite possible, if you like to do it.
Laura. Yes, but I don't like.
Axel. That same day you also heard that a man is his wife's lord and
master. You must be willing to leave them, if I wish it; it was on those
terms that you gave me your hand, you obstinate little woman.
Laura. It was just so as to be able to be always with father and mother,
that I did it.
Axel. So that was it. Then you have no wish to be always with me?
Laura. Yes--but not to forsake them.
Axel. Never?
Laura. Never? (Softly.) Yes, some day--when I must.
Axel. When must you?
Laura. When? When mother and father--are gone. But why think about such
things?
Axel. Don't cry, darling! Listen to me. Would you never be willing to
follow me--until they have left us?
Laura. No!--how can you think so?
Axel. Ah, Laura, you don't love me.
Laura. Why do you say such a thing? You only want to make me unhappy.
Axel. You don't even know what love is.
Laura. I don't?--That is not kind of you.
Axel. Tell me what it is then, sweetheart!
Laura (kissing him). Now you mustn't talk about it any more; because you
know, if you do, I shall have red eyes, and then father and mother will
want to know why they are red, and I shall not be able to tell them, and
it will be very embarrassing.
Axel. Better a few tears now than many later on.
Laura. But what have I done to cry about?
Axel. You have given your hand without giving your heart with it; your
tongue said "yes," but not your will; you have given yourself without
realising what it means. And so, what ought to be the greatest and
purest happiness in my life begins to turn to sorrow, and the future
looks dark.
Laura. Oh, dear!--and is all this my fault?
Axel. No, it is my own fault. I have been deluding myself with
flattering hopes. I thought it would be so easy a matter for my love
to awaken yours; but I cannot make you understand me. Every way I have
tried has failed. So I must call up my courage, and try the last chance.
Laura. The last chance? What do you mean?
Axel. Laura, I can't tell you how dearly I love you!
Laura. If you did, you wouldn't hurt me. I never hurt you.
Axel. Well, give in to me in just this one thing, and I shall believe it
is the promise of more. Go with me to the ball!
Laura. You know I cannot do that!
Axel. Ah! then I dare not delay any longer!
Laura. You frighten me! You look so angry.
Axel. No, no. But things cannot go on like this any longer. I can't
stand it!
Laura. Am I so bad, then? No one ever told me so before.
Axel. Don't cry, my dainty little fairy. You have nothing to blame
yourself for--except for being so bewitchingly sweet whether you are
laughing or crying. You exhale sweetness like a flower. I want your
influence to pervade every place where I am, to distract me when I am
moody and laugh away my longings. Hush, hush--no red eyes. Let no one
see that. Here is your mother coming--no, it is Mathilde.
[Enter MATHILDE.]
Mathilde. Your coffee is getting cold.
Axel. We are just coming. At least, Laura is. I want to speak to you for
a moment, if I may.
Mathilde. To me?
Axel. If you will allow me.
Mathilde. By all means.
Laura. But you are coming in to breakfast?
Axel. In a moment, darling.
Laura. And you are not angry with me any longer?
Axel (following her). I never was that. I never could be!
Laura. I am so glad! (Runs out.)
Mathilde. What is it you want?
Axel. Can you keep a secret?
Mathilde. No.
Axel. You won't?
Mathilde. No.
Axel. You won't share any more confidences with me? (Takes her hand.)
You used to--
Mathilde (drawing back her hand and moving away from him). Yes, I used
to.
Axel. Why won't you any longer? (Goes up to her.) What is changed?
Mathilde. You. You are married now.
Axel. No, that is just what I am not.
Mathilde. Indeed.
Axel. You have sharp eyes. You must have seen that.
Mathilde. I thought it was all just as you wished.
Axel. You are giving me very abrupt answers. Have I offended you?
Mathilde. What makes you ask that?
Axel. Because lately you have avoided me. Remember how kind you were
to me once--indeed, that I owe you everything. It was through you, you
know, that I got at her. I had to make assignations with you, in order
to meet her. I had to offer you my arm so as to be able to give her the
other, and to talk to you so that she might hear my voice. The little
darling thought she was doing you a service--
Mathilde. When as a matter of fact it was I that was doing her one--
Axel. Yes, and without suspecting it! That was the amusing part of it.
Mathilde. Yes, that was the amusing part of it.
Axel. But soon people began to say that you and I were secretly engaged,
and that we were making a stalking-horse of Laura; so for her sake I had
to bring matters to a head rather quickly.
Mathilde. Yes, you took a good many people by surprise.
Axel. Including even yourself, I believe--not to mention the old folk
and Laura. But the worst of it is that I took my own happiness by
surprise, too.
Mathilde. What do you mean?
Axel. Of course I knew Laura was only a child; but I thought she would
grow up when she felt the approach of love. But she has never felt its
approach; she is like a bud that will not open, and I cannot warm the
atmosphere. But you could do that--you, in whom she has confided all her
first longings--you, whose kind heart knows so well how to sacrifice its
happiness for others. You know you are to some extent responsible, too,
for the fact that the most important event in her life came upon her a
little unpreparedly; so you ought to take her by the hand and guide her
first steps away from her parents and towards me--direct her affections
towards me--
Mathilde. I? (A pause.)
Axel. Won't you?
Mathilde. No--
Axel. But why not? You love her, don't you?
Mathilde. I do; but this is a thing--
Axel.--that you can do quite well! For you are better off than the rest
of us--you have many more ways of reaching a person's soul than we have.
Sometimes when we have been discussing something, and then you have
given your opinion, it has reminded me of the refrains to the old
ballads, which sum up the essence of the whole poem in two lines.
Mathilde. Yes, I have heard you flatter before.
Axel. I flatter? Why, what I have just asked you to do is a clearer
proof than anything else how great my--
Mathilde. Stop, stop! I won't do it!
Axel. Why not? At least be frank with me!
Mathilde. Because--oh, because--(Turns away.)
Axel. But what has made you so unkind? (MATHILDE stops for a moment, as
though she were going to answer; then goes hurriedly out.) What on earth
is the matter with her? Has anything gone wrong between her and Laura?
Or is it something about the house that is worrying her? She is too
level-headed to be disturbed by trifles.--Well, whatever it is, it must
look after itself; I have something else to think about. If the one of
them _can't_ understand me, and the other _won't_, and the old couple
neither can nor will, I must act on my own account--and the sooner the
better! Later on, it would look to other people like a rupture. It must
be done now, before we settle down to this state of things; for if we
were to do that, it would be all up with us. To acquiesce in such
an unnatural state of affairs would be like crippling one's self on
purpose. I am entangled hand and foot here in the meshes of a net
of circumspection. I shall have to sail along at "dead slow" all my
life--creep about among their furniture and their flowers as warily as
among their habits. You might just as well try to stand the house on its
head as to alter the slightest thing in it. I daren't move!--and it is
becoming unbearable. Would it be a breach of a law of nature to move
this couch a little closer to the wall, or this chair further away from
it? And has it been ordained from all eternity that this table must
stand just where it does? _Can_ it be shifted? (Moves it.) It actually
can! And the couch, too. Why does it stand so far forward? (Pushes it
back.) And why are these chairs everlastingly in the way? This one shall
stand there--and this one there. (Moves them.) I will have room for my
legs; I positively believe I have forgotten how to walk. For a whole
year I have hardly heard the sound of my own footstep--or of my own
voice; they do nothing but whisper and cough here. I wonder if I have
any voice left? (Sings.)
"Bursting every bar and band,
My fetters will I shatter;
Striding out, with sword in hand,
Where the fight"--
(He stops abruptly, at the entrance of the FATHER, the MOTHER,
LAURA and MATHILDE, who have come hurriedly from the breakfast table. A
long pause.)
Laura. Axel, dear!
Mathilde. What, all by himself?
Mother. Do you think you are at a ball?
Father. And playing the part of musician as well as dancer?
Axel. I am amusing myself.
Father. With our furniture?
Axel. I only wanted to see if it was possible to move it.
Mother. If it was possible to move it?
Laura. But what were you shouting about?
Axel. I only wanted to try if I had any voice left.
Laura. If you had any voice left?
Mother. There is a big wood near the house, where you can practise that.
Father. And a waterfall--if you are anxious to emulate Demosthenes.
Laura. Axel, dear--are you out of your mind?
Axel. No, but I think I soon shall be.
Mother. Is there anything wrong?
Axel. Yes, a great deal.
Mother. What is it? Some unpleasant news by post?
Axel. No, not that--but I am unhappy.
Mother. Two days after your wedding?
Father. You have a very odd way of showing it.
Axel. I am taken like that sometimes.
Mother. But what is it? Evidently you are not as happy as we hoped you
would be. Confide in us, Axel; we are your parents now, you know.
Axel. It is something I have been thinking about for a long time, but
have not had the courage to mention.
Mother. Why? Aren't we good to you?
Axel. You are much too good to me.
Father. What do you mean by that?
Axel. That everything is made far too smooth for me here; my faculties
get no exercise; I cannot satisfy my longing for activity and
conflict--nor my ambition.
Father. Dear me! What do you want, if you please?
Axel. I want to work for myself, to owe my position in life to my own
efforts--to become something.
Father. Really.--What a foolish idea! (Moves towards the door.)
Mother. But an idea we must take an interest in. He is our child's
husband now, remember. What do you want to be, my boy? Member of
Parliament?
Axel. No; but my uncle, who has about the largest legal practice in
these parts, offered long ago to hand it over to me.
Mother. But you wouldn't be able to look after it from here, would you,
Axel?
Father (at the door). A ridiculous idea!--Come back to breakfast. (Turns
to go.)
Mother. That is true, isn't it? You couldn't look after it from here?
Axel. No; but I can move into town.
All. Move into town? (A pause. The FATHER turns back from the door.)
Father. That is still more impossible, of course.
Mother. There must be something at the bottom of this. Is anything
worrying you? (Lowering her voice.) Are you in debt?
Axel. No, thanks to the kindness of you two. You have freed me from
that.
Mother. Then what is it, Axel? You have been so, strange lately--what is
it, my dear boy?
Father. Nonsensical ideas--probably his stomach is disordered. Remember
the last time I ate lobster!--Come along in and have a glass of sherry,
and you will forget all about it.
Axel. No, it isn't a thing one can forget. It is always in my
thoughts--more and more insistently. I must have work for my mind--some
outlet for my ambition. I am bored here.
Mother. Two days after your wedding!
Father. Set to work then, for heaven's sake! What is there to hinder
you? Would you like to take charge of one of my farms? Or to start some
improvements on the estate?--or anything you please! I have no doubt you
have ideas, and I will provide the money--only do not let us have any of
this fuss!
Axel. But then I shall be indebted to you for everything, and shall feel
dependent.
Father. So you would rather feel indebted to your uncle?
Axel. He will give me nothing. I must buy it from him.
Father. Really!--How?
Axel. With my work and my--. Oh well, I suppose you would lend me a
little capital?
Father. Not a penny.
Axel. But why?
Father. I will tell you why. Because my son in law must be my
son-in-law, and not a speculating lawyer who sits with his door open and
a sign hung out to beg for custom.
Axel. Is a lawyer's profession a dishonourable one, then?
Father. No, it is not. But you have been received into one of the oldest
and richest families in the country, and you owe some respect to its
traditions. Generation after generation, from time immemorial, the
heads of our family have been lords of the manor--not office seekers
or fortune hunters. The honourable offices I have held have all been
offered to me and not sought by me; and I am not going to have you
chattering about your university degree or your talents. You shall stay
quietly here, and you will be offered more than you want.
Mother. Come, come, my dear, don't get heated over it; that always makes
you so unwell. Let us arrive at some arrangement without wrangling.
Axel, you must be reasonable; you know he cannot stand any
over-exertion. Laura, get your father a glass of water. Come, my dear,
let us go back to the dining-room.
Father. Thanks, I have no appetite left now.
Mother. There, you see!--Axel, Axel!
Laura. For shame, Axel!
Mother. Sit down, dear, sit down! My goodness, how hot you are!
Father. It is so warm in here.
Mother. That is the stove. Shut it down, Mathilde!
Laura (to AXEL). You are a nice one, I must say!
Father. The chairs--put them straight! (They do so.) And the table!
(They do so.) That is better.
Mother. That is the worst of a stranger in the house--something of this
sort may so easily happen.
Father. But a thing like this!--I have never in my life been
contradicted before.
Mother. It is for the first and last time! He will soon learn who you
are and what is due to you.
Father. And to think that, the first time, it should be my son-in-law
that--
Mother. He will regret it for the rest of your life, you may be sure,
and when you are gone he will have no peace of mind. We can only hope
that the atmosphere of affection in this house will improve him. Really,
lately, Axel has behaved as if he were bewitched.
Laura. Yes, hasn't he?
Mother. Good gracious, Laura, do you mean that you--
Laura. No, I didn't mean anything.
Mother. Laura, are you trying to conceal something?
Father. And from us? (Gets up.) Are things as bad as that?
Laura. I assure you, dear people, it is nothing; it is only--
Father and Mother (together). Only--?
Laura. No, no, it is nothing--only you frighten me so.
Father and Mother (together). She is crying!
Mathilde. She is crying!
Father. Now, sir--why is she crying?
Laura. But, father, father--look, I am not crying the least bit.
Mother and Mathilde. Yes, she is crying!
Axel. Yes--and will cry every day until we make a change here! (A pause,
while they all look at him.) Well, as so much has been said, it may as
well all come out. Our marriage is not a happy one, because it lacks the
most essential thing of all.
Mother. Merciful heavens, what are you saying!
Father. Compose yourself; let me talk to him. What do you mean, sir?
Axel. Laura does not love me--
Laura. Yes, that is what he says!
Axel. She hasn't the least idea what love means, and will never learn as
long as she is in her father's house.
Mother and Father. Why?
Axel. Because she lives only for her parents; me, she looks upon merely
as an elder brother who is to assist her in loving them.
Mother. Is that so distasteful to you, then?
Axel. No, no. I am devoted to you and grateful to you, and I am proud of
being your son; but it is only through her that I am that--and she has
never yet really taken me to her heart. I am quite at liberty to go away
or to stay, as I please; _she_ is a fixture here. There is never one
of her requests to me, scarcely a single wish she expresses--indeed,
scarcely a sign of endearment she shows me, that she has not first of
all divided up into three portions; and I get my one-third of it, and
get it last or not at all.
Mother. He is jealous--and of us!
Father. Jealous of us!
Laura. Yes, indeed he is, mother.
Father. This is mere fancy, Axel--a ridiculous idea. Do not let any one
else hear you saying that.
Axel. No, it is neither mere fancy nor is it ridiculous. It colours the
whole of our relations to one another; it gnaws at my feelings, and then
I torment her, make you angry, and lead an idle, empty, ill-tempered
existence--
Father. You are ill, there is no doubt about it.
Axel. I am, and you have made me ill.
Father and Mother (together). We have?
Father. Please be a little--
Axel. You allow her to treat me simply as the largest sized of all the
dolls you have given her to play with. You cannot bear to see her give
away any more of her affection than she might give to one of her dolls.
Father. Please talk in a more seemly manner! Please show us a proper
respect--
Axel. Forgive me, my dear parents, if I don't. What I mean is that a
child cannot be a wife, and as long as she remains with you she will
always be a child.
Mother. But, Axel, did we not tell you she was only a child--
Father. We warned you, we asked you to wait a year or two--
Mother. Because we could not see that she loved you sufficiently.
Father. But your answer was that it was just the child in her that you
loved.
Mother. Just the child's innocence and simplicity. You said you felt
purer in her presence; indeed, that she sometimes made you feel as if
you were in church. And we, her father and mother, understood that, for
we had felt it ourselves.
Father. We felt that just as much as you, my son.
Mother. Do you remember one morning, when she was asleep, that you said
her life was a dream which it would be a sin to disturb?
Father. And said that the mere thought of her made you tread more softly
for fear of waking her.
Axel. That is quite true. Her childlike nature shed happiness upon
me, her gentle innocence stilled me. It is quite true that I felt her
influence upon my senses like that of a beautiful morning.
Father. And now you are impatient with her for being a child!
Axel. Exactly! At the time when I was longing to lead her to the altar,
I daresay I only thought of her as an inspiration to my better self and
my best impulses. She was to me what the Madonna is to a good Catholic;
but now she has become something more than that. The distance between
us no longer exists; I cannot be satisfied with mere adoration, I must
love; I cannot be satisfied with kneeling to her, I need my arms around
her. Her glance has the same delicacy it always had, the same innocence;
but I can no longer sit and gaze at her by the hour. Her glance must
lose itself in mine in complete surrender. Her hand, her arm, her mouth
are the same as they were; but I need to feel her hand stroking my hair,
her arm round my neck, her mouth on mine; her thoughts must embrace mine
and be like sunshine in my heart. She was a symbol to me, but the symbol
has become flesh and blood. When first she came into my thoughts it was
as a child; but I have watched her day by day grow into a woman, whose
shyness and ignorance make her turn away from me, but whom I must
possess. (LAURA moves quickly towards him.)
Mother. He loves our child!
Father. He loves her! (Embraces his wife.) What more is there to say,
then? Everything is as it should be. Come along and have a glass of
sherry!
Axel. No, everything is not as it should be. I can get her gratitude
sometimes in a lucky moment, but not her heart. If I am fond of
a certain thing, she is not. If I wish a thing, she wishes the
opposite--for instance, if it's only a question of going to a ball, she
won't take any pleasure in it unless her mother can go too.
Mother. Good heavens, is it nothing but that!
Laura. No, mother, it is nothing else; it is this ball.
Father. Then for any sake go to the ball! You are a couple of noodles.
Come along, now.
Axel. The ball? It is not the ball. I don't care a bit about the ball.
Laura. No, that is just it, mother. When he gets what he wants, it turns
out that it wasn't what he wanted at all, but something quite different.
I don't understand what it is.
Axel. No, because it is not a question of any one thing, but of our
whole relations to one another. Love is what I miss; she does not know
what it means, and never will know--as long as she remains at home here.
(A pause.)
Mother (slowly). As long as she remains at home?
Father (coming nearer to him, and trembling slightly). What do you mean
by that?
Axel. It will be only when Laura finds she can no longer lean upon her
parents, that she may possibly come to lean upon me.
Mother. What does he mean?
Father. I don't understand--
Axel. If she is to be something more than a good daughter--if she is to
be a good wife--Laura must go away from here.
Mother. Laura go away?
Father. Our child?
Laura (to her MOTHER). Mother!
Axel. It would be wronging her whom I love so deeply, it would be
wronging myself, and wronging you who mean so well, if now, when the
power is in my hands, I had not the spirit to make use of it. Here,
Laura lives only for you; when you die, life will be over for her. But
that is not what marriage means, that is not what she promised at the
altar, and that is what I cannot submit to. To go on like this will only
make us all unhappy; and that is why Laura must go with me! (The MOTHER
starts forward; LAURA goes to MATHILDE.)
Father. You cannot mean what you say.
Axel. I am in deadly earnest, and no one can shake my resolution.
Mother. Then Heaven have mercy on us! (A pause.)
Father. You know, Axel, that God gave us five children; and you know,
too, that He took four away from us again. Laura is now our only child,
our only joy.
Mother. We can't bear to lose her, Axel! She has never been away from us
a single day since she was born. She is the spoilt child of our sorrow;
if death itself claimed her, we should have to hold fast on to her.
Father. Axel, you are not a wicked man; you have not come amongst us to
make us all unhappy?
Axel. If I were to give in now, this state of things would occur again
every week or so, and none of us could stand that. For that reason, my
dear parents, prove yourselves capable of a sacrifice. Let us put an end
to it once for all--and let Laura move into town with me next week.
Father. Good heavens--it is impossible!
Mother. You won't have the heart to do that. Look at her, and then
say that again! (AXEL turns away.) No, I knew you could not. (To the
FATHER.) You talk to him! Tell him the truth, set him right, since he
has broken in upon a good and loving family only to bring misfortune to
it.
Father. In this house, as far back as I can remember, no hard words
have ever been used. It seems to me like some evil dream, that I am
struggling to wake out of and cannot! (A pause.) Mr. Hargaut, when we
gave our daughter to you, we made no conditions. We admitted you into
a happy family, to a position of wealth, to a promising future; and we
expected, in return, some little affection, some little appreciation--at
least some little respect. But you behave like--like a stranger, who is
admitted to one's intimacy and good offices, and then one morning goes
off with the most valuable possessions in the house--like an ungrateful,
cruel--! We have confided our child, the dearest, sweetest child, our
only child, to--a man without a heart! We were two happy parents, rich
in her love--parents whom every one envied and we now are two poor
bereaved wretches, who must creep away together into a corner in their
unhappy disillusionment. (Sits down.)
Mother. And this is the way you can treat the man who has given you
everything! What answer have you to give him?
Axel. It makes my heart bleed. If I had thought it would be as hard as
this, indeed I would never have begun it; but if we leave the matter
unsettled, now that it has been broached, we shall never be on proper
terms with one another again. Of that I am certain. If it is a matter
that pains us all, for that very reason let us go through with it and
get it settled.
Father. Poor confiding fools that we have been!
Mother. Can't you give us some respite, so that we may think things over
quietly? This is simply tearing us apart.
Axel. It would only prolong your pain, and it would end in your hating
me. No, it must be done now--at once; otherwise it will never be done.
Mother. Oh dear, oh dear! (Sits down.)
Father. Axel! Listen to us for a moment! It is quite possible you may be
in the right; but for that very reason I beg you--I, who have never yet
begged anything of any one--I beg you, be merciful! I am an old man, and
cannot stand it--and she (looking at his wife) still less.
Axel. Ah, I am not hard-hearted--but I must try to be resolute. If I
lose now, I shall be losing her for life, I know. Therefore she _shall_
go with me!
Mother (springing up). No, she shall not! If you loved her, as you say
you do, you hypocrite, you would remain where she is--and here she shall
stay!
Laura (who has been standing beside MATHILDE, goes to her MOTHER). Yes,
to my dying day.
Father (getting up). No! We must not alter God's law. It is written: "A
man shall forsake his father and his mother, and cleave only unto his
wife"--and in the same way she must cleave only to him. Laura shall go
when he wishes.
Laura. Father, can you--have you the heart to--?
Father. No, I haven't the heart to, my child. But I shall do it
nevertheless, because it is right. Oh, Laura!--(Embraces her. The MOTHER
joins her embrace to his.)
Mathilde (to AXEL). You Jesuit!--You have no consideration, no mercy;
you trample upon hearts as you would upon the grass that grows in your
path. But you shall not find this so easy as you think. It is true she
is a child--but I shall go with her! I don't know you, and I don't trust
you. (Clenches her fist.) But I shall watch over her!
[Curtain.]
ACT II
(SCENE.--AXEL's house, a year later. The room is arranged almost
identically like that in the first act. Two large portraits of LAURA'S
parents, very well executed, hang in full view. LAURA is sitting at the
table, MATHILDE on the couch on the right.)
Mathilde (reading aloud from a book). "'No,' was the decided answer.
Originally it was he that was to blame, but now it is she. He tore her
from her parents, her home and her familiar surroundings; but since then
he has sought her forgiveness so perseveringly, and her love so humbly,
that it would take all the obstinacy of a spoilt child to withstand him.
Just as formerly he could think of nothing but his love, so now she will
consider nothing except her self-love; but she is so much the more to
blame than he, as her motives are less good than his. She is like a
child that has woke up too early in the morning; it strikes and kicks at
any one that comes to pet it."
Laura. Mathilde--does it really say that?
Mathilde. Indeed it does.
Laura. Just as you read it?
Mathilde. Look for yourself.
Laura (takes the book and looks at it, then lays it down). It is almost
our own story, word for word. I would give anything to know who has
written it.
Mathilde. It is a mere coincidence--
Laura. No, some wicked wretch has seen something like this--some
creature that is heartless enough to be able to mock at a parent's love;
it must be some one who either is worthless himself or has had worthless
parents!
Mathilde. Why, Laura, how seriously you take it!
Laura. Yes, it irritates me, this libelling of all fidelity. What
is fidelity, if it does not mean that a child should be true to its
parents?
Mathilde. But I was just reading to you about that. (Reads.) "The object
of fidelity changes, as we ourselves change. The child's duty is to be
true to its parents; the married, to one another; the aged, to their
children--"
Laura. Don't read any more! I won't hear any more! Its whole train
of thought offends me. (After a pause.) What a horrid book!
(Indifferently.) What happens to them in the end?
Mathilde (in the same tone). To whom?
Laura. That couple--in the book.
Mathilde (still in an indifferent tone). It doesn't end happily. (A
pause.)
Laura (looking up). Which of them suffers?
Mathilde. Which do you think?
Laura (beginning to sew again). She, I should think--because she is
unhappy already.
Mathilde. You have guessed right. She falls in love.
Laura (astonished). Falls in love?
Mathilde. Yes. Sometime or other, love is awakened in the heart of every
woman; and then, if she cannot love her husband, in the course of time
she will love some one else.
Laura (dismayed). Some one else!
Mathilde. Yes. (A pause.)
Laura. That is horrible! (Begins to sew, then lays her hand down on the
table, then begins to sew again.) And what happens to him?
Mathilde. He falls ill, very ill. And then some one finds him out and
comforts him--a woman.
Laura (looking up). How does that happen?
Mathilde. His heart is like an empty house, in an atmosphere of sadness
and longing. Little by little she--the woman who comforts him--creeps
into it; and so in time there comes the day when he can say he is happy.
(A pause.)
Laura (quietly). Who is she?
Mathilde. One of those poor-spirited creatures that can be content with
the aftermath of love.
Laura (after a pause, during which she has been looking fixedly at
MATHILDE). Could you be that?
Mathilde. No!--I must be first or nothing!
Laura. But about her?
Mathilde. The wife?
Laura. Yes. What happens to her?
Mathilde. Directly she realises that love for another has taken
possession of her husband, she turns towards him with all her heart; but
it is too late then. (LAURA sits absorbed for a few moments; then gets
up hurriedly and goes to a little work-table that is standing at the end
of the couch on the left, opens it, looks for something in it, stops to
think, then looks in it again.) What are you looking for?
Laura. A photograph.
Mathilde. Axel's?
Laura. No--but what has become of it?
Mathilde. Don't you remember that one day you took it up and said you
would not have it? So I hid it.
Laura. You?
Mathilde. Yes--till you should ask about it. (Gets up, opens her
work-table that stands by the right-hand couch.) Here it is. (Gives it
to her.)
Laura. So you have got it! (Lays it in her table drawer without looking
at it, shuts the drawer, goes a few paces away, then comes back, turns
the key in the drawer and takes it out.) Has Axel read the new book?
Mathilde. I don't know. Shall I give it to him?
Laura. Just as you like. Perhaps you would like to read it aloud to him.
(A Maid comes in with a letter; LAURA takes it, and the Maid goes out
again.) From my parents! (Kisses the letter with emotion.) The only ones
who love me! (Goes out hurriedly. At the same moment AXEL comes in from
the outer door.)
Axel. She always goes when I come in!
Mathilde (getting up). This time it was an accident, though. (Looks at
him.) How pale you are!
Axel (seriously). I am rather worried.--Have you read the new novel?
Mathilde (putting the book in her pocket). What novel?
Axel. "The Newly-Married Couple"--quite a small book.
Mathilde. Oh, that one--I have just been reading it.
Axel (eagerly). And Laura too? Has Laura read it?
Mathilde. She thinks it is a poor story.
Axel. It isn't that, but it is an extraordinary one. It quite startles
me--it is like coming into one's own room and seeing one's self sitting
there. It has caught hold of unformed thoughts that lie hidden deep in
my soul.
Mathilde. Every good book does that.
Axel. Everything will happen to me just as it does in that book; the
premises are all here, only I had not recognised them.
Mathilde. I have heard of very young doctors feeling the symptoms of all
the diseases they read about.
Axel. Oh, but this is more than mere imagination. My temptations come
bodily before me. My thoughts are the result of what happens, just as
naturally as smoke is the result of fire--and these thoughts (lancing at
MATHILDE) lead me far.
Mathilde. As far as I can see, the book only teaches consideration for a
woman, especially if she is young.
Axel. That is true. But, look here--a young man, brought up among
students, cannot possibly possess, ready-made, all this consideration
that a woman's nature requires. He doesn't become a married man in one
day, but by degrees. He cannot make a clean sweep of his habits and take
up the silken bonds of duty, all in a moment. The inspiration of a first
love gives him the capacity, but he has to learn how to use it. I never
saw what I had neglected till I had frightened her away from me. But
what is there that I have not done, since then, to win her? I have gone
very gently to work and tried from every side to get at her--I have
tempted her with gifts and with penitence--but you can see for yourself
she shrinks from me more and more. My thoughts, wearied with longings
and with the strain of inventing new devices, follow her, and my love
for her only grows--but there are times when such thoughts are succeeded
by a void so great that my whole life seems slipping away into it. It
is then I need some one to cling to--. Oh, Mathilde, you have meant very
much to me at times like that. (Goes up to her.)
Mathilde (getting up). Yes, all sorts of things happen in a year that
one never thought of at the beginning of it.
Axel (sitting down). Good God, what a year! I haven't the courage to
face another like it. This book has frightened me.
Mathilde (aside). That's a good thing, anyway.
Axel (getting up). Besides--the amount of work I have to do, to keep up
everything here just as she was accustomed to have it, is getting to be
too much for me, Mathilde. It won't answer in the long run. If only I
had the reward of thanks that the humblest working-man gets-if it were
only a smile; but when I have been travelling about for a week at a
time, exposed to all sorts of weather in these open boats in winter,
do I get any welcome on my home-coming? When I sit up late, night after
night, does she ever realise whom I am doing it for? Has she as much as
noticed that I have done so--or that I have, at great expense, furnished
this house like her parents'? No, she takes everything as a matter of
course; and if any one were to say to her, "He has done all this for
your sake," she would merely answer, "He need not have done so, I had it
all in my own home."
Mathilde. Yes, you have come to a turning-point now.
Axel. What do you mean?
Mathilde. Nothing particular--here she comes!
Axel. Has anything happened? She is in such a hurry!
[LAURA comes in with an open letter in her hand.]
Laura (in a low voice, to MATHILDE). Mother and father are so lonely
at home that they are going abroad, to Italy; but they are coming here,
Mathilde, before they leave the country.
Mathilde. Coming here? When?
Laura. Directly. I hadn't noticed--the letter is written from the
nearest posting station; they want to take us by surprise--they will be
here in a few minutes. Good heavens, what are we to do?
Mathilde (quickly). Tell Axel that!
Laura. I tell him?
Mathilde. Yes, you must.
Laura (in a frightened voice). I?
Mathilde (to AXEL). Laura has something she wants to tell you.
Laura. Mathilde!
Axel. This is something new.
Laura. Oh, do tell him, Mathilde. (MATHILDE says nothing, but goes to
the back of the room.)
Axel (coming up to her). What is it?
Laura (timidly). My parents are coming.
Axel. Here?
Laura. Yes.
Axel. When? To-day?
Laura. Yes. Almost directly.
Axel. And no one has told me! (Takes up his hat to go.)
Laura (frightened). Axel!
Axel. It is certainly not for the pleasure of finding me here that they
are coming.
Laura. But you mustn't go!
Mathilde. No, you mustn't do that.
Axel. Are they not going to put up here?
Laura. Yes, I thought--if you are willing--in your room.
Axel. So that is what it is to be--I am to go away and they are to take
my place.
Mathilde. Take my room, and I will move into Laura's. I will easily
arrange that. (Goes out.)
Axel. Why all this beating about the bush? It is quite natural that you
should want to see them, and equally natural that I should remove myself
when they come; only you should have broken it to me--a little more
considerately. Because I suppose they are coming now to take you with
them--and, even if it means nothing to you to put an end to everything
like this, at all events you ought to know what it means to me!
Laura. I did not know till this moment that they were coming.
Axel. But it must be your letters that have brought them here--your
complaints--
Laura. I have made no complaints.
Axel. You have only told them how matters stand here.
Laura. Never. (A pause.)
Axel (in astonishment). What have you been writing to them all this
year, then--a letter every day?
Laura. I have told them everything was going well here.
Axel. Is it possible? All this time? Laura! Dare I believe it? Such
consideration--(Comes nearer to her.) Ah, at last, then--?
Laura (frightened). I did it out of consideration for them.
Axel (coldly). For them? Well, I am sorry for them, then. They will soon
see how things stand between us.
Laura. They are only to be here a day or two. Then they go abroad.
Axel. Abroad? But I suppose some one is going with them?--you, perhaps?
Laura. You can't, can you?
Axel. No.--So you are going away from me, Laura!--I am to remain here
with Mathilde--it is just like that book.
Laura. With Mathilde? Well--perhaps Mathilde could go with them?
Axel. You know we can't do without her here--as things are at present.
Laura. Perhaps you would rather I--?
Axel. There is no need for you to ask my leave. You go if you wish.
Laura. Yes, you can do without _me_.--All the same, I think I shall
stay!
Axel. You will stay--with me?
Laura. Yes.
Axel (in a happier voice, coming up to her). _That_ is not out of
consideration for your parents?
Laura. No, that it isn't! (He draws back in astonishment. MATHILDE comes
in.)
Mathilde. It is all arranged. (To AXEL.) You will stay, then?
Axel (looking at LAURA). I don't know.--If I go away for these few days,
perhaps it will be better.
Mathilde (coming forward). Very well, then I shall go away too!
Laura. You?
Axel. You?
Mathilde. Yes, I don't want to have anything to do with what happens. (A
pause.)
Axel. What do you think will happen?
Mathilde. That is best left unsaid--till anything does happen. (A
pause.)
Axel. You are thinking too hardly of your friend now.
Laura (quietly). Mathilde is not my friend.
Axel. Mathilde not your--
Laura (as before). A person who is always deceiving one is no friend.
Axel. Has Mathilde deceived anybody? You are unjust.
Laura (as before). Am I? It is Mathilde's fault that I am unhappy now.
Axel. Laura!
Laura. My dear, you may defend her, if you choose; but you must allow me
to tell you plainly that it is Mathilde's advice that has guided me from
the days of my innocent childhood, and has led me into all the misery I
am suffering now! If it were not for her I should not be married to-day
and separated from my parents. She came here with me--not to help me, as
she pretended--but to be able still to spy on me, quietly and secretly,
in her usual way, and afterwards to make use of what she had discovered.
But she devotes herself to you; because she--no, I won't say it! (With
growing vehemence.) Well, just you conspire against me, you two--and see
whether I am a child any longer! The tree that you have torn up by
the roots and transplanted will yield you no fruit for the first year,
however much you shake its branches! I don't care if things do happen as
they do in that story she has taken such pleasure in reading to me; but
I shall never live to see the day when I shall beg for any one's love!
And now my parents are coming to see everything, everything--and that is
just what I want them to do! Because I won't be led like a child, and
I won't be deceived! I won't! (Stands quite still for a moment, then
bursts into a violent fit of crying and runs out.)
Axel (after a pause). What is the meaning of that?
Mathilde. She hates me.
Axel (astonished). When did it come to that?
Mathilde. Little by little. Is it the first time you have noticed it?
Axel (still more astonished). Have you no longer her confidence, then?
Mathilde. No more than you.
Axel. She, who once believed every one--!
Mathilde. Now she believes no one. (A pause.)
Axel. And what is still more amazing--only there is no mistaking it--is
that she is jealous!
Mathilde. Yes.
Axel. And of you?--When there is not the slightest foundation--. (Stops
involuntarily and looks at her; she crosses the room.)
Mathilde. You should only be glad that this has happened.
Axel. That she is jealous?--or what do you mean?
Mathilde. It has helped her. She is on the high road to loving you now.
Axel. Now?
Mathilde. Love often comes in that way--especially to the one who has
been made uneasy.
Axel. And you are to be the scapegoat?
Mathilde. I am accustomed to that.
Axel (quickly, as he comes nearer to her). You must have known love
yourself, Mathilde?
Mathilde (starts, then says). Yes, I have loved too.
Axel. Unhappily?
Mathilde. Not happily. But why do you ask?
Axel. Those who have been through such an experience are less selfish
than the rest of us and are capable of more.
Mathilde. Yes. Love is always a consecration, but not always for the
same kind of service.
Axel. Sometimes it only brings unhappiness.
Mathilde. Yes, when people have nothing in them, and no pride.
Axel. The more I get to know of you, the less I seem really to know
you. What sort of a man can this fellow be, that you have loved without
return?
Mathilde (in a subdued voice). A man to whom I am now very grateful;
because marriage is not my vocation.
Axel. What is your vocation, then?
Mathilde. One that one is unwilling to speak about, until one knows that
it has been successful.--And I don't believe I should have discovered
it, but for him.
Axel. And is your mind quite at peace now? Have you no longings?
Mathilde (speaking here, and in what follows, with some vehemence). Yes,
a longing to travel--a long, long way! To fill my soul with splendid
pictures!--Oh, if you have any regard for me--
Axel. I have more than that, Mathilde--the warmest gratitude--and more
than that, I--
Mathilde (interrupting him). Well, then, make it up with Laura! Then
I shall be able to go abroad with her parents. Oh, if I don't get
away--far away--there is something within me that will die!
Axel. Go away then, Mathilde--you say so, and therefore I believe you.
Mathilde. But I am not going till you two are reconciled! I don't want
all three of us to be unhappy. No, I am not unhappy; but I shall be if
you are--and if I don't get abroad now!
Axel. What can I do in the matter?
Mathilde (quickly). Stay here and give the old folk a welcome! Behave to
Laura as if there were nothing the matter, and she will say nothing!
Axel. Why do you think she will say nothing?
Mathilde. Because of all I have done to make that likely!
Axel. You?
Mathilde. Yes--no--yes; at least, not as you wanted me to, but
indirectly--
Axel. Even at the beginning of all this?
Mathilde. No, not then, it is true. But forget that, because now I have
made it good! I did not know you then--and there were reasons--
Axel (going nearer to her). Mathilde, you have filled me with an
extraordinary regard for you--as if everything that I have been denied
in another quarter was to be found in you, and as if now for the first
time I--
Mathilde. There is the carriage!
Axel. What shall I do?
Mathilde. Go down and welcome the old folk! Be quick! Look, Laura is
down there already--oh, don't let her miss you just at this moment!
There, that is right. (He goes.) Yes, that was right; this is my first
real victory! (Goes out. Voices are heard without, and soon afterwards
the MOTHER comes in with LAURA, and after her the FATHER with AXEL and
MATHILDE.)
Mother. So here I am in your home, my darling child! (Kisses her.) It is
really worth being separated, for the pleasure of meeting again! (Kisses
her.) And such nice letters from you, every single day--thank you,
darling! (Kisses her again.) And you look just the same--just the same!
Perhaps a trifle paler, but that is natural. (Kisses her.)
Axel (to the FATHER, who is taking off a coat and several comforters).
May I?
Father (bowing). Thank you, I can manage quite well myself.
Axel. But let me hang them up for you?
Father. Much obliged--I will do it myself! (Takes them out into the
hall.)
Mother (to LAURA, in a low voice). It was hard work to get your father
to come, I can tell you. He still cannot forget--. But we had to see
our little girl before we set off on our travels; and we had to travel,
because it was getting so lonely at home.
Laura. Dear mother! (She and MATHILDE help her to take her things off.)
Axel (to the FATHER, who has come in again). I hope you had a pleasant
journey, sir?
Father. Remarkably pleasant.
Axel. Caught no cold, I hope?
Father. Nothing to speak of--just a trifle--a slightly relaxed throat;
out late--and heavy dews. You are well?
Axel. Very well, thank you.
Father. I am extremely pleased to hear it.
Mother (to the FATHER). But, do you see--?
Father. What, my love?
Mother. Do you mean to say you don't see?
Father. No, what is it?
Mother. We are at home again! This is our own room over again!
Father (in astonishment). Upon my word--!
Mother. The carpet, the curtains, the furniture, everything--even down
to their arrangement in the room! (Goes across to AXEL and takes his
hand.) A more touching proof of your love for her we could never have
had! (To the FATHER.) Isn't that so?
Father (struggling with his astonishment). Yes, I must say--
Mother. And you never wrote us a single word about this, Laura?
Mathilde. It is not only this room, but the whole house is arranged like
yours as far as possible.
Mother. The whole house! Is it possible!
Father. It is the most charming way of giving pleasure to a young wife
that I ever heard of!
Mother. I am so astonished, Laura, at your never having mentioned a word
of all this in your letters.
Father. Never a word of it!
Mother. Hadn't you noticed it?
Father. Ah, well--what one sees every day, one is apt to think every one
knows all about--isn't that it, little girl? That is the explanation,
isn't it?
Mother. And Axel has given you all this by his own exertions! Aren't you
proud of that?
Father (clapping her on the back). Of course she is, but it was never
Laura's way to say much about her feelings; although this is really
something so--
Mother (laughing). Her letters lately have been nothing but
dissertations upon love.
Laura. Mother--!
Mother. Oh, I am going to tell! But you have a good husband, Laura.
Laura. Mother--!
Mother (in a lower voice). You have paid him some little attentions in
return, of course?--given him something, or--
Father (pushing in between them). Worked something for him, eh?
(MATHILDE, in the meantime, has brought in wine and filled some
glasses.)
Axel. Now, a glass of wine to welcome you--sherry, your favourite wine,
sir.
Mother. He remembers that! (They each take a glass in their hands.)
Axel. Laura and I bid you heartily welcome here in our house! And we
hope you will find everything here--(with emotion) just as you would
wish it. I will do my best that you shall, and I am sure Laura will too.
Mother. Of course she will!--Drink his health! (AXEL touches her glass
with his; her hand trembles, and she spills come wine.) You have filled
the glasses too full, my dear! (They all clink glasses and drink.)
Father (when the glasses have been filled again). My wife and I--thank
you very much for your welcome. We could not set out on our journey
without first seeing our child--our two children. A good friend of ours
(looking at MATHILDE) advised us to come unexpectedly. At first we
did not want to but now we are glad we did; because now we can see for
ourselves that Laura told the truth in her letters. You are happy--and
therefore we old folk must be happy too, and bury all recollection of
what--what evidently happened for the best. Hm, hm!--At one time we
could not think it was so--and that was why we did not wish to be
parted from our child; but now we can make our minds quite easy about
it--because now we can trust you. I have complete trust in you, Axel,
my dear son--God bless you! (They grasp hands, and drink to each other
again.)
Mother. Do you know what I should like?
All. No!
Mother. I should like Axel to tell us how your reconciliation came
about.
Laura. Mother!
Mother. Why should you be shy about it? Why have you never told us about
it? Good gracious, didn't you think your parents would be only too glad
to hear how lucky their little girl was?
Father. I think it is a very good idea of your mother's. Now let us sit
down and hear all about it. (They sit down; LAURA turns away.) No, come
and sit down beside your mother, Laura! We are going to have a good look
at you while he tells us about it. (Pulls her to him.)
Mother. And don't forget anything, Axel! Tell us of the very first sign
of love, the first little kindness, Laura showed you.
Axel. Yes, I will tell you how it came about.
Laura (getting up). But, Axel--!
Axel. I shall only be supplementing what you told in your letters,
Laura.
Mother. It is all to your credit, my child! Now be quiet and listen to
him, and correct him if he forgets anything. (Pulls her down to her seat
again.)
Axel. Yes, my dear parents. You know, of course, that we did not begin
very well--
Father. Quite so--but you can pass over that.
Axel. As soon as she was left to depend on herself alone, I realised the
great wrong I had done to Laura. She used to tremble when I came near
her, and before long she used to tremble just as much before any one. At
first I felt the humility of a strong man who has triumphed; but after a
time I became anxious, for I had acted too strongly. Then I dedicated my
love to the task of winning back, in a Jacob's seven years of service,
what I had lost in one moment. You see this house--I made everything
smooth in it for her feet. You see what we have round us--I set that
before her eyes. By means of nights of work, by exerting myself to the
uttermost, I got it all together, bit by bit--in order that she should
never feel anything strange or inhospitable in her home, but only what
she was accustomed to and fond of. She understood; and soon the birds of
spring began to flutter about our home. And, though she always ran away
when I came, I was conscious of her presence in a hundred little loving
touches in my room--at my desk--
Laura (ashamed). Oh, it isn't true!
Axel. Don't believe her! Laura is so kind-hearted--her fear of me made
her shy, but she could not withstand her own kind impulses and my humble
faithfulness. When I was sitting late in my room, working for her,
she was sitting up in hers--at any rate I often thought I heard her
footstep; and when I came home late after a wearisome journey, if she
did not run to welcome me, it was not because she was wanting in wifely
gratitude--Laura has no lack of that--but because she did not wish to
betray her happiness till the great day of our reconciliation should
come. (LAURA gets up.)
Father. Then you were not reconciled immediately?
Axel. Not immediately.
Mother (anxiously, in a subdued voice). My goodness, Laura did not say a
word about that!
Axel. Because she loved you, and did not want to distress you
unnecessarily. But does not her very silence about it show that she was
waiting for me? That was her love's first gift to me. (LAURA sits down
again.) After a while she gave me others. She saw that I was not angry;
on the contrary, she saw that where I had erred, I had erred through my
love for her; and she is so loving herself, that little by little she
schooled herself to meet me in gentle silence--she longed to be a good
wife. And then, one lovely morning--just like to-day--we both had
been reading a book which was like a voice from afar, threatening our
happiness, and we were driven together by fear. Then, all at once,
all the doors and windows flew wide open! It was your letter! The room
seemed to glow with warmth--just as it does now with you sitting there;
summer went singing through the house--and then I saw in her eyes that
all the blossoms were going to unfold their petals! Then I knelt down
before her, as I do now, and said: For your parents' sake, that they
may be happy about us--for my sake, that I may not be punished any
longer--for your own sake, that you may be able again to live as the
fulness of your kind heart prompts--let us find one another now! And
then Laura answered--(LAURA throws herself into his arms, in a burst of
tears. All get up.)
Mother. That was beautiful, children!
Father. As beautiful as if we were young again ourselves, and had found
one another!--How well he told it, too!
Mother. Yes, it was just as if it was all happening before our eyes!
Father. Wasn't it?--He's a very gifted man.
Mother (in a low voice). He will do something big!
Father (in the same tones). Ay, a big man--and one of our family!
Axel (who has advanced towards the foreground with LAURA). So that was
your answer, Laura?
Laura. You haven't remembered everything.
Mother. Is there something more? Let us hear some more!
Axel. What did you say, then?
Laura. You know I said that something had held me back a long, long
time! I saw well enough that you were fond of me, but I was afraid it
was only as you would be fond of a child.
Axel. Laura!
Laura. I am not so clever as--as some others, you know; but I am not a
child any longer, because now I love you!
Axel. You are a child, all the same!
Father (to the MOTHER). But what about our arrangements? We were to have
gone on our travels at once.
Axel. No, stay with us a few days now! (LAURA makes a sign to him.) Not?
Laura (softly). I would rather be alone with you, now.
Mother. What are you saying, Laura?
Laura. I?--I was saying that I should like to ask you, if you are going
abroad now, to take Mathilde with you.
Mother. That is very nice of you, Laura, to remember Mathilde. People
generally say that newly-married couples think of no one but themselves.
Father. No, Laura is not like that!
All. No, Laura is not like that!
Laura (gently). Mathilde, forgive me! (They embrace, and LAURA says
softly:) I understand you now for the first time!
Mathilde. Not quite.
Laura. I know that I should never have got Axel, but for you.
Mathilde. That is true.
Laura. Oh, Mathilde, I am so happy now!
Mathilde. And I wish you every happiness.
Axel (taking LAURA'S arm). Now you may go and travel abroad, Mathilde!
Mathilde. Yes!--and my next book shall be a better one.
Axel. Your next--?
[Curtain.]
LEONARDA
A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
The BISHOP.
CORNELIA, his sister.
HAGBART, his nephew.
The GRANDMOTHER.
LEONARDA FALK.
AAGOT, her niece.
GENERAL ROSEN.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROeST.
MRS. ROeST.
PEDERSEN, agent to Mrs. Falk.
HANS.
A Maid.
ACT I
(SCENE.--A large room in LEONARDA FALK's house. At the back, folding
doors which are standing open. Antique furniture. LEONARDA, dressed in a
riding-habit, is standing beside a writing-desk on the left, talking to
her agent PEDERSEN.)
Leonarda. It is a complete loss.
Pedersen. But, Mrs. Falk--
Leonarda. A loss, every scrap of it. I can't sell burnt bricks. How much
is there of it? Two kilns' full, that is 24,000 bricks--at their present
price about thirty pounds' worth. What am I to do with you?--send you
about your business?
Pedersen. Madam, it is the first time--
Leonarda. No, indeed it is not; that is to say, it is certainly the
first time the bricks have been burnt, but your accounts have been wrong
over and over again, so that I have been led into sending out faulty
invoices. What is the matter with you?
Pedersen. Madam, I beg--.
[Enter HANS.]
Hans. Your horse is saddled, madam, and the General is coming up the
avenue.
Leonarda. Very well. (HANS goes out.) Have you taken to drink, Pedersen?
Pedersen. No, madam.
Leonarda. That wouldn't be like you. But what is it? You look quite
changed.--Pedersen! I believe I know! I saw you rowing back across the
river last night, from the summer-house in the wood. Are you in love?
(PEDERSEN turns away.) So that is it. And crossed in love? (She goes up
to him, puts her hand on his shoulder and stands with her back turned to
the audience, as he does.) Are you engaged to her?
Pedersen. Yes.
Leonarda. Then she is not treating you well? She is not true to you?
(Stoops and looks into his face.) And you love her in spite of it?
(Moves away from him.) Then you are a weak man, Pedersen. We cannot
possibly love those who are false to us. (Draws on one of her gloves.)
We may suffer horribly for a while; but love them--no!
Pedersen (still turning away from her). It is easy for those to talk who
have not experienced it.
Leonarda. Experienced it?--You never can tell that. Come to me this
evening at seven o'clock.
Pedersen. Yes, madam.
Leonarda. I will talk things over with you then. We will go for a stroll
together.
Pedersen. Thank you, madam.
Leonarda. I believe I may be able to help you in your trouble, Pedersen.
That is all right--don't think any more about the bricks, or of what I
said. Forgive me! (Holds out her hand to him.)
Pedersen (grasping her hand). Oh, madam!
[Enter GENERAL ROSEN.]
Rosen. Good morning! (PEDERSEN crosses the room.) Bless my soul,
Pedersen, you look like a pat of melting butter! (PEDERSEN goes out.
ROSEN turns to LEONARDA.) Have you been playing father confessor so
early in the morning, and on such a fine day too? That is too bad.--By
the way, have you heard from Aagot?
Leonarda (putting on her hat). No, I don't know what has come over the
child. It is close on a fortnight since--
Rosen. She is enjoying herself. I remember when I was enjoying myself I
never used to write letters.
Leonarda (looking at him). You were enjoying yourself last night, I
rather think?
Rosen. Do I show it? Dear, dear! I thought that after a bath and a
ride--
Leonarda. This sort of thing cannot go on!
Rosen. You know quite well that if I can't be here I have to go to my
club.
Leonarda. But can't you go to your club without--? (Stops, with a
gesture of disgust.)
Rosen. I know what you mean, worse luck. But they always give one a
glass too much.
Leonarda. One glass? Say three!
Rosen. Three, if you like. You know I never was good at counting.
Leonarda. Well, now you can go for your ride alone.
Rosen. Oh, but--
Leonarda. Yes, I am not going for a ride to-day with a man who was tipsy
last night. (Takes off her hat.) Hans! (HANS is heard answering her from
without.) Put my horse up for the present!
Rosen. You are punishing yourself as well as me, you know. You ought to
be out on a day like this--and it is a sin to deprive the countryside of
the pleasure of seeing you!
Leonarda. Will nothing ever make you take things seriously?
Rosen. Yes. When the day comes that you are in need of anything, I will
be serious.
Leonarda. And you propose to hang about here waiting, till I have some
ill luck? You will have to wait a long time, I hope. (Goes to her desk.)
Rosen. I hope so too!--because meanwhile I shall be able to continue
coming here.
Leonarda. Till you get your orders from America.
Rosen. Of course--till I get my orders from Sherman.
Leonarda. You have not had any orders, then?
Rosen. No.
Leonarda. It is beginning to look very suspicious. How long is it since
I made you write to him?
Rosen. Oh, I am sure I forget.
Leonarda. It has just struck me--. I suppose you did write?
Rosen. Of course I did. I always do what you tell me.
Leonarda. You stand there twirling your moustache--and when you do that
I always know there is some nonsense going on--.
Rosen. How can you suppose such a thing?
Leonarda. You have never written! Why on earth did that never strike me
before?
Rosen. I have written repeatedly, I assure you!
Leonarda. But not to Sherman? You have not reported yourself for service
again?
Rosen. Do you remember the Russian cigarettes I have so often spoken
of? I have got some now. I brought a few with me to try; may I offer you
one?
Leonarda. Are you not ashamed to look me in the face?
Rosen. I do everything you tell me--
Leonarda. You have been putting me off with evasions for more than two
months--playing a perfect comedy with me! To think that an officer, who
has been through the American war and won honours, rank, and a definite
position, could throw away his time in this way--and in other ways
too--for a whole year now--
Rosen. Excuse me--only eight months.
Leonarda. And isn't that long enough?
Rosen. Too long. But you know, better than any one, why I have done it!
Leonarda. Did I ask you to come here? Do you think you can tire me out?
Rosen. Leonarda! (She looks at him; he bows formally.) I beg your
pardon. Mrs. Falk.
Leonarda. You shall write the letter here, now, and report yourself for
immediate service.
Rosen. If you order me to.
Leonarda. I shall post it.
Rosen. Many thanks.
Leonarda. You are twirling your moustache again. What are you planning
in your mind?
Rosen. I?--Shall I write here? (Goes to the desk.)
Leonarda. Yes. (He takes up a pen.) Ah, I know what it is! As soon as
you get home, you will write another letter recalling this one.
Rosen. Yes, naturally.
Leonarda. Ha, ha, ha! (Sits down.) Well, I give you up!
Rosen. Thank you!--Then will you try one of my cigarettes?
Leonarda. No.
Rosen. Nor come for a ride?
Leonarda. No.
Rosen. Am I to come here this evening?
Leonarda. I shall be engaged.
Rosen. But you will be riding to-morrow morning?
Leonarda. I don't know.
Rosen. Then I shall take the liberty of coming to ask I wish you a very
good day.
Leonarda. Look, there is a strange man at the door (Gets up.)
Rosen. What? (Turns round.) He? Has he the face to come here? (Looks out
of the open window.) Pst! Pst!--Hans!--Don't you see my horse has got
loose? (Goes hurriedly out past the stranger, who bows to him.) Pst!
Pst!
[Enter HAGBART.]
Hagbart. Madam! (Stops short.)
Leonarda. May I ask--?
Hagbart. You do not know me, then?
Leonarda. No.
Hagbart. I am Hagbart Tallhaug.
Leonarda. And you dare to tell me so--with a smile on your lips?
Hagbart. If you will only allow me to--
Leonarda. How is it you dare to come here?
Hagbart. If you will only allow me to--
Leonarda. Not a word! Or can there be two men of that name?
Hagbart. No.
Leonarda. So it was you who came forward at the Philharmonic concert,
when I was seeking admittance for myself and my adopted daughter, and
spoke of me as "a woman of doubtful reputation"? Is that so?
Hagbart. Yes, madam; and I must--
Leonarda (interrupting him impetuously). Then get out of here!--Hans!
(HANS is heard answering her from without.)
Hagbart. Mrs. Falk, first allow me to--.
[Enter HANS.]
Leonarda. Hans, will you see this gentleman off my premises.
Hans. Certainly, ma'am.
Hagbart. Wait a moment, Hans!
Hans. Shall I, ma'am? (Looks at LEONARDA.)
Hagbart. It concerns your niece, Mrs. Falk.
Leonarda. Aagot! Has anything happened to her? I have had no letter from
her!
Hagbart. Wait outside, Hans!
Hans (to LEONARDA). Shall I, ma'am?
Leonarda. Yes, yes! (HANS goes out.) What is it?
Hagbart. No bad news.
Leonarda. But how is it you are here on her behalf?
Hagbart. It is difficult to avoid people at a watering-place, you
know--although I must admit your niece did her best. She treated me as
contemptuously as possible even went farther than that; but she could
not prevent my talking to people she used to talk to, or my happening to
be where she was; so that--well--she heard them talk about me, and heard
me talk to them--and in the end she talked to me herself.
Leonarda. Talked to you?
Hagbart. Yes, it is no good denying it--she actually talked to me, and
that more than once.
Leonarda. But what is the meaning of this visit to me?
Hagbart. If you will only allow me to--
Leonarda. I want you to deliver your message briefly and concisely--and
not a word more than that.
Hagbart. But I cannot do that until you have allowed me to--
Leonarda. Whether you can or not, I shall allow nothing else. I am
not going to give you an excuse for saying that you have been holding
conversations with me too.
Hagbart. If you have no objection, I am in love with your niece, Mrs.
Falk.
Leonarda. You? With Aagot?--It serves you right!
Hagbart. I know.
Leonarda. Ha, ha! That is how the land lies.
[HANS appears at the open door.]
Hans. Can I go now, ma'am?
Leonarda. Ha, ha!--Yes, you can go. (Exit HANS ) Well, what more have
you to tell me? Have you given Aagot any hint of this?
Hagbart. Yes.
Leonarda. And what answer did you get?--You are silent. Do you find it
difficult to tell me?
Hagbart. I am very glad you take it so well, Mrs. Falk.
Leonarda. Yes, it's funny, isn't it?--Well, what did Aagot say? She
generally has plenty to say.
Hagbart. Indeed she has. We came here to-day by the same boat--
Leonarda. By the same boat? Aagot and you? Have you been persecuting
her?
Hagbart. Mrs. Falk, you cannot possibly understand if you will not allow
me to--
Leonarda. I wish to hear the rest of it from my niece, as I suppose she
will be here directly.
Hagbart. Of course, but still--
Leonarda. There will be no more of that sort of thing here! If you
intend to persecute my niece with your attentions in the same way as you
have persecuted me with your malice, you are at liberty to try. But you
shall not come here! I can forbid it here.
Hagbart. But, my dear Mrs. Falk--
Leonarda. I am really beginning to lose my patience, or rather I have
lost it already. What have you come here for?
Hagbart. As there is no help for it--well, I will tell you straight out,
although it may be a shock to you--I am here to ask for your niece's
hand.
Leonarda (taking up her gloves). If I were a man, so that there should
be nothing "doubtful" about my reply, I would strike you across the face
with my gloves.
Hagbart. But you are a woman, so you will not.
[Enter HANS.]
Hans. Here is Miss Aagot, ma'am.
Aagot (from without). Aunt!
Leonarda. Aagot!
[Enter AAGOT. HANS goes out.]
Aagot. Aunt!--That wretched Hans! I was signalling to him--I wanted to
surprise you. (Throws herself into LEONARDA'S arms.)
Leonarda. Child, have you deceived me?
Aagot. Deceived you? I?
Leonarda. I knew it! (Embraces her.) Forgive me! I had a moment's
horrible doubt--but as soon as I looked at you it was gone!--Welcome,
welcome! How pretty you look! Welcome!
Aagot. Oh, aunt!
Leonarda. What is it?
Aagot. You know.
Leonarda. His shameless persecution of you? Yes! (Meanwhile HAGBART has
slipped out.)
Aagot. Hush!--Oh, he has gone!--Have you been cross with him?
Leonarda. Not as cross as he deserved--
Aagot. Didn't I tell him so?
Leonarda (laughing). What did you tell him?
Aagot. How hasty you could be!--Were you really cruel to him?
Leonarda. Do you mean to say you have any sympathy--with him?
Aagot. Have I any--? But, good heavens, hasn't he told you?
Leonarda. What?
Aagot. That he--that I--that we--oh, aunt, don't look so dreadfully at
me!--You don't know, then?
Leonarda. No!
Aagot. Heaven help me! Aunt--!
Leonarda. You don't mean to say that you--?
Aagot. Yes, aunt.
Leonarda. With him, who--. In spite of that, you--Get away from me!
Aagot. Dear, darling aunt, listen to me!
Leonarda. Go away to him! Away with you!
Aagot. Have you looked at him, aunt? Have you seen how handsome he is?
Leonarda. Handsome? He!
Aagot. No, not a bit handsome, of course! Really, you are going too far!
Leonarda. To me he is the man who made a laughingstock of me in a
censorious little town by calling me "a woman of doubtful reputation."
And one day he presents himself here as my adopted daughter's lover, and
you expect me to think him handsome! You ungrateful child!
Aagot. Aunt!
Leonarda. I have sacrificed eight years of my life--eight years--in this
little hole, stinting myself in every possible way; and you, for whom
I have done this, are hardly grown up before you fly into the arms of a
man who has covered me with shame. And I am supposed to put up with it
as something quite natural!--and to say nothing except that I think he
is handsome! I--I won't look at you! Go away!
Aagot (in tears). Don't you suppose I have said all that to myself, a
thousand times? That was why I didn't write. I have been most dreadfully
distressed to know what to do.
Leonarda. At the very first hint of such a thing you might to have taken
refuge here--with me--if you had had a scrap of loyalty in you.
Aagot. Aunt! (Goes on her knees.) Oh, aunt!
Leonarda. To think you could behave so contemptibly!
Aagot. Aunt!--It was just because he was so sorry for the way he had
behaved to you, that I first--
Leonarda. Sorry? He came here with a smile on his lips!
Aagot. That was because he was in such a fright, aunt.
Leonarda. Do people smile because they are in a fright?
Aagot. Others don't, but he does. Do you know, dear, he was just the
same with me at first--he smiled and looked so silly; and afterwards he
told me that it was simply from fright.
Leonarda. If he had felt any qualms of conscience at all, as you pretend
he did, he would at least have taken the very first opportunity to
apologise.
Aagot. Didn't he do that?
Leonarda. No; he stood here beating about the bush and smiling--
Aagot. Then you must have frightened the sense out of him, aunt. He is
shy, you know.--Aunt, let me tell you he is studying for the church.
Leonarda. Oh, he is that too, is he!
Aagot. Of course he is. You know he is the bishop's nephew, and
is studying for the church, and of course that is what made him
so prejudiced. But his behaviour that day was just what opened his
eyes--because he is very kind-hearted. Dear, darling aunt--
Leonarda. Get up! It is silly to lie there like that. Where did you
learn that trick?
Aagot (getting up). I am sure I don't know. But you frighten me so.
(Cries.)
Leonarda. I can't help that. You frightened me first, you know, child.
Aagot. Yes, but it is all quite different from what you think, aunt.
He is no longer our enemy. He has reproached himself so genuinely for
treating you as he did--it is perfectly true, aunt. We all heard him say
so. He said so first to other people, so that it should come round to
me; and then I heard him saying so to them; and eventually he told me
so, in so many words.
Leonarda. Why did you not write and tell me?
Aagot. Because you are not like other people, aunt! If I had as much
as mentioned he was there, you would have told me to come home again at
once. You aren't like others, you know.
Leonarda. But how in the world did it come about that you--?
Aagot. You know, dear, that if any one sings _your_ praises, that is
enough to make me their friend at once. And when, to crown all, this man
did it who had behaved so unjustly to you, you can well believe that I
went about singing for joy all day. That was the beginning of it--
Leonarda. Yes, tell me the whole story.
Aagot. That would be simply impossible, aunt! It would take me
days!--But I can tell you this, that I had no idea what it was that was
upsetting my nerves in such a manner.
Leonarda. If you felt like that, why did you not come away?
Aagot. That was just what I did! But that was also just what made the
whole thing happen!
Leonarda. How? Try and tell me a little more calmly and consecutively!
Aagot. Thank you, aunt! It is good of you to listen to me! Good heavens,
how I--. (Bursts into tears.)
Leonarda. There--there! Tell me all about it from beginning to end.
Aagot. Yes--I was quite feverish for about a week--I thought I was
ill--and the others kept asking what was the matter with me. And really
I didn't know. There is a whole heap of things I could tell you about
those few days--but you wouldn't be able to understand.
Leonarda. Yes, I should.
Aagot. No, you couldn't possibly! I can't, either. I was so wretched
then--and now I am so happy--
Leonarda. Well, tell me about it another time. But how did things come
to a head?
Aagot. He spoke to me--straight out!
Leonarda. Proposed to you?
Aagot. Yes.--Oh, I feel I am blushing again at the very thought of it.
Leonarda. And you looked foolish?
Aagot. I don't know what I looked like!
Leonarda. What did you do?
Aagot. I gave one scream--a real good scream--and ran; ran home, packed
my trunk, and got on board the boat as quick as I could.
Leonarda. And was that all?
Aagot. All? It happened out of doors amongst all the people.
Leonarda. Aagot!
Aagot. It happened so frightfully unexpectedly. I never was so
frightened in my life--and so ashamed of myself afterwards. I did
nothing but cry on the boat, all the way.
Leonarda. But he must have come by the same boat.
Aagot. Just fancy, he had travelled overland across the promontory and
caught the boat on the other side. And I knew nothing about it till
I saw him before my eyes! I thought I should sink through the deck. I
wanted to run away then, but--oh, aunt, I couldn't! He looked at me with
such a wonderful look in his eyes, and took hold of my hands. He spoke
to me, but I don't know what he said; everything seemed to be going
round and round. And his eyes, aunt! Ah, you haven't looked at them, and
that is why you took it so--so--
Leonarda. No, dear.
Aagot. There is something about his mere presence--something so true.
And when he looks at me and says--not in words, you know, but still says
all the same "I love you so much," I tremble all over. Oh, aunt, kiss
me!--There! Thank heaven!--Do you know what he said to-day?
Leonarda. No.
Aagot. That the woman who had fostered--that was the word he used--such
a solemn word, but then he is studying for the church--well, that the
woman who had fostered such a girl--he meant me, you know--I thought of
all my faults, but he will get to know them soon enough--
Leonarda. Well? That the woman who had fostered such a girl as you--
Aagot.--as me, could not have her equal anywhere!
Leonarda. You must have been praising me up nicely?
Aagot. On the contrary. It was afterwards when he said he would come
here first, before me--it was his duty, he said, to stand the first
shock. "For heaven's sake don't," I said; "you don't know her, she will
crush you!"
Leonarda. Oh, Aagot!
Aagot. It was then that he said, "No, the woman who has fostered such a
girl," etcetera, etcetera. Ah, now I see you have been horrid to him.
Leonarda. I had been worried all the morning--and I misunderstood--
Aagot. You shall have no more worries after this. Because people are so
kind, you know, and you are going to move about among them again. You,
who are so good yourself--
Leonarda. No, that is just what I am not.
Aagot. You? You are only so very difficult to understand, aunt!--Oh,
what is it, dear?
Leonarda. I am unhappy, Aagot!
Aagot. Why, aunt? About me?
Leonarda. You are the sunshine of my life; you have brought light and
warmth and gentleness into it--but it is just because of that--
Aagot. Because of that? Aunt, I don't understand you.
Leonarda. I am clumsy, I am hard, I am suspicious--wicked. I am a
savage, with no more self-restraint than I ever had. What sort of a
figure must I cut in his eyes--and in yours? Tell me! Am I not a clumsy,
ugly--
Aagot. You are the sweetest woman in the whole work! It is only your
indomitable strength and courage and youthfulness--
Leonarda. No, no--tell me the truth! I deserve it! Because, you know, it
has been for your sake that for eight years I have only associated with
work-people. All that I have will be yours. So have some respect for me,
Aagot--tell me the truth! Am I not--what shall I say? Tell me what I am!
Aagot. Adorable!
Leonarda. No, no! I have never realised as strongly as I do now how
I have buried myself all these eight years. All the books I have read
about the great movements going on in the world outside have not really
enlightened me. All that I have read and thought fades away before
the first gleam of life that reaches me from the real world of men and
women. I see new beauty merely in your new clothes, your fashionable
hat--the colours you are wearing--the way they are blended. They mean
something that I know nothing of. You bring a fragrance in with you--a
breath of freshness; you are so dainty and full of life; whereas
everything here has become so old, so heavy, so disjointed--and my life
most of all.
Aagot. Well, I must tell you what he said, since you won't believe what
I say.
Leonarda. But he knew nothing about me?
Aagot. No--it only indirectly referred to you. He said he had never
wanted so much to get to know any one, as he wanted to get to know you,
because seeing much of me had made him discover you--that was the very
expression he used! And it was an extraordinary chance that--
Leonarda. Stop! I can't bear to think of it!--To think it should be the
very man whom we--we--
Aagot. Hated so!--yes, isn't it extraordinary?
Leonarda. The very first time you have been away from me!
Aagot. Yes!
Leonarda. And you come back in a halo of reconciliation and affection
for him!
Aagot. But who is responsible for that, I should like to know! And you
talk about your life here having made you clumsy and ugly--you, who can
manufacture a goddess of victory like me!
Leonarda. No, I don't complain when I see you and hear you--when I have
you with me! That is worth paying a price for. It was selfish of me
to think for a moment that the price was too high. You are in the
springtime of your life--while I--
Aagot. You? What is wrong with your life?
Leonarda. I am beginning to think my life is over.
Aagot. Yours? Your life over? Oh, you pain me by saying such a thing.
Leonarda. I am very happy--very happy about all this! Believe me that is
so. But you know--
Aagot. I know how tremendously and incomprehensibly you have changed!
Leonarda. Go, my child--and bring him back!
Aagot. How delicious that sounds! Bring him back! (Gets up, then stops.)
Thank you, my dear, sweet, darling aunt! (She runs out. LEONARDA falls
into a chair by the table and buries her head in her hands. AAGOT'S
voice is heard without: "Yes, come along!" and HAGBART'S, answering: "Is
it true?")
Aagot (coming in with HAGBART). Come along! (LEONARDA gets up, dries her
eyes, and meets them with a smile.) Aunt, here he is!
Hagbart. Mrs. Falk!
Leonarda. Forgive me!
Hagbart. What?--No, you must forgive me! I haven t been able to ask you
to! I--
Aagot. We can talk about that another time! Let aunt look at you now!
Leonarda. You two won't disappoint one another. I can see that.
Aagot. It is wonderfully sweet of you, aunt!
Leonarda. Yes, love one another! Bring some beauty, some warmth, some
colour into this cold house!
Aagot. Oh, aunt--!
Leonarda. Have you kissed her yet? (AAGOT moves a little away from
HAGBART.) Go on! (They embrace.)
Aagot (running from him to LEONARDA). But, dearest aunt, are you crying?
Leonarda. Don't bother about me!--Have you told your uncle, the bishop,
about it?
Hagbart. Not yet.
Leonarda. You haven't?--Well, you have the worst of it before you yet, I
am afraid.
Hagbart. No; now that I have got as far as this, nothing shall stand in
my way!
Aagot. Do you hear that, aunt?
[Curtain.]