NILS STENSSON. Ah, I have it! I have it! The secret----!
LADY INGER. The secret?
NILS STENSSON. Even so; yours and mine!
LADY INGER. Christ in Heaven--you know it?
NILS STENSSON. From first to last. And now when 'tis life or
death---- Where is Nils Lykke?
LADY INGER. Fled.
NILS STENSSON. Fled? Then God help me; for he only can unseal
my lips.--But what is a promise against a life! When the Swedish
captain comes----
LADY INGER. What then? What will you do?
NILS STENSSON. Purchase life and freedom;--tell him all.
LADY INGER. Oh no, no;--be merciful!
NILS STENSSON. Nought else can save me. When I have told him
what I know----
LADY INGER (looks at him with suppressed excitement). You will
be safe?
NILS STENSSON. Ay, safe! Nils Lykke will speak for me. You
see, 'tis the last resource.
LADY INGER (composedly, with emphasis). The last resource?
Right, right--the last resource stands open to all. (Points to
the left.) See, meanwhile you can hide in there.
NILS STENSSON (softly). Trust me--you will never repent of this.
LADY INGER (half to herself). God grant that you speak the truth!
(NILS STENSSON goes out hastily by the furthest door on the
left. OLAF SKAKTAVL is following; but LADY INGER detains
him.)
LADY INGER. Did you understand his meaning?
OLAF SKAKTAVL. The dastard! He would betray your secret. He
would sacrifice your son to save himself.
LADY INGER. When life is at stake, he said, we must try the
last resource.--It is well, Olaf Skaktavl,--let it be as he has
said!
OLAF SKAKTAVL. What mean you?
LADY INGER. Life for life! One of them must perish.
OLAF SKAKTAVL. Ah--you would----?
LADY INGER. If we close not the lips of him that is within ere
he come to speech with the Swedish captain, then is my son lost
to me. But if he be swept from my path, when the time comes I can
claim all his rights for my own child. Then shall you see that
Inger Ottisdaughter has metal in her yet. And be assured you
shall not have long to wait for the vengeance you have thirsted
after for twenty years.--Hark! They are coming up the stairs!
Olaf Skaktavl,--it lies with you whether to-morrow I shall be a
childless woman, or----
OLAF SKAKTAVL. So be it! I have one sound hand left yet.
(Gives her his hand.) Inger Gyldenlove--your name shall not
die out through me.
(Follows NILS STENSSON into the inner room.)
LADY INGER (pale and trembling). But dare I----?
(A noise is heard in the room; she rushes with a scream towards
the door.)
No, no,--it must not be!
(A heavy fall is heard within; she covers her ears with her
hands and hurries back across the hall with a wild look.
After a pause she takes her hands cautiously away, listens
again and says softly:)
Now it is over. All is still within----
Thou sawest it, God--I repented me! But Olaf Skaktavl was too
swift of hand.
(OLAF SKAKTAVL comes silently into the hall.)
LADY INGER (after a pause, without looking at him). Is it done?
OLAF SKAKTAVL. You need fear him no more; he will betray no one.
LADY INGER (as before). Then he is dumb?
OLAF SKAKTAVL. Six inches of steel in his breast. I felled him
with my left hand.
LADY INGER. Ay--the right was too good for such work.
OLAF SKAKTAVL. That is your affair;--the thought was yours.--
And now to Sweden! Peace be with you meanwhile! When next we
meet at Ostrat, I shall bring another with me.
(Goes out by the furthest door on the right.)
LADY INGER. Blood on my hands. Then it was to come to that!--
He begins to be dear-bought now.
(BIORN comes in, with a number of Swedish men-at-arms, by the
first door on the right.)
ONE OF THE MEN-AT-ARMS. Pardon me, if you are the lady of the
house----
LADY INGER. Is it Count Sture you seek?
THE MAN-AT-ARMS. The same.
LADY INGER. Then you are on the right scent. The Count has
sought refuge with me.
THE MAN-AT-ARMS. Refuge? Pardon, my noble lady,--you have no
power to harbour him; for----
LADY INGER. That the Count himself has doubtless understood;
and therefore he has--ay, look for yourselves--therefore he has
taken his own life.
THE MAN-AT-ARMS. His own life!
LADY INGER. Look for yourselves. You will find the corpse
within there. And since he already stands before another judge,
it is my prayer that he may be borne hence with all the honour
that beseems his noble birth.--Biorn, you know my own coffin has
stood ready this many a year in the secret chamber. (To the Men-
at-Arms.) I pray that in it you will bear Count Sture's body
to Sweden.
THE MAN-AT-ARMS. It shall be as you command. (To one of the
others.) Haste with these tidings to Jens Bielke. He holds the
road with the rest of the troop. We others must in and----
(One of the Men-at-Arms goes out to the right; the others
go with BIORN into the room on the left.)
LADY INGER (moves about for a time in uneasy silence). If Count
Sture had not said farewell to the world so hurriedly, within a
month he had hung on a gallows, or had sat for all his days in a
dungeon. Had he been better served with such a lot?
Or else he had bought his life by betraying my child into the
hands of my foes. Is it _I_, then, that have slain him? Does
not even the wolf defend her cubs? Who dare condemn me for
striking my claws into him that would have reft me of my flesh
and blood?--It had to be. No mother but would have done even
as I.
But 'tis no time for idle musings now. I must to work.
(Sits down by the table on the left.)
I will write to all my friends throughout the land. They rise
as one man to support the great cause. A new king,--regent first,
and then king----
(Begins to write, but falls into thought, and says softly:)
Whom will they choose in the dead man's place?--A king's mother----?
'Tis a fair word. It has but one blemish--the hateful likeness to
another word.--King's _mother_ and king's _murderer_.*--King's
mother--one that takes a king's life. King's mother--one that
gives a king life.
*The words in the original are "Kongemoder" and "Kongemorder,"
a difference of one letter only.
(She rises.)
Well, then; I will make good what I have taken.--My son shall
be king!
(She sits down again and begins writing, but pushes the paper
away again, and leans back in her chair.)
There is no comfort in a house where lies a corpse. 'Tis
therefore I feel so strangely. (Turns her head to one side as
if speaking to some one.) Not therefore? Why else should it be?
(Broodingly.)
Is there such a great gulf, then, between openly striking down
a foe and slaying one--thus? Knut Alfson had cleft many a brain
with his sword; yet was his own as peaceful as a child's. Why
then do I ever see this--(makes a motion as though striking with
a knife)--this stab in the heart--and the gush of red blood after?
(Rings, and goes on speaking while shifting about her papers.)
Hereafter I will have none of these ugly sights. I will work
both day and night. And in a month--in a month my son will be
here---- ----
BIORN (entering). Did you strike the bell, my lady?
LADY INGER (writing). Bring more lights. See to it in future
that there are many lights in the room
(BIORN goes out again to the left.)
LADY INGER (after a pause, rises impetuously). No, no, no;--I
cannot guide the pen to-night! My head is burning and throbbing----
(Startled, listens.)
What is _that?_ Ah, they are screwing the lid on the coffin in
there.
When I was a child they told me the story of Sir Age,* who rose
up and walked with his coffin on his back.--If he in there were
one night to think of coming with the coffin on his back, to thank
me for the loan? (Laughs quietly.) Hm--what have we grown people
to do with childish fancies? (Vehemently.) But such stories are
hurtful none the less! They give uneasy dreams. When my son is
king, they shall be forbidden.
*Pronounce _Oaghe_. [Note: "Age" has a ring above the "A",
"Oaghe" an umlaut above the "e".--D. L.]
(Goes up and down once or twice; then opens the window.)
How long is it, commonly, ere a body begins to rot? All the
rooms must be aired. 'Tis not wholesome here till that be done.
(BIORN comes in with two lighted branch-candlesticks, which
he places on the tables.)
LADY INGER (who has begun on the papers again).
It is well. See you forget not what I have said. Many lights on
the table!
What are they about now in there?
BIORN. They are busy screwing down the coffin-lid.