HEDDA GABLER 8

	HEDDA GABLER 8

LOVBORG. Well, let him. HEDDA. Then you are not going with them? LOVBORG. I will stay here with you and Thea. MRS. ELVSTED. Yes, Hedda--how can you doubt that? HEDDA. [Smiles and nods approvingly to LOVBORG.] Firm as a rock! Faithful to your principles, now and for ever! Ah, that is how a man should be! [Turns to MRS. ELVSTED and caresses her.] Well now, what did I tell you, when you came to us this morning in such a state of distraction-- LOVBORG. [Surprised.] Distraction! MRS. ELVSTED. [Terrified.] Hedda--oh Hedda--! HEDDA. You can see for yourself! You haven't the slightest reason to be in such mortal terror-- [Interrupting herself.] There! Now we can all three enjoy ourselves! LOVBORG. [Who has given a start.] Ah--what is all this, Mrs. Tesman? MRS. ELVSTED. Oh my God, Hedda! What are you saying? What are you doing? HEDDA. Don't get excited! That horrid Judge Brack is sitting watching you. LOVBORG. So she was in mortal terror! On my account! MRS. ELVSTED. [Softly and piteously.] Oh, Hedda--now you have ruined everything! LOVBORG. [Looks fixedly at her for a moment. His face is distorted.] So that was my comrade's frank confidence in me? MRS. ELVSTED. [Imploringly.] Oh, my dearest friend--only let me tell you-- LOVBORG. [Takes one of the glasses of punch, raises it to his lips, and says in a low, husky voice.] Your health, Thea!    [He empties the glass, puts it down, and takes the second. MRS. ELVSTED. [Softly.] Oh, Hedda, Hedda--how could you do this? HEDDA. _I_ do it? _I_? Are you crazy? LOVBORG. Here's to your health too, Mrs. Tesman. Thanks for the truth. Hurrah for the truth!    [He empties the glass and is about to re-fill it. HEDDA. [Lays her hand on his arm.] Come, come--no more for the present. Remember you are going out to supper. MRS. ELVSTED. No, no, no! HEDDA. Hush! They are sitting watching you. LOVBORG. [Putting down the glass.] Now, Thea--tell me the truth-- MRS. ELVSTED. Yes. LOVBORG. Did your husband know that you had come after me? MRS. ELVSTED. [Wringing her hands.] Oh, Hedda--do you hear what his is asking? LOVBORG. Was it arranged between you and him that you were to come to town and look after me? Perhaps it was the Sheriff himself that urged you to come? Aha, my dear--no doubt he wanted my help in his office! Or was it at the card-table that he missed me? MRS. ELVSTED. [Softly, in agony.] Oh, Lovborg, Lovborg--! LOVBORG. [Seizes a glass and is on the point of filling it.] Here's a glass for the old Sheriff too! HEDDA. [Preventing him.] No more just now. Remember, you have to read your manuscript to Tesman. LOVBORG. [Calmly, putting down the glass.] It was stupid of me all this. Thea--to take it in this way, I mean. Don't be angry with me, my dear, dear comrade. You shall see--both you and the others--that if I was fallen once--now I have risen again! Thanks to you, Thea. MRS. ELVSTED. [Radiant with joy.] Oh, heaven be praised--!      [BRACK has in the meantime looked at his watch.  He and TESMAN        rise and come into the drawing-room. BRACK. [Takes his hat and overcoat.] Well, Mrs. Tesman, our time has come. HEDDA. I suppose it has. LOVBORG. [Rising.] Mine too, Judge Brack. MRS. ELVSTED. [Softly and imploringly.] Oh, Lovborg, don't do it! HEDDA. [Pinching her arm.] They can hear you! MRS. ELVSTED. [With a suppressed shriek.] Ow! LOVBORG. [To BRACK.] You were good enough to invite me. JUDGE BRACK. Well, are you coming after all? LOVBORG. Yes, many thanks. BRACK. I'm delighted-- LOVBORG. [To TESMAN, putting the parcel of MS. in his pocket.] I should like to show you one or two things before I send it to the printers. TESMAN. Fancy--that will be delightful. But, Hedda dear, how is Mrs. Elvsted to get home? Eh? HEDDA. Oh, that can be managed somehow. LOVBORG. [Looking towards the ladies.] Mrs. Elvsted? Of course, I'll come again and fetch her. [Approaching.] At ten or thereabouts, Mrs. Tesman? Will that do? HEDDA. Certainly. That will do capitally. TESMAN. Well, then, that's all right. But you must not expect me so early, Hedda. HEDDA. Oh, you may stop as long--as long as ever you please. MRS. ELVSTED. [Trying to conceal her anxiety.] Well then, Mr. Lovborg--I shall remain here until you come. LOVBORG. [With his hat in his hand.] Pray do, Mrs. Elvsted. BRACK. And now off goes the excursion train, gentlemen! I hope we shall have a lively time, as a certain fair lady puts it. HEDDA. Ah, if only the fair lady could be present unseen--! BRACK. Why unseen? HEDDA. In order to hear a little of your liveliness at first hand, Judge Brack. BRACK. [Laughing.] I should not advise the fair lady to try it. TESMAN. [Also laughing.] Come, you're a nice one Hedda! Fancy that! BRACK. Well, good-bye, good-bye, ladies. LOVBORG. [Bowing.] About ten o'clock, then,    [BRACK, LOVBORG, and TESMAN go out by the hall door.  At the        same time, BERTA enters from the inner room with a lighted        lamp, which she places on the drawing-room table; she goes        out by the way she came. MRS. ELVSTED. [Who has risen and is wandering restlessly about the room.] Hedda-- Hedda--what will come of all this? HEDDA. At ten o'clock--he will be here. I can see him already--with vine-leaves in his hair--flushed and fearless-- MRS. ELVSTED. Oh, I hope he may. HEDDA. And then, you see--then he will have regained control over himself. Then he will be a free man for all his days. MRS. ELVSTED. Oh God!--if he would only come as you see him now! HEDDA. He will come as I see him--so, and not otherwise! [Rises and approaches THEA.] You may doubt him as long as you please; _I_ believe in him. And now we will try-- MRS. ELVSTED. You have some hidden motive in this, Hedda! HEDDA. Yes, I have. I want for once in my life to have power to mould a human destiny. MRS. ELVSTED. Have you not the power? HEDDA. I have not--and have never had it. MRS. ELVSTED. Not your husband's? HEDDA. Do you think that is worth the trouble? Oh, if you could only understand how poor I am. And fate has made you so rich! [Clasps her passionately in her arms.] I think I must burn your hair off after all. MRS. ELVSTED. Let me go! Let me go! I am afraid of you, Hedda! BERTA. [In the middle doorway.] Tea is laid in the dining-room, ma'am. HEDDA. Very well. We are coming MRS. ELVSTED. No, no, no! I would rather go home alone! At once! HEDDA. Nonsense! First you shall have a cup of tea, you little stupid. And then--at ten o'clock--Eilert Lovborg will be here--with vine-leaves in his hair.    [She drags MRS. ELVSTED almost by force to the middle doorway. ACT THIRD.   The room at the TESMANS'.  The curtains are drawn over the   middle doorway, and also over the glass door.  The lamp,   half turned down, and with a shade over it, is burning on   the table.  In the stove, the door of which stands open,   there has been a fire, which is now nearly burnt out.   MRS. ELVSTED, wrapped in a large shawl, and with her feet   upon a foot-rest, sits close to the stove, sunk back in   the arm-chair.  HEDDA, fully dressed, lies sleeping upon   the sofa, with a sofa-blanket over her. MRS. ELVSTED. [After a pause, suddenly sits up in her chair, and listens eagerly. Then she sinks back again wearily, moaning to herself.] Not yet!--Oh God--oh God--not yet!   BERTA slips cautiously in by the hall door.  She has a letter in   her hand. MRS. ELVSTED. [Turns and whispers eagerly.] Well--has any one come? BERTA. [Softly.] Yes, a girl has just brought this letter. MRS. ELVSTED. [Quickly, holding out her hand.] A letter! Give it to me! BERTA. No, it's for Dr. Tesman, ma'am. MRS. ELVSTED. Oh, indeed. BERTA. It was Miss Tesman's servant that brought it. I'll lay it here on the table. MRS. ELVSTED. Yes, do. BERTA. [Laying down the letter.] I think I had better put out the lamp. It's smoking. MRS. ELVSTED. Yes, put it out. It must soon be daylight now. BERTA. [Putting out the lamp.] It is daylight already, ma'am. MRS. ELVSTED. Yes, broad day! And no one come back yet--! BERTA. Lord bless you, ma'am--I guessed how it would be. MRS. ELVSTED. You guessed? BERTA. Yes, when I saw that a certain person had come back to town--and that he went off with them. For we've heard enough about that gentleman before now. MRS. ELVSTED. Don't speak so loud. You will waken Mrs. Tesman. BERTA. [Looks towards the sofa and sighs.] No, no--let her sleep, poor thing. Shan't I put some wood on the fire? MRS. ELVSTED. Thanks, not for me. BERTA. Oh, very well. [She goes softly out by the hall door. HEDDA. [Is wakened by the shutting of the door, and looks up.] What's that--? MRS. ELVSTED. It was only the servant. HEDDA. [Looking about her.] Oh, we're here--! Yes, now I remember. [Sits erect upon the sofa, stretches herself, and rubs her eyes.] What o'clock is it, Thea? MRS. ELVSTED. [Looks at her watch.] It's past seven. HEDDA. When did Tesman come home? MRS. ELVSTED. He has not come. HEDDA. Not come home yet? MRS. ELVSTED. [Rising.] No one has come. HEDDA. Think of our watching and waiting here till four in the morning-- MRS. ELVSTED. [Wringing her hands.] And how I watched and waited for him! HEDDA. [Yawns, and says with her hand before her mouth.] Well well--we might have spared ourselves the trouble. MRS. ELVSTED. Did you get a little sleep? HEDDA. Oh yes; I believe I have slept pretty well. Have you not? MRS. ELVSTED. Not for a moment. I couldn't, Hedda!--not to save my life. HEDDA. [Rises and goes towards her.] There there there! There's nothing to be so alarmed about. I understand quite well what has happened. MRS. ELVSTED. Well, what do you think? Won't you tell me? HEDDA. Why, of course it has been a very late affair at Judge Brack's-- MRS. ELVSTED. Yes, yes--that is clear enough. But all the same-- HEDDA. And then, you see, Tesman hasn't cared to come home and ring us up in the middle of the night. [Laughing.] Perhaps he wasn't inclined to show himself either--immediately after a jollification. MRS. ELVSTED. But in that case--where can he have gone? HEDDA. Of course he has gone to his Aunts' and slept there. They have his old room ready for him. MRS. ELVSTED. No, he can't be with them for a letter has just come for him from Miss Tesman. There it lies. HEDDA. Indeed? [Looks at the address.] Why yes, it's addressed in Aunt Julia's hand. Well then, he has remained at Judge Brack's. And as for Eilert Lovborg--he is sitting, with vine-leaves in his hair, reading his manuscript. MRS. ELVSTED. Oh, Hedda, you are just saying things you don't believe a bit. HEDDA. You really are a little blockhead, Thea. MRS. ELVSTED. Oh yes, I suppose I am. HEDDA. And how mortally tired you look. MRS. ELVSTED. Yes, I am mortally tired. HEDDA. Well then, you must do as I tell you. You must go into my room and lie down for a little while. MRS. ELVSTED. Oh no, no--I shouldn't be able to sleep. HEDDA. I am sure you would. MRS. ELVSTED. Well, but you husband is certain to come soon now; and then I want to know at once-- HEDDA. I shall take care to let you know when he comes. MRS. ELVSTED. Do you promise me, Hedda? HEDDA. Yes, rely upon me. Just you go in and have a sleep in the meantime. MRS. ELVSTED. Thanks; then I'll try. [She goes off to the inner room.      [HEDDA goes up to the glass door and draws back the curtains.        The broad daylight streams into the room.  Then she takes a        little hand-glass from the writing-table, looks at herself        in it, and arranges her hair.  Next she goes to the hall        door and presses the bell-button.   BERTA presently appears at the hall door. BERTA. Did you want anything, ma'am? HEDDA. Yes; you must put some more wood in the stove. I am shivering. BERTA. Bless me--I'll make up the fire at once. [She rakes the embers together and lays a piece of wood upon them; then stops and listens.] That was a ring at the front door, ma'am. HEDDA. Then go to the door. I will look after the fire. BERTA. It'll soon burn up. [She goes out by the hall door.      [HEDDA kneels on the foot-rest and lays some more pieces of        wood in the stove.    After a short pause, GEORGE TESMAN enters from the hall.  He    steals on tiptoe towards the middle doorway and is about to    slip through the curtains. HEDDA. [At the stove, without looking up.] Good morning. TESMAN. [Turns.] Hedda! [Approaching her.] Good heavens--are you up so early? Eh? HEDDA. Yes, I am up very early this morning. TESMAN. And I never doubted you were still sound asleep! Fancy that, Hedda! HEDDA. Don't speak so loud. Mrs. Elvsted is resting in my room.