Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen (most read books in the world of all time .TXT) š
- Author: Henrik Ibsen
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[MRS. ALVING, with a shawl over her head, stands in the conservatory, looking out. REGINA, also with a shawl on, stands a little behind her.]
MRS. ALVING. The whole thing burnt!āburnt to the ground!
REGINA. The basement is still burning.
MRS. ALVING. How is it Oswald doesnāt come home? Thereās nothing to be saved.
REGINA. Should you like me to take down his hat to him?
MRS. ALVING. Has he not even got his hat on?
REGINA. [Pointing to the hall.] No; there it hangs.
MRS. ALVING. Let it be. He must come up now. I shall go and look for him myself. [She goes out through the garden door.]
MANDERS. [Comes in from the hall.] Is not Mrs. Alving here?
REGINA. She has just gone down the garden.
MANDERS. This is the most terrible night I ever went through.
REGINA. Yes; isnāt it a dreadful misfortune, sir?
MANDERS. Oh, donāt talk about it! I can hardly bear to think of it.
REGINA. How can it have happenedā?
MANDERS. Donāt ask me, Miss Engstrand! How should I know? Do you, tooā? Is it not enough that your fatherā?
REGINA. What about him?
MANDERS. Oh, he has driven me distractedā
ENGSTRAND. [Enters through the hall.] Your Reverenceā
MANDERS. [Turns round in terror.] Are you after me here, too?
ENGSTRAND. Yes, strike me dead, but I mustā! Oh, Lord! what am I saying? But this is a terrible ugly business, your Reverence.
MANDERS. [Walks to and fro.] Alas! alas!
REGINA. Whatās the matter?
ENGSTRAND. Why, it all came of this here prayer-meeting, you see. [Softly.] The birdās limed, my girl. [Aloud.] And to think it should be my doing that such a thing should be his Reverenceās doing!
MANDERS. But I assure you, Engstrandā
ENGSTRAND. There wasnāt another soul except your Reverence as ever laid a finger on the candles down there.
MANDERS. [Stops.] So you declare. But I certainly cannot recollect that I ever had a candle in my hand.
ENGSTRAND. And I saw as clear as daylight how your Reverence took the candle and snuffed it with your fingers, and threw away the snuff among the shavings.
MANDERS. And you stood and looked on?
ENGSTRAND. Yes; I saw it as plain as a pike-staff, I did.
MANDERS. Itās quite beyond my comprehension. Besides, it has never been my habit to snuff candles with my fingers.
ENGSTRAND. And terrible risky it looked, too, that it did! But is there such a deal of harm done after all, your Reverence?
MANDERS. [Walks restlessly to and fro.] Oh, donāt ask me!
ENGSTRAND. [Walks with him.] And your Reverence hadnāt insured it, neither?
MANDERS. [Continuing to walk up and down.] No, no, no; I have told you so.
ENGSTRAND. [Following him.] Not insured! And then to go straight away down and set light to the whole thing! Lord, Lord, what a misfortune!
MANDERS. [Wipes the sweat from his forehead.] Ay, you may well say that, Engstrand.
ENGSTRAND. And to think that such a thing should happen to a benevolent Institution, that was to have been a blessing both to town and country, as the saying goes! The newspapers wonāt be for handling your Reverence very gently, I expect.
MANDERS. No; that is just what I am thinking of. That is almost the worst of the whole matter. All the malignant attacks and imputationsā! Oh, it makes me shudder to think of it!
MRS. ALVING. [Comes in from the garden.] He is not to be persuaded to leave the fire.
MANDERS. Ah, there you are, Mrs. Alving.
MRS. ALVING. So you have escaped your Inaugural Address, Pastor Manders.
MANDERS. Oh, I should so gladlyā
MRS. ALVING. [In an undertone.] It is all for the best. That Orphanage would have done no one any good.
MANDERS. Do you think not?
MRS. ALVING. Do you think it would?
MANDERS. It is a terrible misfortune, all the same.
MRS. ALVING. Let us speak of it plainly, as a matter of business.ā Are you waiting for Mr. Manders, Engstrand?
ENGSTRAND. [At the hall door.] Thatās just what Iām a-doing of, maāam.
MRS. ALVING. Then sit down meanwhile.
ENGSTRAND. Thank you, maāam; Iād as soon stand.
MRS. ALVING. [To MANDERS.] I suppose you are going by the steamer?
MANDERS. Yes; it starts in an hour.
MRS. ALVING. Then be so good as to take all the papers with you. I wonāt hear another word about this affair. I have other things to think ofā
MANDERS. Mrs. Alvingā
MRS. ALVING. Later on I shall send you a Power of Attorney to settle everything as you please.
MANDERS. That I will very readily undertake. The original destination of the endowment must now be completely changed, alas!
MRS. ALVING. Of course it must.
MANDERS. I think, first of all, I shall arrange that the Solvik property shall pass to the parish. The land is by no means without value. It can always be turned to account for some purpose or other. And the interest of the money in the Bank I could, perhaps, best apply for the benefit of some undertaking of acknowledged value to the town.
MRS. ALVING. Do just as you please. The whole matter is now completely indifferent to me.
ENGSTRAND. Give a thought to my Sailorsā Home, your Reverence.
MANDERS. Upon my word, that is not a bad suggestion. That must be considered.
ENGSTRAND. Oh, devil take consideringāLord forgive me!
MANDERS. [With a sigh.] And unfortunately I cannot tell how long I shall be able to retain control of these thingsāwhether public opinion may not compel me to retire. It entirely depends upon the result of the official inquiry into the fireā
MRS. ALVING. What are you talking about?
MANDERS. And the result can by no means be foretold.
ENGSTRAND. [Comes close to him.] Ay, but it can though. For here stands old Jacob Engstrand.
MANDERS. Well well, butā?
ENGSTRAND. [More softy.] And Jacob Engstrand isnāt the man to desert a noble benefactor in the hour of need, as the saying goes.
MANDERS. Yes, but my good fellowāhowā?
ENGSTRAND. Jacob Engstrand may be likened to a sort of a guardian angel, he may, your Reverence.
MANDERS. No, no; I really cannot accept that.
ENGSTRAND. Oh, thatāll be the way of it, all the same. I know a man as has taken othersā sins upon himself before now, I do.
MANDERS. Jacob! [Wrings his hand.] Yours is a rare nature. Well, you shall be helped with your Sailorsā Home. That you may rely upon. [ENGSTRAND tries to thank him, but cannot for emotion.]
MANDERS. [Hangs his travelling-bag over his shoulder.] And now let us set out. We two will go together.
ENGSTRAND. [At the dining-room door, softly to REGINA.] You come along too, my lass. You shall live as snug as the yolk in an egg.
REGINA. [Tosses her head.] Merci! [She goes out into the hall and fetches MANDERSā overcoat.]
MANDERS. Good-bye, Mrs. Alving! and may the spirit of Law and Order descend upon this house, and that quickly.
MRS. ALVING. Good-bye, Pastor Manders. [She goes up towards the conservatory, as she sees OSWALD coming in through the garden door.]
ENGSTRAND. [While he and REGINA help MANGERS to get his coat on.] Good-bye, my child. And if any trouble should come to you, you know where Jacob Engstrand is to be found. [Softly.] Little Harbour Street, hāmā! [To MRS. ALVING and OSWALD.] And the refuge for wandering mariners shall be called āChamberlain Alvingās Home,ā that it shall! And if so be as Iām spared to carry on that house in my own way, I make so bold as to promise that it shall be worthy of the Chamberlainās memory.
MANDERS. [In the doorway.] Hāmāhām!āCome along, my dear Enstrand. Good-bye! Good-bye! [He and ENGSTRAND go out through the hall.]
OSWALD. [Goes towards the table.] What house was he talking about?
MRS. ALVING. Oh, a kind of Home that he and Pastor Manders want to set up.
OSWALD. It will burn down like the other.
MRS. ALVING. What makes you think so?
OSWALD. Everything will burn. All that recalls fatherās memory is doomed. Here am I, too, burning down. [REGINA starts and looks at him.]
MRS. ALVING. Oswald! You oughtnāt to have remained so long down there, my poor boy.
OSWALD. [Sits down by the table.] I almost think you are right.
MRS. ALVING. Let me dry your face, Oswald; you are quite wet. [She dries his face with her pocket-handkerchief.]
OSWALD. [Stares indifferently in front of him.] Thanks, mother.
MRS. ALVING. Are you not tired, Oswald? Should you like to sleep?
OSWALD. [Nervously.] No, noānot to sleep! I never sleep. I only pretend to. [Sadly.] That will come soon enough.
MRS. ALVING. [Looking sorrowfully at him.] Yes, you really are ill, my blessed boy.
REGINA. [Eagerly.] Is Mr. Alving ill?
OSWALD. [Impatiently.] Oh, do shut all the doors! This killing dreadā
MRS. ALVING. Close the doors, Regina.
[REGINA shuts them and remains standing by the hall door. MRS. ALVING takes her shawl off: REGINA does the same. MRS. ALVING draws a chair across to OSWALDāS, and sits by him.]
MRS. ALVING. There now! I am going to sit beside youā
OSWALD. Yes, do. And Regina shall stay here too. Regina shall be with me always. You will come to the rescue, Regina, wonāt you?
REGINA. I donāt understandā
MRS. ALVING. To the rescue?
OSWALD. Yesāwhen the need comes.
MRS. ALVING. Oswald, have you not your mother to come to the rescue?
OSWALD. You? [Smiles.] No, mother; that rescue you will never bring me. [Laughs sadly.] You! ha ha! [Looks earnestly at her.] Though, after all, who ought to do it if not you? [Impetuously.] Why canāt you say āthouā to me, Regina? [Note: āSige duā = Fr. tutoyer] Why doānāt you call me āOswaldā?
REGINA. [Softly.] I donāt think Mrs. Alving would like it.
MRS. ALVING. You shall have leave to, presently. And meanwhile sit over here beside us.
[REGINA seats herself demurely and hesitatingly at the other side of the table.]
MRS. ALVING. And now, my poor suffering boy, I am going to take the burden off your mindā
OSWALD. You, mother?
MRS. ALVING. āall the gnawing remorse and self-reproach you speak of.
OSWALD. And you think you can do that?
MRS. ALVING. Yes, now I can, Oswald. A little while ago you spoke of the joy of life; and at that word a new light burst for me over my life and everything connected with it.
OSWALD. [Shakes his head.] I donāt understand you.
MRS. ALVING. You ought to have known your father when he was a young lieutenant. He was brimming over with the joy of life!
OSWALD. Yes, I know he was.
MRS. ALVING. It was like a breezy day only to look at him. And what exuberant strength and vitality there was in him!
OSWALD. Wellā?
MRS. ALVING. Well then, child of joy as he wasāfor he was like a child in those daysāhe had to live at home here in a half-grown town, which had no joys to offer himāonly dissipations. He had no object in lifeāonly an official position. He had no work into which he could throw himself heart and soul; he had only business. He had not a single comrade that could realise what the joy of life meantāonly loungers and boon-companionsā
OSWALD. Motherā!
MRS. ALVING. So the inevitable happened.
OSWALD. The inevitable?
MRS. ALVING. You told me yourself, this evening, what would become of you if you stayed at home.
OSWALD. Do you mean to say that fatherā?
MRS. ALVING. Your poor father found no outlet for the overpowering joy of life that was in him. And I brought no brightness into his home.
OSWALD. Not even you?
MRS.
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