bookssland.com Ā» Drama Ā» Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen (most read books in the world of all time .TXT) šŸ“—

Book online Ā«Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen (most read books in the world of all time .TXT) šŸ“—Ā». Author Henrik Ibsen



1 ... 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Go to page:
any more about it to-day. I darenā€™t think of it for long together. [Goes up the room.] Get me something to drink, mother.

MRS. ALVING. To drink? What do you want to drink now?

OSWALD. Oh, anything you like. You have some cold punch in the house.

MRS. ALVING. Yes, but my dear Oswaldā€”

OSWALD. Donā€™t refuse me, mother. Do be kind, now! I must have something to wash down all these gnawing thoughts. [Goes into the conservatory.] And thenā€”itā€™s so dark here! [MRS. ALVING pulls a bell-rope on the right.] And this ceaseless rain! It may go on week after week, for months together. Never to get a glimpse of the sun! I canā€™t recollect ever having seen the sun shine all the times Iā€™ve been at home.

MRS. ALVING. Oswaldā€”you are thinking of going away from me.

OSWALD. Hā€™mā€”[Drawing a heavy breath.]ā€”Iā€™m not thinking of anything. I cannot think of anything! [In a low voice.] I let thinking alone.

REGINA. [From the dining-room.] Did you ring, maā€™am?

MRS. ALVING. Yes; let us have the lamp in.

REGINA. Yes, maā€™am. Itā€™s ready lighted. [Goes out.]

MRS. ALVING. [Goes across to OSWALD.] Oswald, be frank with me.

OSWALD. Well, so I am, mother. [Goes to the table.] I think I have told you enough.

[REGINA brings the lamp and sets it upon the table.]

MRS. ALVING. Regina, you may bring us a small bottle of champagne.

REGINA. Very well, maā€™am. [Goes out.]

OSWALD. [Puts his arm round MRS. ALVINGā€™s neck.] Thatā€™s just what I wanted. I knew mother wouldnā€™t let her boy go thirsty.

MRS. ALVING. My own, poor, darling Oswald; how could I deny you anything now?

OSWALD. [Eagerly.] Is that true, mother? Do you mean it?

MRS. ALVING. How? What?

OSWALD. That you couldnā€™t deny me anything.

MRS. ALVING. My dear Oswaldā€”

OSWALD. Hush!

REGINA. [Brings a tray with a half-bottle of champagne and two glasses, which she sets on the table.] Shall I open it?

OSWALD. No, thanks. I will do it myself.

[REGINA goes out again.]

MRS. ALVING. [Sits down by the table.] What was it you meantā€”that I musnā€™t deny you?

OSWALD. [Busy opening the bottle.] First let us have a glassā€”or two.

[The cork pops; he pours wine into one glass, and is about to pour it into the other.]

MRS. ALVING. [Holding her hand over it.] Thanks; not for me.

OSWALD. Oh! wonā€™t you? Then I will!

[He empties the glass, fells, and empties it again; then he sits down by the table.]

MRS. ALVING. [In expectancy.] Well?

OSWALD. [Without looking at her.] Tell meā€”I thought you and Pastor Manders seemed so oddā€”so quietā€”at dinner to-day.

MRS. ALVING. Did you notice it?

OSWALD. Yes. Hā€™mā€”[After a short silence.] Tell me: what do you think of Regina?

MRS. ALVING. What do I think?

OSWALD. Yes; isnā€™t she splendid?

MRS. ALVING. My dear Oswald, you donā€™t know her as I doā€”

OSWALD. Well?

MRS. ALVING. Regina, unfortunately, was allowed to stay at home too long. I ought to have taken her earlier into my house.

OSWALD. Yes, but isnā€™t she splendid to look at, mother? [He fills his glass.]

MRS. ALVING. Regina has many serious faultsā€”

OSWALD. Oh, what does that matter? [He drinks again.]

MRS. ALVING. But I am fond of her, nevertheless, and I am responsible for her. I wouldnā€™t for all the world have any harm happen to her.

OSWALD. [Springs up.] Mother, Regina is my only salvation!

MRS. ALVING. [Rising.] What do you mean by that?

OSWALD. I cannot go on bearing all this anguish of soul alone.

MRS. ALVING. Have you not your mother to share it with you?

OSWALD. Yes; thatā€™s what I thought; and so I came home to you. But that will not do. I see it wonā€™t do. I cannot endure my life here.

MRS. ALVING. Oswald!

OSWALD. I must live differently, mother. That is why I must leave you. I will not have you looking on at it.

MRS. ALVING. My unhappy boy! But, Oswald, while you are so ill as thisā€”

OSWALD. If it were only the illness, I should stay with you, mother, you may be sure; for you are the best friend I have in the world.

MRS. ALVING. Yes, indeed I am, Oswald; am I not?

OSWALD. [Wanders restlessly about.] But itā€™s all the torment, the gnawing remorseā€”and then, the great, killing dread. Ohā€”that awful dread!

MRS. ALVING. [Walking after him.] Dread? What dread? What do you mean?

OSWALD. Oh, you mustnā€™t ask me any more. I donā€™t know. I canā€™t describe it.

MRS. ALVING. [Goes over to the right and pulls the bell.]

OSWALD. What is it you want?

MRS. ALVING. I want my boy to be happyā€”that is what I want. He shaā€™nā€™t go on brooding over things [To REGINA, who appears at the door:] More champagneā€”a large bottle. [REGINA goes.]

OSWALD. Mother!

MRS. ALVING. Do you think we donā€™t know how to live here at home?

OSWALD. Isnā€™t she splendid to look at? How beautifully sheā€™s built! And so thoroughly healthy!

MRS. ALVING. [Sits by the table.] Sit down, Oswald; let us talk quietly together.

OSWALD. [Sits.] I daresay you donā€™t know, mother, that I owe Regina some reparation.

MRS. ALVING. You!

OSWALD. For a bit of thoughtlessness, or whatever you like to call itā€”very innocent, at any rate. When I was home last timeā€”

MRS. ALVING. Well?

OSWALD. She used often to ask me about Paris, and I used to tell her one thing and another. Then I recollect I happened to say to her one day, ā€œShouldnā€™t you like to go there yourself?ā€

MRS. ALVING. Well?

OSWALD. I saw her face flush, and then she said, ā€œYes, I should like it of all things.ā€ ā€œAh, well,ā€ I replied, ā€œit might perhaps be managedā€ā€”or something like that.

MRS. ALVING. And then?

OSWALD. Of course I had forgotten all about it; but the day before yesterday I happened to ask her whether she was glad I was to stay at home so longā€”

MRS. ALVING. Yes?

OSWALD. And then she gave me such a strange look, and asked, ā€œBut whatā€™s to become of my trip to Paris?ā€

MRS. ALVING. Her trip!

OSWALD. And so it came out that she had taken the thing seriously; that she had been thinking of me the whole time, and had set to work to learn Frenchā€”

MRS. ALVING. So that was whyā€”!

OSWALD. Motherā€”when I saw that fresh, lovely, splendid girl standing there before meā€”till then I had hardly noticed herā€”but when she stood there as though with open arms ready to receive meā€”

MRS. ALVING. Oswald!

OSWALD. ā€”then it flashed upon me that in her lay my salvation; for I saw that she was full of the joy of life.

MRS. ALVING. [Starts.] The joy of life? Can there be salvation in that?

REGINA. [From the dining room, with a bottle of champagne.] Iā€™m sorry to have been so long, but I had to go to the cellar. [Places the bottle on the table.]

OSWALD. And now bring another glass.

REGINA. [Looks at him in surprise.] There is Mrs. Alvingā€™s glass, Mr. Alving.

OSWALD. Yes, but bring one for yourself, Regina. [REGINA starts and gives a lightning-like side glance at MRS. ALVING.] Why do you wait?

REGINA. [Softly and hesitatingly.] Is it Mrs. Alvingā€™s wish?

MRS. ALVING. Bring the glass, Regina.

[REGINA goes out into the dining-room.]

OSWALD. [Follows her with his eyes.] Have you noticed how she walks?ā€”so firmly and lightly!

MRS. ALVING. This can never be, Oswald!

OSWALD. Itā€™s a settled thing. Canā€™t you see that? Itā€™s no use saying anything against it.

[REGINA enters with an empty glass, which she keeps in her hand.]

OSWALD. Sit down, Regina.

[REGINA looks inquiringly at MRS. ALVING.]

MRS. ALVING. Sit down. [REGINA sits on a chair by the dining room door, still holding the empty glass in her hand.] Oswaldā€”what were you saying about the joy of life?

OSWALD. Ah, the joy of life, motherā€”thatā€™s a thing you donā€™t know much about in these parts. I have never felt it here.

MRS. ALVING. Not when you are with me?

OSWALD. Not when Iā€™m at home. But you donā€™t understand that.

MRS. ALVING. Yes, yes; I think I almost understand itā€”now.

OSWALD. And then, too, the joy of work! At bottom, itā€™s the same thing. But that, too, you know nothing about.

MRS. ALVING. Perhaps you are right. Tell me more about it, Oswald.

OSWALD. I only mean that here people are brought up to believe that work is a curse and a punishment for sin, and that life is something miserable, something; it would be best to have done with, the sooner the better.

MRS. ALVING. ā€œA vale of tears,ā€ yes; and we certainly do our best to make it one.

OSWALD. But in the great world people wonā€™t hear of such things. There, nobody really believes such doctrines any longer. There, you feel it a positive bliss and ecstasy merely to draw the breath of life. Mother, have you noticed that everything I have painted has turned upon the joy of life?ā€”always, always upon the joy of life?ā€” light and sunshine and glorious air-and faces radiant with happiness. That is why Iā€™m afraid of remaining at home with you.

MRS. ALVING. Afraid? What are you afraid of here, with me?

OSWALD. Iā€™m afraid lest all my instincts should be warped into ugliness.

MRS. ALVING. [Looks steadily at him.] Do you think that is what would happen?

OSWALD. I know it. You may live the same life here as there, and yet it wonā€™t be the same life.

MRS. ALVING. [Who has been listening eagerly, rises, her eyes big with thought, and says:] Now I see the sequence of things.

OSWALD. What is it you see?

MRS. ALVING. I see it now for the first time. And now I can speak.

OSWALD. [Rising.] Mother, I donā€™t understand you.

REGINA. [Who has also risen.] Perhaps I ought to go?

MRS. ALVING. No. Stay here. Now I can speak. Now, my boy, you shall know the whole truth. And then you can choose. Oswald! Regina!

OSWALD. Hush! The Pastorā€”

MANDERS. [Enters by the hall door.] There! We have had a most edifying time down there.

OSWALD. So have we.

MANDERS. We must stand by Engstrand and his Sailorsā€™ Home. Regina must go to him and help himā€”

REGINA. No thank you, sir.

MANDERS. [Noticing her for the first tine.] Whatā€”? You here? And with a glass in your hand!

REGINA. [Hastily putting the glass down.] Pardon!

OSWALD. Regina is going with me, Mr. Manders.

MANDERS. Going! With you!

OSWALD. Yes; as my wifeā€”if she wishes it.

MANDERS. But, merciful Godā€”!

REGINA. I canā€™t help it, sir.

OSWALD. Or sheā€™ll stay here, if I stay.

REGINA. [Involuntarily.] Here!

MANDERS. I am thunderstruck at your conduct, Mrs. Alving.

MRS. ALVING. They will do neither one thing nor the other; for now I can speak out plainly.

MANDERS. You surely will not do that! No, no, no!

MRS. ALVING. Yes, I can speak and I will. And no ideals shall suffer after all.

OSWALD. Motherā€”what is it you are hiding from me?

REGINA. [Listening.] Oh, maā€™am, listen! Donā€™t you hear shouts outside. [She goes into the conservatory and looks out.]

OSWALD. [At the window on the left.] Whatā€™s going on? Where does that light come from?

REGINA. [Cries out.] The Orphanage is on fire!

MRS. ALVING. [Rushing to the window.] On fire!

MANDERS. On fire! Impossible! Iā€™ve just come from there.

OSWALD. Whereā€™s my hat? Oh, never mind itā€”Fatherā€™s Orphanageā€”! [He rushes out through the garden door.]

MRS. ALVING. My shawl, Regina! The whole place is in a blaze!

MANDERS. Terrible! Mrs. Alving, it is a judgment upon this abode of lawlessness.

MRS. ALVING. Yes, of course. Come, Regina. [She and REGINA hasten out through the hall.]

MANDERS. [Clasps his hands together.] And we left it uninsured! [He goes out the same way.]

 

ACT THIRD.

1 ... 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Go to page:

Free e-book Ā«Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen (most read books in the world of all time .TXT) šŸ“—Ā» - read online now

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!
Add a comment