OSWALD. And yet he managed to do so much in the world; so much that was
good and useful; although he died so early.
MANDERS. Yes, you have inherited the name of an energetic and admirable
man, my dear Oswald Alving. No doubt it will be an incentive to you--
OSWALD. It ought to, indeed.
MANDERS. It was good of you to come home for the ceremony in his honour.
OSWALD. I could do no less for my father.
MRS. ALVING. And I am to keep him so long! That is the best of all.
MANDERS. You are going to pass the winter at home, I hear.
OSWALD. My stay is indefinite, sir. But, ah! it is good to be at home!
MRS. ALVING. [Beaming.] Yes, isn't it, dear?
MANDERS. [Looking sympathetically at him.] You went out into the world
early, my dear Oswald.
OSWALD. I did. I sometimes wonder whether it wasn't too early.
MRS. ALVING. Oh, not at all. A healthy lad is all the better for it;
especially when he's an only child. He oughtn't to hang on at home with
his mother and father, and get spoilt.
MANDERS. That is a very disputable point, Mrs. Alving. A child's proper
place is, and must be, the home of his fathers.
OSWALD. There I quite agree with you, Pastor Manders.
MANDERS. Only look at your own son--there is no reason why we should not
say it in his presence--what has the consequence been for him? He is six
or seven and twenty, and has never had the opportunity of learning what
a well-ordered home really is.
OSWALD. I beg your pardon, Pastor; there you're quite mistaken.
MANDERS. Indeed? I thought you had lived almost exclusively in artistic
circles.
OSWALD. So I have.
MANDERS. And chiefly among the younger artists?
OSWALD. Yes, certainly.
MANDERS. But I thought few of those young fellows could afford to set up
house and support a family.
OSWALD. There are many who cannot afford to marry, sir.
MANDERS. Yes, that is just what I say.
OSWALD. But they may have a home for all that. And several of them have,
as a matter of fact; and very pleasant, well-ordered homes they are,
too.
[MRS. ALVING follows with breathless interest; nods, but says nothing.]
MANDERS. But I'm not talking of bachelors' quarters. By a "home" I
understand the home of a family, where a man lives with his wife and
children.
OSWALD. Yes; or with his children and his children's mother.