Hedda Gabler - Henrik Ibsen (books to read for beginners .txt) 📗
- Author: Henrik Ibsen
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dearest Hedda, I mustn’t, I really mustn’t.
Hedda
You must not?
Tesman
No—for you can imagine what a state of despair he will be in when he wakens and misses the manuscript. He has no copy of it, you must know! He told me so.
Hedda
Looking searchingly at him. Can such a thing not be reproduced? Written over again?
Tesman
No, I don’t think that would be possible. For the inspiration, you see—
Hedda
Yes, yes—I suppose it depends on that—Lightly. But, by the by—here is a letter for you.
Tesman
Fancy—!
Hedda
Handing it to him. It came early this morning.
Tesman
It’s from Aunt Julia! What can it be? He lays the packet on the other footstool, opens the letter, runs his eye through it, and jumps up. Oh, Hedda—she says that poor Aunt Rina is dying!
Hedda
Well, we were prepared for that.
Tesman
And that if I want to see her again, I must make haste. I’ll run in to them at once.
Hedda
Suppressing a smile. Will you run?
Tesman
Oh, my dearest Hedda—if you could only make up your mind to come with me! Just think!
Hedda
Rises and says wearily, repelling the idea. No, no don’t ask me. I will not look upon sickness and death. I loathe all sorts of ugliness.
Tesman
Well, well, then—! Bustling around. My hat—? My overcoat—? Oh, in the hall—. I do hope I mayn’t come too late, Hedda! Eh?
Hedda
Oh, if you run—Berta appears at the hall door.
Berta
Judge Brack is at the door, and wishes to know if he may come in.
Tesman
At this time! No, I can’t possibly see him.
Hedda
But I can. To Berta. Ask Judge Brack to come in. Berta goes out.
Hedda
Quickly, whispering. The parcel, Tesman!
She snatches it up from the stool.
Tesman
Yes, give it to me!
Hedda
No, no, I will keep it till you come back.
She goes to the writing table and places it in the bookcase. Tesman stands in a flurry of haste, and cannot get his gloves on.
Judge Brack enters from the hall.
Hedda
Nodding to him. You are an early bird, I must say.
Brack
Yes, don’t you think so! To Tesman. Are you on the move, too?
Tesman
Yes, I must rush of to my aunts’. Fancy—the invalid one is lying at death’s door, poor creature.
Brack
Dear me, is she indeed? Then on no account let me detain you. At such a critical moment—
Tesman
Yes, I must really rush—Goodbye! Goodbye!
He hastens out by the hall door.
Hedda
Approaching. You seem to have made a particularly lively night of it at your rooms, Judge Brack.
Brack
I assure you I have not had my clothes off, Mrs. Hedda.
Hedda
Not you, either?
Brack
No, as you may see. But what has Tesman been telling you of the night’s adventures?
Hedda
Oh, some tiresome story. Only that they went and had coffee somewhere or other.
Brack
I have heard about that coffee party already. Eilert Lövborg was not with them, I fancy?
Hedda
No, they had taken him home before that.
Brack
Tesman too?
Hedda
No, but some of the others, he said.
Brack
Smiling. George Tesman is really an ingenuous creature, Mrs. Hedda.
Hedda
Yes, heaven knows he is. Then is there something behind all this?
Brack
Yes, perhaps there may be.
Hedda
Well then, sit down, my dear Judge, and tell your story in comfort.
She seats herself to the left of the table. Brack sits near her, at the long side of the table.
Hedda
Now then?
Brack
I had special reasons for keeping track of my guests—last night.
Hedda
Of Eilert Lövborg among the rest, perhaps?
Brack
Frankly, yes.
Hedda
Now you make me really curious—
Brack
Do you know where he and one or two of the others finished the night, Mrs. Hedda?
Hedda
If it is not quite unmentionable, tell me.
Brack
Oh no, it’s not at all unmentionable. Well, they put in an appearance at a particularly animated soirée.
Hedda
Of the lively kind?
Brack
Of the very liveliest—
Hedda
Tell me more of this, Judge Brack—
Brack
Lövborg, as well as the others, had been invited in advance. I knew all about it. But he had declined the invitation; for now, as you know, he has become a new man.
Hedda
Up at the Elvsteds’, yes. But he went after all, then?
Brack
Well, you see, Mrs. Hedda—unhappily the spirit moved him at my rooms last evening—
Hedda
Yes, I hear he found inspiration.
Brack
Pretty violent inspiration. Well, I fancy that altered his purpose; for we menfolk are unfortunately not always so firm in our principles as we ought to be.
Hedda
Oh, I am sure you are an exception, Judge Brack. But as to Lövborg—?
Brack
To make a long story short—he landed at last in Mademoiselle Diana’s rooms.
Hedda
Mademoiselle Diana’s?
Brack
It was Mademoiselle Diana that was giving the soirée, to a select circle of her admirers and her lady friends.
Hedda
Is she a red-haired woman?
Brack
Precisely.
Hedda
A sort of a—singer?
Brack
Oh yes—in her leisure moments. And moreover a mighty huntress—of men—Mrs. Hedda. You have no doubt heard of her. Eilert Lövborg was one of her most enthusiastic protectors—in the days of his glory.
Hedda
And how did all this end?
Brack
Far from amicably, it appears. After a most tender meeting, they seem to have come to blows—
Hedda
Lövborg and she?
Brack
Yes. He accused her or her friends of having robbed him. He declared that his pocketbook had disappeared—and other things as well. In short, he seems to have made a furious disturbance.
Hedda
And what came of it all?
Brack
It came to a general scrimmage, in which the ladies as well as the gentlemen took part. Fortunately the police at last appeared on the scene.
Hedda
The police too?
Brack
Yes. I fancy it will prove a costly frolic for Eilert Lövborg, crazy being that he is.
Hedda
How so?
Brack
He seems to have made a violent resistance—to have hit one of the constables on the head and torn the coat off his back. So they had to march him off to the police station with the rest.
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