Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (176 page)

Mrs. Rummel: She no longer has any connection with the family, as you may suppose; but this much the whole town knows, that she has sung for money in drinking saloons over there —

Mrs. Holt: And has given lectures in public —

Mrs. Rummel: And has published some mad kind of book.

Mrs. Lynge: You don’t say so!

Mrs. Rummel: Yes, it is true enough that Lona Hessel is one of the spots on the sun of the Bernick family’s good fortune. Well, now you know the whole story, Mrs. Lynge. I am sure I would never have spoken about it except to put you on your guard.

Mrs. Lynge: Oh, you may be sure I shall be most careful. But that poor child Dina Dorf! I am truly sorry for her.

Mrs. Rummel: Well, really it was a stroke of good luck for her. Think what it would have meant if she had been brought up by such parents! Of course we did our best for her, every one of us, and gave her all the good advice we could. Eventually Miss Bernick got her taken into this house.

Mrs. Holt: But she has always been a difficult child to deal with. It is only natural — with all the bad examples she had had before her. A girl of that sort is not like one of our own; one must be lenient with her.

Mrs. Rummel: Hush — here she comes.
(In a louder voice.)
Yes, Dina is really a clever girl. Oh, is that you, Dina? We are just putting away the things.

Mrs. Holt: How delicious your coffee smells, my dear Dina. A nice cup of coffee like that —

Mrs. Bernick
(calling in from the verandah)
: Will you come out here? (Meanwhile MARTHA and DINA have helped the Maid to bring out the coffee. All the ladies seat themselves on the verandah, and talk with a great show of kindness to DINA. In a few moments DINA comes back into the room and looks for her sewing.)

Mrs. Bernick
(from the coffee table)
: Dina, won’t you — ?

Dina: No, thank you. (Sits down to her sewing. MRS. BERNICK and RORLUND exchange a few words; a moment afterwards he comes back into the room, makes a pretext for going up to the table, and begins speaking to DINA in low tones.)

Rorlund: Dina.

Dina: Yes?

Rorlund: Why don’t you want to sit with the others?

Dina: When I came in with the coffee, I could see from the strange lady’s face that they had been talking about me.

Rorlund: But did you not see as well how agreeable she was to you out there?

Dina: That is just what I will not stand

Rorlund: You are very self-willed, Dina.

Dina: Yes.

Rorlund: But why?

Dina: Because it is my nature.

Rorlund: Could you not try to alter your nature?

Dina: No.

Rorlund: Why not?

Dina
(looking at him)
: Because I am one of the “poor fallen creatures”, you know.

Rorlund: For shame, Dina.

Dina: So was my mother.

Rorlund: Who has spoken to you about such things?

Dina: No one; they never do. Why don’t they? They all handle me in such a gingerly fashion, as if they thought I should go to pieces if they — . Oh, how I hate all this kind-heartedness.

Rorlund: My dear Dina, I can quite understand that you feel repressed here, but —

Dina: Yes; if only I could get right away from here. I could make my own way quite well, if only I did not live amongst people who are so — so —

Rorlund: So what?

Dina: So proper and so moral.

Rorlund: Oh but, Dina, you don’t mean that.

Dina: You know quite well in what sense I mean it. Hilda and Netta come here every day, to be exhibited to me as good examples. I can never be so beautifully behaved as they; I don’t want to be. If only I were right away from it all, I should grow to be worth something.

Rorlund: But you are worth a great deal, Dina dear.

Dina: What good does that do me here?

Rorlund: Get right away, you say? Do you mean it seriously?

Dina: I would not stay here a day longer, if it were not for you.

Rorlund: Tell me, Dina — why is it that you are fond of being with me?

Dina: Because you teach me so much that is beautiful.

Rorlund: Beautiful? Do you call the little I can teach you, beautiful?

Dina: Yes. Or perhaps, to be accurate, it is not that you teach me anything; but when I listen to you talking I see beautiful visions.

Rorlund: What do you mean exactly when you call a thing beautiful?

Dina: I have never thought it out.

Rorlund: Think it out now, then. What do you understand by a beautiful thing?

Dina: A beautiful thing is something that is great — and far off.

Rorlund: Hm! — Dina, I am so deeply concerned about you, my dear.

Dina: Only that?

Rorlund: You know perfectly well that you are dearer to me than I can say.

Dina: If I were Hilda or Netta, you would not be afraid to let people see it.

Rorlund: Ah, Dina, you can have no idea of the number of things I am forced to take into consideration. When it is a man’s lot to be a moral pillar of the community he lives in, he cannot be too circumspect. If only I could be certain that people would interpret my motives properly. But no matter for that; you must, and shall be, helped to raise yourself. Dina, is it a bargain between us that when I come — when circumstances allow me to come — to you and say: “Here is my hand,” you will take it and be my wife? Will you promise me that, Dina?

Dina: Yes.

Rorlund: Thank you, thank you! Because for my part, too — oh, Dina, I love you so dearly. Hush! Some one is coming. Dina — for my sake — go out to the others.
(She goes out to the coffee table. At the same moment RUMMEL, SANDSTAD and VIGELAND come out of BERNICK’S room, followed by Bernick, who has a bundle of papers in his hand.)

Bernick: Well, then, the matter is settled.

Vigeland: Yes, I hope to goodness it is.

Rummel: It is settled, Bernick. A Norseman’s word stands as firm as the rocks on Dovrefjeld, you know!

Bernick: And no one must falter, no one give way, no matter what opposition we meet with.

Rummel: We will stand or fall together, Bernick.

Hilmar
(coming in from the verandah)
: Fall? If I may ask, isn’t it the railway scheme that is going to fall?

Bernick: No, on the contrary, it is going to proceed —

Rummel: Full steam, Mr. Tonnesen.

Hilmar
(coming nearer)
: Really?

Rorlund: How is that?

Mrs. Bernick
(at the verandah door)
: Karsten, dear, what is it that — ?

Bernick: My dear Betty, how can it interest you?
(To the three men.)
We must get out lists of subscribers, and the sooner the better. Obviously our four names must head the list. The positions we occupy in the community makes it our duty to make ourselves as prominent as possible in the affair.

Sandstad: Obviously, Mr. Bernick.

Rummel: The thing shall go through, Bernick; I swear it shall!

Bernick: Oh, I have not the least anticipation of failure. We must see that we work, each one among the circle of his own acquaintances; and if we can point to the fact that the scheme is exciting a lively interest in all ranks of society, then it stands to reason that our Municipal Corporation will have to contribute its share.

Mrs. Bernick: Karsten, you really must come out here and tell us —

Bernick: My dear Betty, it is an affair that does not concern ladies at all.

Hilmar: Then you are really going to support this railway scheme after all?

Bernick: Yes, naturally.

Rorlund: But last year, Mr. Bernick —

Bernick: Last year it was quite another thing. At that time it was a question of a line along the coast —

Vigeland: Which would have been quite superfluous, Mr. Rorlund; because, of course, we have our steamboat service —

Sandstad: And would have been quite unreasonably costly —

Rummel: Yes, and would have absolutely ruined certain important interests in the town.

Bernick: The main point was that it would not have been to the advantage of the community as a whole. That is why I opposed it, with the result that the inland line was resolved upon.

Hilmar: Yes, but surely that will not touch the towns about here.

Bernick: It will eventually touch our town, my dear Hilmar, because we are going to build a branch line here.

Hilmar: Aha — a new scheme, then?

Rummel: Yes, isn’t it a capital scheme? What?

Rorlund: Hm! —

Vigeland: There is no denying that it looks as though Providence had just planned the configuration of the country to suit a branch line.

Rorlund: Do you really mean it, Mr. Vigeland?

Bernick: Yes, I must confess it seems to me as if it had been the hand of Providence that caused me to take a journey on business this spring, in the course of which I happened to traverse a valley through which I had never been before. It came across my mind like a flash of lightning that this was where we could carry a branch line down to our town. I got an engineer to survey the neighbourhood, and have here the provisional calculations and estimate; so there is nothing to hinder us.

Mrs. Bernick
(who is still with the other ladies at the verandah door)
: But, my dear Karsten, to think that you should have kept it all a secret from us!

Bernick: Ah, my dear Betty, I knew you would not have been able to grasp the exact situation. Besides, I have not mentioned it to a living soul until today. But now the decisive moment has come, and we must work openly and with all our might. Yes, even if I have to risk all I have for its sake, I mean to push the matter through.

Rummel: And we will back you up, Bernick; you may rely upon that.

Rorlund: Do you really promise us so much, then, from this undertaking, gentlemen?

Bernick: Yes, undoubtedly. Think what a lever it will be to raise the status of our whole community. Just think of the immense tracts of forest-land that it will make accessible; think of all the rich deposits of minerals we shall be able to work; think of the river with one waterfall above another! Think of the possibilities that open out in the way of manufactories!

Rorlund: And are you not afraid that an easier intercourse with the depravity of the outer world — ?

Bernick: No, you may make your mind quite easy on that score, Mr. Rorlund. Our little hive of industry rests now-a-days, God be thanked, on such a sound moral basis; we have all of us helped to drain it, if I may use the expression; and that we will continue to do, each in his degree. You, Mr. Rorlund, will continue your richly blessed activity in our schools and our homes. We, the practical men of business, will be the support of the community by extending its welfare within as wide a radius as possible; and our women — yes, come nearer ladies — you will like to hear it — our women, I say, our wives and daughters — you, ladies — will work on undisturbed in the service of charity, and moreover will be a help and a comfort to your nearest and dearest, as my dear Betty and Martha are to me and Olaf.
(Looks around him.)
Where is Olaf today?

Mrs. Bernick: Oh, in the holidays it is impossible to keep him at home.

Bernick: I have no doubt he is down at the shore again. You will see he will end by coming to some harm there.

Hilmar: Bah! A little sport with the forces of nature