have nothing to fight for——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
And you presume to——?
STENSGÅRD.
I am here to ask for your daughter’s hand, Chamberlain.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
You——you——? Won’t you sit down?
STENSGÅRD.
Thanks, I prefer to stand.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
What do you say to this. Doctor?
STENSGÅRD.
Oh, Fieldbo is on my side; he is my friend; the only true friend I have.
FIELDBO.
No, no, man! Never in this world, if you——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Perhaps it was with this view that Doctor Fieldbo secured his friend’s
introduction into my house?
STENSGÅRD.
You know me only by my exploits of yesterday and the day before. That is
not enough. Besides, I am not the same man to-day that I was then. My
intercourse with you and yours has fallen like spring showers upon my
spirit, making it put forth new blossoms in a single night! You must not
hurl me back into my sordid past. Till now, I have never been at home
with the beautiful in life; it has always been beyond my reach——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
But my daughter——?
STENSGÅRD.
Oh, I shall win her.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Indeed? H’m!
STENSGÅRD.
Yes, for I have will on my side. Remember what you told me yesterday.
You were opposed to your son’s marriage—and see how it has turned out!
You must put on the glasses of experience, as Fieldbo said——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Ah, that was what you meant?
FIELDBO.
Not in the least! My dear Chamberlain, let me speak to him alone——
STENSGÅRD.
Nonsense; I have nothing to speak to _you_ about. Now, pray be
reasonable, Chamberlain! A family like yours needs new alliances, or its
brains stagnate——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, this is too much!
STENSGÅRD.
Now, now, don’t get angry! These high-and-mighty airs are unworthy of
you—of course you know they are all nonsense at bottom. You shall see
how much you’ll value me when you come to know me. Yes, yes; you _shall_
value me—both you and your daughter! I will make her——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
What do you think of this, Doctor?
FIELDBO.
I think it’s madness.
STENSGÅRD.
Yes, it would be in you; but I, you see—I have a mission to fulfil on
God’s beautiful earth;—I am not to be deterred by nonsensical
prejudices.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Mr. Stensgård, there is the door.
STENSGÅRD.
You show me——?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
The door!
STENSGÅRD.
Don’t do that!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Out with you! You are an adventurer, an a—a—confound my memory! You’re
a——
STENSGÅRD.
What am I?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
You are—that other thing—it’s on the tip of my tongue——
STENSGÅRD.
Beware how you block my career!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Beware? Of what?
STENSGÅRD.
I will attack you in the papers, persecute you, libel you, do all I can
to undermine your reputation. You shall shriek under the lash. You shall
seem to see spirits in the air raining blows upon you. You shall huddle
together in dread, and crouch with your arms bent over your head to ward
off the strokes—you shall try to creep into shelter——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Creep into shelter yourself—in a madhouse; that is the proper place for
you!
STENSGÅRD.
Ha-ha; that is a cheap retort; but you know no better, Mr. Bratsberg! I
tell you the wrath of the Lord is in me. It is His will you are
opposing. He has destined me for the light—beware how you cast a
shadow!—Well, I see I shall make no way with you to-day; but that
matters nothing. I only ask you to speak to your daughter—to prepare
her—to give her the opportunity of choosing! Reflect, and look around
you. Where can you expect to find a son-in-law among these plodding
dunces? Fieldbo says she is deep and steadfast and true. So now you know
just how matters stand. Good-bye, Chamberlain—I leave you to choose
between my friendship and my enmity. Good-bye!
[_Goes out by the back._
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
So it has come to this! This is how they dare to treat me in my own
house!
FIELDBO.
Stensgård dares; no one else would.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
_He_ to-day; others to-morrow.
FIELDBO.
Let them come; I shall keep them off; I would go through fire and water
for you——!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Yes, you who have caused all the mischief!—H’m; that Stensgård is the
most impudent scoundrel I have ever known! And yet, after all—deuce take
me if there isn’t something I like about him.
FIELDBO.
He has possibilities——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
He has openness, Dr Fieldbo! He doesn’t go playing his own game behind
one’s back, like so many other people; he—he——!
FIELDBO.
It’s not worth disputing about. Only be firm, Chamberlain; no, and no
again, to Stensgård——!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, keep your advice to yourself! You may rely upon it that neither he
nor any one else——
RINGDAL.
[_Enters by the door on the right._] Excuse me, Chamberlain; one word——
[_Whispers._
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
What? In your room?
RINGDAL.
He came in by the back way, and begs you to see him.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
H’m.—Oh, Doctor, just go into the drawing-room for a moment; there’s
some one here who——But don’t say a word to Selma of Mr. Stensgård and
his visit. She must be kept outside all this business. As for my
daughter, I should prefer that you should say nothing to her either;
but——Oh, what’s the use——? Please go now.
[FIELDBO _goes into the drawing-room._ RINGDAL _has, in the
meantime, gone back to his office, whence_ MONSEN _presently
enters._
MONSEN.
[_At the door._] I beg ten thousand pardons, sir——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, come in, come in!
MONSEN.
I trust your family is in good health?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Thank you. Is there anything you want?
MONSEN.
I can’t quite put it that way. Thank heaven, I’m one of those that have
got pretty nearly all they can want.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, indeed? That is a good deal to say.
MONSEN.
But I’ve had to work for it, Chamberlain. Oh, I know you regard my work
with no very friendly eye.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
I cannot suppose that your work is in any way affected by my way of
regarding it.
MONSEN.
Who knows? At any rate, I’m thinking of gradually withdrawing from
business.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Really?
MONSEN.
The luck has been on my side, I may tell you. I’ve gone ahead as far as
I care to; so now I think it’s about time to slack off a little——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Well, I congratulate both you—and other people.
MONSEN.
And if I could at the same time do you a service, Chamberlain——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
_Me?_
MONSEN.
When the Langerud woods were put up to auction five years ago, you made
a bid for them——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Yes, but you outbade me, and they were knocked down to you.
MONSEN.
You can have them now, with the saw-mills and all appurtenances——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
After all your sinful cutting and hacking——!
MONSEN.
Oh, they’re worth a good deal still; and with your method of working, in
a few years——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Thank you; unfortunately I must decline the proposal.
MONSEN.
There’s a great deal of money in it, Chamberlain. As for me,—I may tell
you I have a great speculation on hand; the stakes are large; I mean
there’s a big haul to be made—a hundred thousand or so——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
A hundred thousand? That is certainly no trifle.
MONSEN.
Ha ha ha! A nice round sum to add to the pile. But when you’re going
into a great battle you need reserve forces, as the saying goes. There’s
not much ready money about; the names that are worth anything are rather
used up——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Yes, certain people have taken care of _that_.
MONSEN.
It’s a case of you scratch me, I scratch you. Well, Chamberlain, is it
to be a bargain? You shall have the woods at your own figure——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
I will not have them at any figure, Mr. Monsen.
MONSEN.
Well, one good offer deserves another. Will you help me, sir?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
What do you mean?
MONSEN.
Of course I’ll give good security. I have plenty of property. Look
here—these papers—just let me explain my position to you.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
[_Waving the papers aside._] Is it pecuniary aid you want?
MONSEN.
Not ready money; oh, no! But your support, Chamberlain. Of course I’ll
pay for it—and give security, and——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
And you come to me with such a proposal as this?
MONSEN.
Yes, precisely to you. I know you’ve often let bygones be bygones when a
man was in real straits.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Well, in a way, I must thank you for your good opinion—especially at a
time like this; but nevertheless——
MONSEN.
Won’t you tell me, Chamberlain, what sets you against me?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, what would be the use?
MONSEN.
It might lead to a better understanding between us. I’ve never stood in
your way that I know of.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
You think not? Then let me tell you of one case in which you have stood
in my way. I founded the Iron-works Savings Bank for the benefit of my
employees and others. But then you must needs set up as a banker; people
take their savings to you——
MONSEN.
Naturally, sir, for I give higher interest.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Yes, but you charge higher interest on loans.
MONSEN.
But I don’t make so many difficulties about security and so forth.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
That is just the mischief of it; for now we have people making bargains
to the tune of ten or twenty thousand dollars,[18] though neither of the
parties has so much as a brass farthing. That is what sets me against
you, Mr. Monsen. And there is another thing too that touches me still
more nearly. Do you think it was with my good will that my son flung
himself into all these wild speculations?
MONSEN.
But how can I help that?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
It was your example that infected him, as it did the others. Why could
you not stick to your last?
MONSEN.
Remain a lumberman, like my father?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Was it a disgrace to be in my employment? Your father made his bread
honourably, and was respected in his own class.
MONSEN.
Yes, until he’d almost worked his life out, and at last went over the
waterfall with his raft. Do you know anything of life in that class,
Chamberlain? Have you ever realised what the men have to endure who toil
for you deep in the forests, and along the river-reaches, while you sit
comfortably at home and fatten on the profits? Can you blame such a man
for struggling to rise in the world? I had had a little more schooling
than my father; perhaps I had rather more brains too——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Very likely. But by what means have you risen in the world? You began by
selling brandy. Then you bought up doubtful debts, and enforced them
mercilessly;—and so you got on and on. How many people have you not
ruined to push yourself forward!
MONSEN.
That’s the course of business; one up, another down.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
But there are different methods of business. I know of respectable
families whom you have brought to the workhouse.
MONSEN.
Daniel Heire is not very far from the workhouse.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
I understand you; but I can justify my conduct before God and man! When
the country was in distress, after the separation from Denmark, my
father made sacrifices beyond his means. Thus part of our property came
into the hands of the Heire family. What was the result? The people who
lived upon the property suffered under Daniel Heire’s incompetent
management. He cut down timber to the injury, I may even say to the
ruin, of the district. Was it not my obvious duty to put a stop to it if
I was able? And it happened that I _was_ able; I had the law on my side;
I was well within my rights when I re-entered upon my family property.
MONSEN.
I, too, have always had the law on my side.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
But what about your sense of right, your conscience, if you have such a
thing? And how you have broken down all social order! How you have
impaired the respect that should attach to wealth! People never think of
asking nowadays how such and such a fortune was made, or how long it has
been in such and such a family; they only ask: how much is so-and-so
worth?—and they esteem him accordingly. Now I suffer by all this; I find
myself regarded as a sort of associate of yours; people speak of us in
one breath, because we are the two largest proprietors in the
neighbourhood. This state of things I cannot endure! I tell you once for
all: that is why I am set against you.
MONSEN.
This state of things shall come to an end, sir; I will give up business,
and make way for you at every point; but I beg you, I implore you, to
help me!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
I will not.
MONSEN.
I’m willing to pay what you like——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
To pay! And you dare to——!
MONSEN.
If not for my sake, then for your son’s!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
My son’s!
MONSEN.
Yes, he’s in it. I reckon he stands to win some twenty thousand dollars.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Stands to win?
MONSEN.
Yes.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Then, good God, who stands to lose all this money?
MONSEN.
How do you mean?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
If my son wins, some one or other must lose!
MONSEN.
It’s a good stroke of business; I’m not in a position to say more. But I
need a solid name; only just your endorsement——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Endorsement! On a bill——?
MONSEN.
Only for ten or fifteen thousand dollars.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Do you suppose for a moment that——? _My_ name! In such an affair! My
name? As surety, no doubt?
MONSEN.
A mere matter of form——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
A matter of swindling! My name! Not upon any consideration. I have never
put my name on other men’s paper.
MONSEN.
Never? That’s an exaggeration, Chamberlain.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
It is the literal truth.
MONSEN.
No, not literal; I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
What have you seen?
MONSEN.
Your name—on _one_ bill at least.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
It is false, I tell you! You have never seen it!
MONSEN.
I have! On a bill for two thousand dollars. Think again!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Neither for two thousand nor for ten thousand! On my sacred word of
honour, never!
MONSEN.
Then it’s a forgery.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Forgery?
MONSEN.
Yes, a forgery—for I _have_ seen it.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Forgery? Forgery! Where did you see it? In whose hands?
MONSEN.
That I won’t tell you.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Ha-ha! We shall soon find that out.
MONSEN.
Listen to me——!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Silence! It has come to this then! Forgery. They must mix me up in their
abominations! No wonder, then, that people bracket me with the rest of
you. But it is my turn now!
MONSEN.
Chamberlain—for your own sake and for the sake of others——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Off with you! Out of my sight! It is you that are at the root of it
all!—Yes you are! Woe unto him from whom offences come. Your home-life
is scandalous. What sort of society do you get about you? Persons from
Christiania and elsewhere, who think only of eating and drinking, and do
not care in what company they gorge themselves. Silence! I have seen
with my own eyes your distinguished guests tearing along the roads at
Christmas-time like a pack of howling wolves. And there is worse behind.
You have had scandals with your own maid-servants. You drove your wife
out of her mind by your ill-treatment and debauchery.
MONSEN.
Come, this is going too far! You shall pay for these words!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, to the deuce with your threats! What harm can you do to me? _Me_?
You asked what I had to say against you. Well, I have said it. Now you
know why I have kept you out of decent society.
MONSEN.
Yes, and now I’ll drag your decent society down——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
That way!
MONSEN.
I know my way, Chamberlain!
[_Goes out by the back._
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
[_Opens the door on the right and calls._] Ringdal, Ringdal—come here!
RINGDAL.
What is it, sir?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
[_Calls into the drawing-room._] Doctor, please come this way!—Now,
Ringdal, now you shall see my prophecies fulfilled.
FIELDBO.
[_Entering._] What can I do for you, Chamberlain?
RINGDAL.
What prophecies, sir?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
What do you say to this, Doctor? You have always accused me of
exaggerating when I said that Monsen was corrupting the neighbourhood.
FIELDBO.
Well, what then?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
We are getting on, I can tell you! What do you think? There are
forgeries going about.
RINGDAL.
Forgeries?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Yes, forgeries! And whose name do you think they have forged? Why, mine!
FIELDBO.
Who in the world can have done it?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
How can I tell? I don’t know all the scoundrels in the district. But we
shall soon find out.—Doctor, do me a service. The papers must have come
into the hands either of the Savings Bank or the Iron-works Bank. Drive
up to Lundestad; he is the director who knows most about things. Find
out whether there is any such paper——
FIELDBO.
Certainly; at once.
RINGDAL.
Lundestad is here at the works to-day; there’s a meeting of the school
committee.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
So much the better. Find him; bring him here.
FIELDBO.
I’ll go at once.
[_Goes out at the back._
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
And you, Ringdal, make inquiries at the Ironworks. As soon as we have
got to the bottom of the matter, we’ll lay an information. No mercy to
the scoundrels!
RINGDAL.
Very good, sir. Bless me, who’d have thought of such a thing?
[_Goes out to the right._
[THE CHAMBERLAIN _paces the room once or twice, and is then
about to go into his study. At that instant_ ERIK BRATSBERG
_enters from the back._
ERIK.
My dear father——!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, are _you_ there?
ERIK.
I want so much to speak to you.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
H’m; I’m not much in the humour for speaking to any one. What do you
want?
ERIK.
You know I have never mixed you up in my affairs, father.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
No; that is an honour I should certainly have declined.
ERIK.
But now I am forced to——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
What are you forced to do?
ERIK.
Father, you must help me!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
With money! You may be very sure that——
ERIK.
Only this once! I swear I’ll never again——The fact is, I am under
certain engagements to Monsen of Stonelee——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
I know that. You have a brilliant speculation on hand.
ERIK.
A speculation? We? No! Who told you so?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Monsen himself.
ERIK.
Has Monsen been here?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
He has just gone. I showed him the door.
ERIK.
If you don’t help me, father, I am ruined.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
You?
ERIK.
Yes. Monsen has advanced me money. I had to pay terribly dear for it;
and now the bills have fallen due——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
There we have it! What did I tell you——?
ERIK.
Yes, yes; it’s too late now——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Ruined! In two years! But how could you expect anything else? What had
you to do among these charlatans that go about dazzling people’s eyes
with wealth that never existed! They were no company for you. Among
people of that sort you must meet cunning with cunning, or you’ll go to
the wall; you have learnt that now.
ERIK.
Father, will you save me or will you not?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
No; for the last time, no. I will not.
ERIK.
My honour is at stake——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Oh, let us have no big phrases! There’s no honour involved in commercial
success nowadays; quite the opposite, I had almost said. Go home and
make up your accounts; pay every man his due, and have done with it, the
sooner the better.
ERIK.
Oh, you don’t know——
SELMA _and_ THORA _enter from the drawing-room._
SELMA.
Is that Erik’s voice?—Good heavens, what is the matter?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Nothing. Go into the drawing-room again.
SELMA.
No, I won’t go. I will know. Erik, what is it? Tell me!
ERIK.
It’s only that I am ruined!
THORA.
Ruined!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
There, you see!
SELMA.
What is ruined?
ERIK.
Everything.
SELMA.
Do you mean you have lost your money?
ERIK.
Money, house, inheritance—everything!
SELMA.
Is that what you call everything?
ERIK.
Come, let us go, Selma. You are all I have left me. We must bear the
blow together.
SELMA.
The blow? Bear it together? [_With a cry._] Do you think I am fit for
that, now?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
For heaven’s sake——!
ERIK.
What do you mean?
THORA.
Oh, Selma, take care!
SELMA.
No, I won’t take care! I cannot go on lying and shamming any longer! I
must speak the truth. I will not “bear” anything!
ERIK.
Selma!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Child, what are you saying?
SELMA.
Oh, how cruel you have been to me! Shamefully—all of you! It was my part
always to accept—never to give. I have been like a pauper among you. You
never came and demanded a sacrifice of me; I was not fit to bear
anything. I hate you! I loathe you!
ERIK.
What can this mean?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
She is ill; she is out of her mind!
SELMA.
How I have thirsted for a single drop of your troubles, your anxieties!
But when I begged for it you only laughed me off. You have dressed me up
like a doll; you have played with me as you would play with a child. Oh,
what a joy it would have been to me to take my share in your burdens!
How I longed, how I yearned, for a large, and high, and strenuous part
in life! Now you come to me, Erik, now that you have nothing else left.
But I will not be treated simply as a last resource. I will have nothing
to do with your troubles now. I won’t stay with you! I will rather play
and sing in the streets——! Let me be! Let me be!
[_She rushes out by the back._
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Thora, was there any meaning in all that, or——
THORA.
Oh, yes, there was meaning in it; if only I had seen it sooner.
[_Goes out by the back._
ERIK.
No! All else I can lose, but not her! Selma, Selma!
[_Follows_ THORA _and_ SELMA.
RINGDAL.
[_Enters from the right._] Chamberlain!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Well, what is it?
RINGDAL.
I have been to the Bank——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
The Bank? Oh, yes, about the bill——
RINGDAL.
It’s all right; they have never had any bill endorsed by you——
FIELDBO _and_ LUNDESTAD _enter by the back._
FIELDBO.
False alarm, Chamberlain!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Indeed? Not at the Savings Bank either?
LUNDESTAD.
Certainly not. During all the years I’ve been a director I have never
once seen your name; except, of course, on your son’s bill.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
My son’s bill?
LUNDESTAD.
Yes, the bill you accepted for him early this spring.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
My son? My son? Do you dare to tell me——?
LUNDESTAD.
Why, bless me, just think a moment; the bill for two thousand dollars
drawn by your son——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
[_Groping for a chair._] Oh, my God——!
FIELDBO.
For heaven’s sake——!
RINGDAL.
It’s not possible that——!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
[_Who has sunk down on a chair._] Quietly, quietly! Drawn by my son, you
say? Accepted by me? For two thousand dollars?
FIELDBO.
[_To_ LUNDESTAD.] And this bill is in the Savings Bank?
LUNDESTAD.
Not now; it was redeemed last week by Monsen——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
By Monsen——?
RINGDAL.
Monsen may still be at the works; I’ll go——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Stop here!
DANIEL HEIRE _enters by the back._
HEIRE.
Good-morning, gentlemen! Good-morning, Chamberlain! Thank you so much
for the delightful evening we spent yesterday. What do you think I’ve
just heard——?
RINGDAL.
Excuse me; we are busy——
HEIRE.
So are other people, I can tell you; our friend from Stonelee, for
example——
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Monsen?
HEIRE.
Hee-hee; it’s a pretty story! The electioneering intrigues are in full
swing. And what do you think is the last idea? They are going to bribe
you, Chamberlain!
LUNDESTAD.
To bribe——?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
They judge the tree by its fruit.
HEIRE.
Deuce take me if it isn’t the most impudent thing I ever heard of! I
just looked in at Madam Rundholmen’s to have a glass of bitters. There
sat Messrs. Monsen and Stensgård drinking port—filthy stuff! I wouldn’t
touch it; but they might have had the decency to offer me a glass, all
the same. However, Monsen turned to me and said, “What do you bet that
Chamberlain Bratsberg won’t go with our party at the preliminary
election to-morrow?” “Indeed,” said I, “how’s that to be managed?” “Oh,”
he said, “this bill will persuade him——”
FIELDBO.
Bill——?
LUNDESTAD.
At the election——?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Well? What then?
HEIRE.
Oh, I know no more. They said something about two thousand dollars.
That’s the figure they rate a gentleman’s conscience at! Oh, it’s
abominable, I say!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
A bill for two thousand dollars?
RINGDAL.
And Monsen has it?
HEIRE.
No, he handed it over to Stensgård.
LUNDESTAD.
Indeed!
FIELDBO.
To Stensgård?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Are you sure of that?
HEIRE.
Quite certain. “You can make what use you please of it,” he said. But I
don’t understand——
LUNDESTAD.
I want to speak to you, Mr. Heire—and you too, Ringdal.
[_The three converse in a whisper at the back._
FIELDBO.
Chamberlain!
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
Well?
FIELDBO.
Your son’s bill is genuine, of course——?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
One would suppose so.
FIELDBO.
Of course. But now if the forged bill were to turn up——?
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
I will lay no information.
FIELDBO.
Naturally not;—but you must do more.
THE CHAMBERLAIN.
[_Rising._] I can do no more.
FIELDBO.