The Red Room - August Strindberg (best summer reads TXT) 📗

when the footman announced the Rev. Nathanael Skore. The latter entered hastily and hurriedly shook hands with the ladies.

“I must ask your indulgence for being so late,” he said, “but I’m a very busy man. I have to be at a meeting at Countess Fabelkrantz’s at half-past nine, and I have come straight from my work.”

“Are you in a hurry then, dear pastor?”

“Yes, my wide activities give me no leisure. Hadn’t we better begin business at once?”

The footman handed round refreshments.

“Won’t you take a cup of tea, pastor, before we begin?” asked the hostess, smarting under the unpleasantness of a small disappointment.

The pastor glanced at the tray.

“Thank you, no; I’ll take a glass of punch, if I may. I’ve made it a rule, ladies, never to differ from my fellow-creatures in externals. Everybody drinks punch; I don’t like it, but I don’t want the world to say that I’m better than anybody else; boasting is a failing which I detest. May I now begin with the proceedings?”

He sat down at the writing-table, dipped the pen into the ink and read:

“ ‘Account of the Presents received by the Administrative Committee of the Crèche Bethlehem during the month of May: Signed Eugenia Falk.’ ”

“Née, if I may ask?”

“Oh, never mind about that,” said Mrs. Falk.

“Evelyn Homan.”

“Née, if I may make so bold?”

“Von Bähr, dear pastor.”

“Antoinette Rehnhjelm.”

“Née, madame?”

“Rehnhjelm, pastor.”

“Ah! true! You married your cousin, husband dead, no children. But to continue: Presents.⁠ ⁠…”

There was a general⁠—almost general⁠—consternation.

“But won’t you sign, too, pastor?” asked Mrs. Homan.

“I dislike boasting, ladies, but if it’s your wish! Here goes!”

“Nathanael Skore.”

“Your health, pastor! Won’t you drink a glass of punch before we begin?” asked the hostess with a charming smile, which died on her lips when she looked at the pastor’s glass. It was empty; she quickly filled it.

“Thank you, Mrs. Falk, but we mustn’t be immoderate! May I begin now? Please check me by the manuscript.”

“ ‘Presents: H.M. the Queen, forty crowns. Countess Fabelkrantz, five crowns and a pair of woollen stockings. Wholesale merchant Schalin, two crowns, a packet of envelopes, six steel nibs, and a bottle of ink. Miss Amanda Libert, a bottle of eau de cologne. Miss Anna Feif, a pair of cuffs. Charlie, twopence halfpenny from his money box. Johanna Pettersson, half-dozen towels. Miss Emily Björn, a New Testament. Grocer Persson, a bag of oatmeal, a quart of potatoes, and a bottle of pickled onions. Draper Scheike, two pairs of woollen under.⁠ ⁠…’ ”

“May I ask the meeting whether all this is to be printed?” interrupted her ladyship.

“Well, of course,” answered the pastor.

“Then I must resign my post on the Administrative Committee.”

“But do you imagine, Lady Rehnhjelm, that the society could exist on voluntary contributions if the names of the donors did not appear in print? Impossible!”

“Is charity to shed its radiance on petty vanity?”

“No, no! Don’t say that! Vanity is an evil, certainly; we turn the evil into good by transforming it into charity. Isn’t that praiseworthy?”

“Oh, yes! But we mustn’t call petty things by high-sounding names. If we do, we are boastful!”

“You are very severe, Lady Rehnhjelm! Scripture exhorts us to pardon others; you should pardon their vanity.”

“I’m ready to pardon it in others but not in myself. It’s pardonable and good that ladies who have nothing else to do should find pleasure in charity; but it’s disgraceful if they call it a good action seeing that it is only their pleasure and a greater pleasure than most others on account of the wide publicity given to it by printing.”

“Oh!” began Mrs. Falk, with the full force of her terrible logic, “do you mean to say that doing good is disgraceful, Lady Rehnhjelm?”

“No, my dear; but in my opinion it is disgraceful to print the fact that one has given a pair of woollen stockings.⁠ ⁠…”

“But to give a pair of woollen stockings is doing good; therefore it must be disgraceful to do good.⁠ ⁠…”

“No, but to have it printed, my child! You aren’t listening to what I’m saying,” replied her ladyship, reproving her stubborn hostess who would not give in, but went on:

“I see! It’s the printing which is disgraceful! But the Bible is printed, consequently it is disgraceful to print the Bible.⁠ ⁠…”

“Please go on, pastor,” interrupted her ladyship, a little annoyed by the tactless manner in which her hostess defended her inanities; but the latter did not yet count the battle as lost.

“Do you think it beneath your dignity, Lady Rehnhjelm, to exchange views with so unimportant a person as I am⁠ ⁠… ?”

“No, my child; but keep your views to yourself; I don’t want to exchange.”

“Do you call this discussing a question, may I ask? Won’t you enlighten us on the point, pastor? Can it be called discussing a question if one party refuses to reply to the argument of the other?”

“Of course it can’t, my dear Mrs. Falk,” replied the pastor, with an ambiguous smile, which nearly reduced Mrs. Falk to tears. “But don’t let us spoil a splendid enterprise by quarrelling over trifles, ladies! We’ll postpone the printing until the funds are larger. We have seen the young enterprise shooting up like a seed and we have seen that powerful hands are willing to tend the young plant; but we must think of the future. The Society has a fund; the fund must be administered; in other words, we must look round for an administrator, a practical man, able to transform these presents into hard cash; we must elect a treasurer. I’m afraid we shall not find one without a sacrifice of money⁠—does one ever get anything without such a sacrifice? Have the ladies anybody in view?”

No, the ladies had not thought of it.

“Then may I propose a young man of steady character, who in my opinion is just the right person for the work? Has the Administrative Committee any objection to appointing secretary Ekelund to the post of treasurer at a suitable salary?”

The ladies had no objection to make, especially as the young man was recommended by the Rev. Nathanael Skore; and the Pastor felt the more qualified to recommend him