Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (134 page)

LUNDESTAD
[[enters from the back]
]
Ah, here we are. Good-morning, gentlemen.

STENSGARD.
I have news for you, Mr. Lundestad! Do you know who the Chamberlain is voting for?

FIELDBO.
Silence! It’s dishonourable of you.

STENSGARD.
What do I care? He is voting for the Sheriff and the Provost.

LUNDESTAD.
Oh, that was to be expected. You went and ruined your chances with him — though I implored you to play your cards neatly.

STENSGARD.
I shall play them neatly enough — in future.

FIELDBO.
Take care — two can play at that game.
[Goes out to the right.]

STENSGARD.
That fellow has something up his sleeve. Have you any idea what it can be?

LUNDESTAD.
No, I haven’t. But, by-the-bye, I see you are flourishing in the paper to-day.

STENSGARD.
I?

LUNDESTAD.
Yes, with a nice little epitaph on me.

STENSGARD.
Oh, that’s that beast Aslaksen, of course —

LUNDESTAD.
Your attack on the Chamberlain is in too.

STENSGARD.
I don’t know anything about that. If it’s to be war between the Chamberlain and me, I have sharper weapons.

LUNDESTAD.
Indeed!

STENSGARD.
Have you ever seen this bill? Look at it. Is it good?

LUNDESTAD.
Good, you say? This bill here?

STENSGARD.
Yes; look closely at it.

HEIRE
[enters from the right.]
Why, what the deuce can be the meaning of — Ah, how interesting! Do remain as you are, gentlemen, I beg! Do you know what you irresistibly remind me of? Of a summer night in the Far North.

LUNDESTAD.
That’s a curious simile.

HEIRE.
A very obvious one — the setting and the rising sun together. Delightful, delightful! But, talking of that, what the deuce is the matter outside there? Your fellow citizens are scuttling about like frightened fowls, cackling and crowing and not knowing what perch to settle on.

STENSGARD.
Well, it’s an occasion of great importance.

HEIRE.
Oh, you and your importance! No, it’s something quite different, my dear friends. There are whispers of a great failure; a bankruptcy — oh, not political, Mr. Lundestad; I don’t mean that!

STENSGARD.
A bankruptcy?

HEIRE.
Hee-hee! That puts life into our legal friend. Yes, a bankruptcy; some one is on his last legs; the axe is laid to the root of the tree — I say no more! Two strange gentlemen have been seen driving past; but where to? To whose address? Do you know anything, Mr. Lundestad?

LUNDESTAD.
I know how to hold my tongue, Mr. Heire.

HEIRE.
Of course; you are a statesman, a diplomatist. But I must be off and find out all I can about it. It’s such sport with these heroes of finance: they are like beads on a string — when one slips off, all the rest follow.
[Goes out by the back.]

STENSGARD.
Is there any truth in all this gossip?

LUNDESTAD.
You showed me a bill; I thought I saw young Mr. Bratsberg’s name upon it?

STENSGARD.
The Chamberlain’s too.

LUNDESTAD.
And you asked me if it was good?

STENSGARD.
Yes; just look at it.

LUNDESTAD.
It’s perhaps not so good as it might be.

STENSGARD.
You see it then?

LUNDESTAD.
What?

STENSGARD.
That it is a forgery.

LUNDESTAD.
A forgery? Forged bills are often the safest; people redeem them first.

STENSGARD.
But what do you think? Isn’t it a forgery?

LUNDESTAD.
I don’t much like the look of it.

STENSGARD.
How so?

LUNDESTAD.
I’m afraid there are too many of these about, Mr. Stensgard.

STENSGARD.
What! It’s not possible that — ?

LUNDESTAD.
If young Mr. Bratsberg slips off the string, those nearest him are only too likely to follow.

STENSGARD
[seizes his arm.]
What do you mean by those nearest him?

LUNDESTAD.
Who can be nearer than father and son?

STENSGARD.
Why, good God — !

LUNDESTAD.
Remember, I say nothing! It was Daniel Heire that was talking of failure and bankruptcy and —

STENSGARD.
This is a thunderbolt to me.

LUNDESTAD.
Oh, many a man that seemed solid enough has gone to the wall before now. Perhaps he’s too good- natured; goes and backs bills; ready money isn’t always to be had; property has to be sold for an old song —

STENSGARD.
And of course this falls on — falls on the children as well.

LUNDESTAD.
Yes, I’m heartily grieved for Miss Bratsberg. She didn’t get much from her mother; and heaven knows if even the little she has is secured.

STENSGARD.
Oh, now I understand Fieldbo’s advice! He’s a true friend, after all.

LUNDESTAD.
What did Doctor Fieldbo say?

STENSGARD.
He was too loyal to say anything, but I understand him all the same. And now I understand you too, Mr. Lundestad.

LUNDESTAD.
Have you not understood me before?

STENSGARD.
Not thoroughly. I forget the proverb about the rats and the sinking ship.

LUNDESTAD.
That’s not a very nice way to put it. But what’s the matter with you? You look quite ill. Good God, I haven’t gone and blasted your hopes, have I?

STENSGARD.
 
— How do you mean?

LUNDESTAD.
Yes, yes — I see it all. Old fool that I am! My dear Mr. Stensgard, if you really love the girl, what does it matter whether she is rich or poor?

STENSGARD.
Matter? No, of course —

LUNDESTAD.
Good Lord, we all know happiness isn’t a matter of money.

STENSGARD.
Of course not.

LUNDESTAD.
And with industry and determination you’ll soon be on your feet again. Don’t let poverty frighten you. I know what love is; I went into all that in my young days, A happy home; a faithful woman — ! My dear young friend, beware how you take any step that may involve you in life-long self-reproach.

STENSGARD.
But what will become of your plans?

LUNDESTAD.
Oh, they must go as best they can. I couldn’t think of demanding the sacrifice of your heart!

STENSGARD.
But I will make the sacrifice. Yes, I will show you that I have the strength for it. Think of the longing multitude out there: they claim me with a sort of voiceless pathos. I cannot, I dare not, fail them!

LUNDESTAD.
Yes, but the stake in the district — ?

STENSGARD.
I shall take measures to fulfil the demands of my fellow citizens in that respect, Mr. Lundestad. I see a way, a new way; and I will follow it up. I renounce the happiness of toiling in obscurity for the woman I love. I say to my fellow countrymen: “Here I am — take me!”

LUNDESTAD
[looks at him in quiet admiration and presses his hand.]
You are indeed a man of rare gifts, Mr. Stensgard.
[Goes out to the right.]
[STENSGARD paces the room several times, now stopping for a moment at the window, now running his fingers through his hair. Presently BASTIAN MONSEN enters from the back.]

BASTIAN.
Here I am, my dear friend.

STENSGARD.
Where have you come from?

BASTIAN.
From the Nation.

STENSGARD.
The Nation? What does that mean?

BASTIAN.
Don’t you know what the Nation means? It means the People; the common people; those who have nothing, and are nothing; those who lie chained —

STENSGARD.
What monkey-tricks are these, I should like to know?

BASTIAN.
Monkey-tricks?

STENSGARD.
I have noticed lately that you go about mimicking me; you imitate even my clothes and my hand- writing. Be kind enough to stop that.

BASTIAN.
What do you mean? Don’t we belong to the same party?

STENSGARD.
Yes, but I won’t put up with this — you make yourself ridiculous —

BASTIAN.
By being like you?

STENSGARD.
By aping me. Be sensible now, Monsen, and give it up. It’s quite disgusting. But look here — can you tell me when your father is coming back?

BASTIAN.
I have no idea. I believe he’s gone to Christiania; he may not be back for a week or so.

STENSGARD.
Indeed? I’m sorry for that. He has a big stroke of business on hand, I hear.

BASTIAN.
I have a big stroke of business on hand too. Look here, Stensgard, you must do me a service.

STENSGARD.
Willingly. What is it?

BASTIAN.
I feel so full of energy. I have to thank you for that; you have stimulated me. I feel I must do something, Stensgard: — I want to get married.

STENSGARD.
To get married? To whom?

BASTIAN.
Sh! Some one in this house.

STENSGARD.
Madam Rundholmen?

BASTIAN.
Sh! Yes, it’s her. Put in a good word for me, do! This sort of thing is just the thing for me. She’s in the swim, you know; she’s on the best of terms with the Chamberlain’s people, ever since her sister was housekeeper there. If I get her, perhaps I shall get the town-contracts too. So that on the whole — damn it, I love her!

STENSGARD.
Oh, love, love! Have done with that sickening hypocrisy.

BASTIAN.
Hypocrisy!

STENSGARD.
Yes; you are lying to yourself, at any rate. You talk in one breath of town-contracts and of love. Why not call a spade a spade? There’s something sordid about all this; I will have nothing to do with it.

BASTIAN.
But listen — !

STENSGARD.
Do your dirty work yourself, I say!
[To FIELDBO, who enters from the right.]
Well, how goes the election?

FIELDBO.
Excellently for you, it appears. I saw Lundestad just now; he said you were getting all the votes.

STENSGARD.
Am I indeed?

FIELDBO.
But what good will they do you? Since you’re not a man of property —

STENSGARD
[between his teeth.]
Isn’t it confounded!

FIELDBO.
Well, you can’t do two things at once. If you win on the one side, you must be content to lose on the other. Good-bye!
[Goes out by the back.]

BASTIAN.
What did he mean by winning and losing?

STENSGARD.
I’ll tell you afterwards. But now, my dear Monsen — to return to what we were talking about — I promised to put in a good word for you —

BASTIAN.
You promised? On the contrary, I thought you said — ?

STENSGARD.
Oh, nonsense; you didn’t let me explain myself fully. What I meant was that there is something sordid in mixing up your love with town-contracts and so forth; it is an offence against all that is noblest in your nature. So, my dear friend, if you really love the girl —

BASTIAN.
The widow —

STENSGARD.
Yes, yes; it’s all the same. I mean when one really loves a woman, that in itself should be a conclusive reason —

BASTIAN.
Yes, that’s just what I think. So you’ll speak for me, will you?

STENSGARD.
Yes, with great pleasure — but on one condition.

BASTIAN.
What’s that?

STENSGARD.
Tit for tat, my dear Bastian — you must put in a word for me too.