Mrs. Bernick: How magnanimous you are, Karsten!
Bernick: Oh, don't speak of that.
Mrs. Bernick: But you must let me thank you; and you must forgive me
for being so hasty. I am sure you had every reason to--
Bernick: Don't talk about it, please.
Hilmar: Ugh!
(JOHAN TONNESEN and DINA come up through the garden, followed by LONA
and OLAF.)
Lona: Good morning, dear people!
Johan: We have been out having a look round the old place, Karsten.
Bernick: So I hear. Greatly altered, is it not?
Lona: Mr. Bernick's great and good works everywhere. We have been up
into the Recreation Ground you have presented to the town.
Bernick: Have you been there?
Lona: "The gift of Karsten Bernick," as it says over the gateway. You
seem to be responsible for the whole place here.
Johan: Splendid ships you have got, too. I met my old schoolfellow, the
captain of the "Palm Tree."
Lona: And you have built a new school-house too; and I hear that the
town has to thank you for both the gas supply and the water supply.
Bernick: Well, one ought to work for the good of the community one
lives in.
Lona: That is an excellent sentiment, brother-in-law, but it is a
pleasure, all the same, to see how people appreciate you. I am not
vain, I hope; but I could not resist reminding one or two of the people
we talked to that we were relations of yours.
Hilmar: Ugh!
Lona: Do you say "ugh" to that?
Hilmar: No, I said "ahem."
Lona: Oh, poor chap, you may say that if you like. But are you all by
yourselves today?
Bernick: Yes, we are by ourselves today.
Lona: Ah, yes, we met a couple of members of your Morality Society up
at the market; they made out they were very busy. You and I have never
had an opportunity for a good talk yet. Yesterday you had your three
pioneers here, as well as the parson.
Hilmar: The schoolmaster.
Lona: I call him the parson. But now tell me what you think of my work
during these fifteen years? Hasn't he grown a fine fellow? Who would
recognise the madcap that ran away from home?
Hilmar: Hm!
Johan: Now, Lona, don't brag too much about me.
Lona: Well, I can tell you I am precious proud of him. Goodness knows
it is about the only thing I have done in my life; but it does give me
a sort of right to exist. When I think, Johan, how we two began over
there with nothing but our four bare fists.
Hilmar: Hands.
Lona: I say fists; and they were dirty fists.
Hilmar: Ugh!
Lona: And empty, too.
Hilmar: Empty? Well, I must say--
Lona: What must you say?
Bernick: Ahem!
Hilmar: I must say--ugh! (Goes out through the garden.)
Lona: What is the matter with the man?
Bernick: Oh, do not take any notice of him; his nerves are rather upset
just now. Would you not like to take a look at the garden? You have not
been down there yet, and I have got an hour to spare.
Lona: With pleasure. I can tell you my thoughts have been with you in
this garden many and many a time.
Mrs. Bernick: We have made a great many alterations there too, as you
will see. (BERNICK, MRS. BERNICK, and LONA go down to the garden, where
they are visible every now and then during the following scene.)
Olaf (coming to the verandah door): Uncle Hilmar, do you know what
uncle Johan asked me? He asked me if I would go to America with him.
Hilmar: You, you duffer, who are tied to your mother's apron strings--!
Olaf: Ah, but I won't be that any longer. You will see, when I grow big.
Hilmar: Oh, fiddlesticks! You have no really serious bent towards the
strength of character necessary to--.
(They go down to the garden. DINA meanwhile has taken off her hat and
is standing at the door on the right, shaking the dust off her dress.)
Johan (to DINA): The walk has made you pretty warm.
Dina: Yes, it was a splendid walk. I have never had such a splendid
walk before.
Johan: Do you not often go for a walk in the morning?
Dina: Oh, yes--but only with Olaf.
Johan: I see.--Would you rather go down into the garden than stay here?
Dina: No, I would rather stay here.
Johan: So would I. Then shall we consider it a bargain that we are to
go for a walk like this together every morning?
Dina: No, Mr. Tonnesen, you mustn't do that.
Johan: What mustn't I do? You promised, you know.
Dina: Yes, but--on second thought--you mustn't go out with me.
Johan: But why not?
Dina: Of course, you are a stranger--you cannot understand; but I must
tell you--
Johan: Well?
Dina: No, I would rather not talk about it.
Johan: Oh, but you must; you can talk to me about whatever you like.
Dina: Well, I must tell you that I am not like the other young girls
here. There is something--something or other about me. That is why you
mustn't.
Johan: But I do not understand anything about it. You have not done
anything wrong?
Dina: No, not I, but--no, I am not going to talk any more about it now.
You will hear about it from the others, sure enough.
Johan: Hm!
Dina: But there is something else I want very much to ask you.
Johan: What is that?
Dina: I suppose it is easy to make a position for oneself over in
America?
Johan: No, it is not always easy; at first you often have to rough it
and work very hard.
Dina: I should be quite ready to do that.
Johan: You?
Dina: I can work now; I am strong and healthy; and Aunt Martha taught
me a lot.
Johan: Well, hang it, come back with us!
Dina: Ah, now you are only making fun of me; you said that to Olaf too.
But what I wanted to know is if people are so very--so very moral over
there?
Johan: Moral?
Dina: Yes; I mean are they as--as proper and as well-behaved as they
are here?
Johan: Well, at all events they are not so bad as people here make out.
You need not be afraid on that score.
Dina: You don't understand me. What I want to hear is just that they
are not so proper and so moral.
Johan: Not? What would you wish them to be, then?
Dina: I would wish them to be natural.
Johan: Well, I believe that is just what they are.
Dina: Because in that case I should get on if I went there.
Johan: You would, for certain!--and that is why you must come back with
us.
Dina: No, I don't want to go with you; I must go alone. Oh, I would
make something of my life; I would get on--
Bernick (speaking to LONA and his wife at the foot of the garden
steps): Wait a moment--I will fetch it, Betty dear; you might so easily
catch cold. (Comes into the room and looks for his wife's shawl.)
Mrs. Bernick (from outside): You must come out too, Johan; we are going
down to the grotto.
Bernick: No, I want Johan to stay here. Look here, Dina; you take my
wife's shawl and go with them. Johan is going to stay here with me,
Betty dear. I want to hear how he is getting on over there.
Mrs. Bernick: Very well--then you will follow us; you know where you
will find us. (MRS. BERNICK, LONA and DINA go out through the garden,
to the left. BERNICK looks after them for a moment, then goes to the
farther door on the left and locks it, after which he goes up to JOHAN,
grasps both his hands, and shakes them warmly.)
Bernick: Johan, now that we are alone, you must let me thank you.
Johan: Oh, nonsense!
Bernick: My home and all the happiness that it means to me--my position
here as a citizen--all these I owe to you.
Johan: Well, I am glad of it, Karsten; some good came of that mad story
after all, then.
Bernick (grasping his hands again): But still you must let me thank
you! Not one in ten thousand would have done what you did for me.
Johan: Rubbish! Weren't we, both of us, young and thoughtless? One of
us had to take the blame, you know.
Bernick: But surely the guilty one was the proper one to do that?
Johan: Stop! At the moment the innocent one happened to be the proper
one to do it. Remember, I had no ties--I was an orphan; it was a lucky
chance to get free from the drudgery of the office. You, on the other
hand, had your old mother still alive; and, besides that, you had just
become secretly engaged to Betty, who was devoted to you. What would
have happened between you and her if it had come to her ears?
Bernick: That is true enough, but still--
Johan: And wasn't it just for Betty's sake that you broke off your
acquaintance with Mrs. Dorf? Why, it was merely in order to put an end
to the whole thing that you were up there with her that evening.
Bernick: Yes, that unfortunate evening when that drunken creature came
home! Yes, Johan, it was for Betty's sake; but, all the same, it was
splendid of you to let all the appearances go against you, and to go
away.
Johan: Put your scruples to rest, my dear Karsten. We agreed that it
should be so; you had to be saved, and you were my friend. I can tell
you, I was uncommonly proud of that friendship. Here was I, drudging
away like a miserable stick-in-the-mud, when you came back from your
grand tour abroad, a great swell who had been to London and to Paris;
and you chose me for your chum, although I was four years younger than
you--it is true it was because you were courting Betty, I understand
that now--but I was proud of it! Who would not have been? Who would not
willingly have sacrificed himself for you?--especially as it only meant
a month's talk in the town, and enabled me to get away into the wide
world.
Bernick: Ah, my dear Johan, I must be candid and tell you that the
story is not so completely forgotten yet.
Johan: Isn't it? Well, what does that matter to me, once I am back over
there on my farm again?
Bernick: Then you mean to go back?
Johan: Of course.
Bernick: But not immediately, I hope?
Johan: As soon as possible. It was only to humour Lona that I came over
with her, you know.
Bernick: Really? How so?
Johan: Well, you see, Lona is no longer young, and lately she began to
be obsessed with home-sickness; but she never would admit it. (Smiles.)
How could she venture to risk leaving such a flighty fellow as me
alone, who before I was nineteen had been mixed up in...
Bernick: Well, what then?
Johan: Well, Karsten, now I am coming to a confession that I am ashamed
to make.
Bernick: You surely haven't confided the truth to her?
Johan: Yes. It was wrong of me, but I could not do otherwise. You can
have no conception what Lona has been to me. You never could put up
with her; but she has been like a mother to me. The first year we were
out there, when things went so badly with us, you have no idea how she
worked! And when I was ill for a long time, and could earn nothing and
could not prevent her, she took to singing ballads in taverns, and gave
lectures that people laughed at; and then she wrote a book that she has
both laughed and cried over since then--all to keep the life in me.
Could I look on when in the winter she, who had toiled and drudged for
me, began to pine away? No, Karsten, I couldn't. And so I said, "You go
home for a trip, Lona; don't be afraid for me, I am not so flighty as
you think." And so--the end of it was that she had to know.
Bernick: And how did she take it?
Johan: Well, she thought, as was true, that as I knew I was innocent
nothing need prevent me from taking a trip over here with her. But make
your mind easy; Lona will let nothing out, and I shall keep my mouth
shut as I did before.
Bernick: Yes, yes I rely on that.
Johan: Here is my hand on it. And now we will say no more about that
old story; luckily it is the only mad prank either of us has been
guilty of, I am sure. I want thoroughly to enjoy the few days I shall
stay here. You cannot think what a delightful walk we had this morning.
Who would have believed that that little imp, who used to run about
here and play angels' parts on the stage--! But tell me, my dear
fellow, what became of her parents afterwards?
Bernick: Oh, my boy, I can tell you no more than I wrote to you
immediately after you went away. I suppose you got my two letters?
Johan: Yes, yes, I have them both. So that drunken fellow deserted her?
Bernick: And drank himself to death afterwards.
Johan: And she died soon afterwards, too?
Bernick: She was proud; she betrayed nothing, and would accept nothing.
Johan: Well, at all events you did the right thing by taking Dina into
your house.
Bernick: I suppose so. As a matter of fact it was Martha that brought
that about.
Johan: So it was Martha? By the way, where is she today?
Bernick: She? Oh, when she hasn't her school to look after, she has her
sick people to see to.
Johan: So it was Martha who interested herself in her.
Bernick: Yes, you know Martha has always had a certain liking for
teaching; so she took a post in the boarding-school. It was very
ridiculous of her.
Johan: I thought she looked very worn yesterday; I should be afraid her
health was not good enough for it.
Bernick: Oh, as far as her health goes, it is all right enough. But it
is unpleasant for me; it looks as though I, her brother, were not
willing to support her.
Johan: Support her? I thought she had means enough of her own.
Bernick: Not a penny. Surely you remember how badly off our mother was
when you went away? She carried things on for a time with my
assistance, but naturally I could not put up with that state of affairs
permanently. I made her take me into the firm, but even then things did
not go well. So I had to take over the whole business myself, and when
we made up our balance-sheet, it became evident that there was
practically nothing left as my mother's share. And when mother died
soon afterwards, of course Martha was left penniless.
Johan: Poor Martha!
Bernick: Poor! Why? You surely do not suppose I let her want for
anything? No, I venture to say I am a good brother. Of course she has a
home here with us; her salary as a teacher is more than enough for her
to dress on; what more could she want?
Johan: Hm--that is not our idea of things in America.
Bernick: No, I dare say not--in such a revolutionary state of society
as you find there. But in our small circle--in which, thank God,
depravity has not gained a footing, up to now at all events--women are
content to occupy a seemly, as well as modest, position. Moreover, it
is Martha's own fault; I mean, she might have been provided for long
ago, if she had wished.
Johan: You mean she might have married?
Bernick: Yes, and married very well, too. She has had several good
offers--curiously enough, when you think that she is a poor girl, no
longer young, and, besides, quite an insignificant person.
Johan: Insignificant?
Bernick: Oh, I am not blaming her for that. I most certainly would not
wish her otherwise. I can tell you it is always a good thing to have a
steady-going person like that in a big house like this--some one you
can rely on in any contingency.
Johan: Yes, but what does she--?
Bernick: She? How? Oh well, of course she has plenty to interest
herself in; she has Betty and Olaf and me. People should not think
first of themselves--women least of all. We have all got some
community, great or small, to work for. That is my principle, at all
events. (Points to KRAP, who has come in from the right.) Ah, here is
an example of it, ready to hand. Do you suppose that it is my own
affairs that are absorbing me just now? By no means. (Eagerly to KRAP.)
Well?
Krap (in an undertone, showing him a bundle of papers): Here are all
the sale contracts, completed.
Bernick: Capital! Splendid!--Well, Johan, you must really excuse me for
the present. (In a low voice, grasping his hand.) Thanks, Johan,
thanks! And rest assured that anything I can do for you-- Well, of
course you understand. Come along, Krap. (They go into BERNICK'S room.)
Johan (looking after them for a moment): Hm!-- (Turns to go down to the
garden. At the same moment MARTHA comes in from the right, with a
little basket over her arm.) Martha!
Martha: Ah, Johan--is it you?
Johan: Out so early?
Martha: Yes. Wait a moment; the others are just coming. (Moves towards
the door on the left.)
Johan: Martha, are you always in such a hurry?
Martha: I?
Johan: Yesterday you seemed to avoid me, so that I never managed to
have a word with you--we two old playfellows.
Martha: Ah, Johan; that is many, many years ago.
Johan: Good Lord--why, it is only fifteen years ago, no more and no
less. Do you think I have changed so much?
Martha: You? Oh yes, you have changed too, although--
Johan: What do you mean?
Martha: Oh, nothing.
Johan: You do not seem to be very glad to see me again.
Martha: I have waited so long, Johan--too long.
Johan: Waited? For me to come?
Martha: Yes.
Johan. And why did you think I would come?
Martha: To atone for the wrong you had done.
Johan: I?
Martha: Have you forgotten that it was through you that a woman died in
need and in shame? Have you forgotten that it was through you that the
best years of a young girl's life were embittered?
Johan: And you can say such things to me? Martha, has your brother
never--?
Martha: Never what?
Johan: Has he never--oh, of course, I mean has he never so much as said
a word in my defence?
Martha: Ah, Johan, you know Karsten's high principles.
Johan: Hm--! Oh, of course; I know my old friend Karsten's high
principles! But really this is--. Well, well. I was having a talk with
him just now. He seems to me to have altered considerably.
Martha: How can you say that? I am sure Karsten has always been an
excellent man.
Johan: Yes, that was not exactly what I meant--but never mind. Hm! Now
I understand the light you have seen me in; it was the return of the
prodigal that you were waiting for.
Martha: Johan, I will tell you what light I have seen you in. (Points
down to the garden.) Do you see that girl playing on the grass down
there with Olaf? That is Dina. Do you remember that incoherent letter
you wrote me when you went away? You asked me to believe in you. I have
believed in you, Johan. All the horrible things that were rumoured
about you after you had gone must have been done through being led
astray--from thoughtlessness, without premeditation.
Johan: What do you mean?
Martha: Oh! you understand me well enough--not a word more of that. But
of course you had to go away and begin afresh--a new life. Your duties
here which you never remembered to undertake--or never were able to
undertake--I have undertaken for you. I tell you this, so that you
shall not have that also to reproach yourself with. I have been a
mother to that much-wronged child; I have brought her up as well as I
was able.
Johan: And have wasted your whole life for that reason.
Martha: It has not been wasted. But you have come late, Johan.
Johan: Martha--if only I could tell you--. Well, at all events let me
thank you for your loyal friendship.
Martha (with a sad smile): Hm.--Well, we have had it out now, Johan.
Hush, some one is coming. Goodbye, I can't stay now. (Goes out through
the farther door on the left. LONA comes in from the garden, followed
by MRS. BERNICK.)
Mrs. Bernick: But good gracious, Lona--what are you thinking of?
Lona: Let me be, I tell you! I must and will speak to him.
Mrs. Bernick: But it would be a scandal of the worst sort! Ah,
Johan--still here?
Lona: Out with you, my boy; don't stay here in doors; go down into the
garden and have a chat with Dina.
Johan: I was just thinking of doing so.
Mrs. Bernick: But--
Lona: Look here, Johan--have you had a good look at Dina?
Johan: I should think so!
Lona: Well, look at her to some purpose, my boy. That would be somebody
for you!
Mrs. Bernick: But, Lona!
Johan: Somebody for me?
Lona: Yes, to look at, I mean. Be off with you!
Johan: Oh, I don't need any pressing. (Goes down into the garden.)
Mrs. Bernick: Lona, you astound me! You cannot possibly be serious
about it?
Lona: Indeed I am. Isn't she sweet and healthy and honest? She is
exactly the wife for Johan. She is just what he needs over there; it
will be a change from an old step-sister.
Mrs. Bernick: Dina? Dina Dorf? But think--
Lona: I think first and foremost of the boy's happiness. Because, help
him I must; he has not much idea of that sort of thing; he has never
had much of an eye for girls or women.
Mrs. Bernick: He? Johan? Indeed I think we have had only too sad proofs
that--
Lona: Oh, devil take all those stupid stories! Where is Karsten? I mean
to speak to him.
Mrs. Bernick: Lona, you must not do it, I tell you.
Lona: I am going to. If the boy takes a fancy to her--and she to
him--then they shall make a match of it. Karsten is such a clever man,
he must find some way to bring it about.
Mrs. Bernick: And do you think these American indecencies will be
permitted here?
Lona: Bosh, Betty!
Mrs. Bernick: Do you think a man like Karsten, with his strictly moral
way of thinking--
Lona: Pooh! he is not so terribly moral.
Mrs. Bernick: What have you the audacity to say?
Lona: I have the audacity to say that Karsten is not any more
particularly moral than anybody else.
Mrs. Bernick: So you still hate him as deeply as that! But what are you
doing here, if you have never been able to forget that? I cannot
understand how you, dare look him in the face after the shameful insult
you put upon him in the old days.
Lona: Yes, Betty, that time I did forget myself badly.
Mrs. Bernick: And to think how magnanimously he has forgiven you--he,
who had never done any wrong! It was not his fault that you encouraged
yourself with hopes. But since then you have always hated me too.
(Bursts into tears.) You have always begrudged me my good fortune. And
now you come here to heap all this on my head--to let the whole town
know what sort of a family I have brought Karsten into. Yes, it is me
that it all falls upon, and that is what you want. Oh, it is abominable
of you! (Goes out by the door on the left, in tears.)
Lona (looking after her): Poor Betty! (BERNICK comes in from his room.
He stops at the door to speak to KRAP.)
Bernick: Yes, that is excellent, Krap--capital! Send twenty pounds to
the fund for dinners to the poor. (Turns round.) Lona! (Comes forward.)
Are you alone? Is Betty not coming in?
Lona: No. Would you like me to call her?
Bernick: No, no--not at all. Oh, Lona, you don't know how anxious I
have been to speak openly to you--after having begged for your
forgiveness.
Lona: Look here, Karsten--do not let us be sentimental; it doesn't suit
us.
Bernick: You must listen to me, Lona. I know only too well how much
appearances are against me, as you have learnt all about that affair
with Dina's mother. But I swear to you that it was only a temporary
infatuation; I was really, truly and honestly, in love with you once.
Lona: Why do you think I have come home?
Bernick: Whatever you have in your mind, I entreat, you to do nothing
until I have exculpated myself. I can do that, Lona; at all events I
can excuse myself.
Lona: Now you are frightened. You once were in love with me, you say.
Yes, you told me that often enough in your letters; and perhaps it was
true, too--in a way--as long as you were living out in the great, free
world which gave you the courage to think freely and greatly. Perhaps
you found in me a little more character and strength of will and
independence than in most of the folk at home here. And then we kept it
secret between us; nobody could make fun of your bad taste.
Bernick: Lona, how can you think--?
Lona: But when you came back--when you heard the gibes that were made
at me on all sides--when you noticed how people laughed at what they
called my absurdities...
Bernick: You were regardless of people's opinion at that time.
Lona: Chiefly to annoy the petticoated and trousered prudes that one
met at every turn in the town. And then, when you met that seductive
young actress--
Bernick: It was a boyish escapade--nothing more; I swear to you that
there was no truth in a tenth part of the rumours and gossip that went
about.
Lona: Maybe. But then, when Betty came home--a pretty young girl,
idolised by every one--and it became known that she would inherit all
her aunt's money and that I would have nothing!
Bernick: That is just the point, Lona; and now you shall have the truth
without any beating about the bush. I did not love Betty then; I did
not break off my engagement with you because of any new attachment. It
was entirely for the sake of the money. I needed it; I had to make sure
of it.
Lona: And you have the face to tell me that?
Bernick: Yes, I have. Listen, Lona.
Lona: And yet you wrote to me that an unconquerable passion for Betty
had overcome you--invoked my magnanimity--begged me, for Betty's sake,
to hold my tongue about all that had been between us.
Bernick: I had to, I tell you.
Lona: Now, by Heaven, I don't regret that I forgot myself as I did that
time--
Bernick: Let me tell you the plain truth of how things stood with me
then. My mother, as you remember, was at the head of the business, but
she was absolutely without any business ability whatever. I was
hurriedly summoned home from Paris; times were critical, and they
relied on me to set things straight. What did I find? I found--and you
must keep this a profound secret--a house on the brink of ruin. Yes--as
good as on the brink of ruin, this old respected house which had seen
three generations of us. What else could I--the son, the only son--do
than look about for some means of saving it?
Lona: And so you saved the house of Bernick at the cost of a woman.
Bernick: You know quite well that Betty was in love with me.
Lona: But what about me?
Bernick: Believe me, Lona, you would never have been happy with me.
Lona: Was it out of consideration for my happiness that you sacrificed
me?
Bernick: Do you suppose I acted as I did from selfish motives? If I had
stood alone then, I would have begun all over again with cheerful
courage. But you do not understand how the life of a man of business,
with his tremendous responsibilities, is bound up with that of the
business which falls to his inheritance. Do you realise that the
prosperity or the ruin of hundreds--of thousands--depends on him? Can
you not take into consideration the fact that the whole community in
which both you and I were born would have been affected to the most
dangerous extent if the house of Bernick had gone to smash?
Lon: Then is it for the sake of the community that you have maintained
your position these fifteen years upon a lie?
Bernick: Upon a lie?
Lona: What does Betty know of all this...that underlies her union with
you?
Bernick: Do you suppose that I would hurt her feelings to no purpose by
disclosing the truth?
Lona: To no purpose, you say? Well, well--You are a man of business;
you ought to understand what is to the purpose. But listen to me,
Karsten--I am going to speak the plain truth now. Tell me, are you
really happy?
Bernick: In my family life, do you mean?
Lona: Yes.
Bernick: I am, Lona. You have not been a self-sacrificing friend to me
in vain. I can honestly say that I have grown happier every year. Betty
is good and willing; and if I were to tell you how, in the course of
years, she has learned to model her character on the lines of my own--
Lona: Hm!
Bernick: At first, of course, she had a whole lot of romantic notions
about love; she could not reconcile herself to the idea that, little by
little, it must change into a quiet comradeship.
Lona: But now she is quite reconciled to that?
Bernick: Absolutely. As you can imagine, daily intercourse with me has
had no small share in developing her character. Every one, in their
degree, has to learn to lower their own pretensions, if they are to
live worthily of the community to which they belong. And Betty, in her
turn, has gradually learned to understand this; and that is why our
home is now a model to our fellow citizens.
Lona: But your fellow citizens know nothing about the lie?
Bernick: The lie?
Lona: Yes--the lie you have persisted in for these fifteen years.
Bernick: Do you mean to say that you call that--?
Lona: I call it a lie--a threefold lie: first of all, there is the lie
towards me; then, the lie towards Betty; and then, the lie towards
Johan.
Bernick: Betty has never asked me to speak.
Lona: Because she has known nothing.
Bernick: And you will not demand it--out of consideration for her.
Lona: Oh, no--I shall manage to put up with their gibes well enough; I
have broad shoulders.
Bernick: And Johan will not demand it either; he has promised me that.
Lona: But you yourself, Karsten? Do you feel within yourself no impulse
urging you to shake yourself free of this lie?
Bernick: Do you suppose that of my own free will I would sacrifice my
family happiness and my position in the world?
Lona: What right have you to the position you hold?
Bernick: Every day during these fifteen years I have earned some little
right to it--by my conduct, and by what I have achieved by my work.
Lona: True, you have achieved a great deal by your work, for yourself
as well as for others. You are the richest and most influential man in
the town; nobody in it dares do otherwise than defer to your will,
because you are looked upon as a man without spot or blemish; your home
is regarded as a model home, and your conduct as a model of conduct.
But all this grandeur, and you with it, is founded on a treacherous
morass. A moment may come and a word may be spoken, when you and all
your grandeur will be engulfed in the morass, if you do not save
yourself in time.
Bernick: Lona--what is your object in coming here?
Lona: I want to help you to get firm ground under your feet, Karsten.
Bernick: Revenge!--you want to revenge yourself! I suspected it. But
you won't succeed! There is only one person here that can speak with
authority, and he will be silent.
Lona: You mean Johan?
Bernick: Yes, Johan. If any one else accuses me, I shall deny
everything. If any one tries to crush me, I shall fight for my life.
But you will never succeed in that, let me tell you! The one who could
strike me down will say nothing--and is going away.
(RUMMEL and VIGELAND come in from the right.)
Rummel: Good morning, my dear Bernick, good morning. You must come up
with us to the Commercial Association. There is a meeting about the
railway scheme, you know.
Bernick: I cannot. It is impossible just now. |
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