Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (226 page)

Morten Kiil. And broken all your windows to pieces!

Dr. Stockmann. And then there is my duty to my family. I must talk it over with Katherine; she is great on those things.

Morten Kiil. That is right; be guided by a reasonable woman’s advice.

Dr. Stockmann
(advancing towards him)
. To think you could do such a preposterous thing! Risking Katherine’s money in this way, and putting me in such a horribly painful dilemma! When I look at you, I think I see the devil himself — .

Morten Kiil. Then I had better go. But I must have an answer from you before two o’clock — yes or no. If it is no, the shares go to a charity, and that this very day.

Dr. Stockmann. And what does Katherine get?

Morten Kiil. Not a halfpenny.
(The door leading to the hall opens, and HOVSTAD and ASLAKSEN make their appearance.)
Look at those two!

Dr. Stockmann
(staring at them)
. What the devil! — have YOU actually the face to come into my house?

Hovstad. Certainly.

Aslaksen. We have something to say to you, you see.

Morten Kiil
(in a whisper)
. Yes or no — before two o’clock.

Aslaksen
(glancing at HOVSTAD)
. Aha!
(MORTEN KIIL goes out.)

Dr. Stockmann. Well, what do you want with me? Be brief.

Hovstad. I can quite understand that you are annoyed with us for our attitude at the meeting yesterday.

Dr. Stockmann. Attitude, do you call it? Yes, it was a charming attitude! I call it weak, womanish — damnably shameful!

Hovstad. Call it what you like, we could not do otherwise.

Dr. Stockmann. You DARED not do otherwise — isn’t that it?

Hovstad. Well, if you like to put it that way.

Aslaksen. But why did you not let us have word of it beforehand? — just a hint to Mr. Hovstad or to me?

Dr. Stockmann. A hint? Of what?

Aslaksen. Of what was behind it all.

Dr. Stockmann. I don’t understand you in the least —

Aslaksen
(with a confidential nod)
. Oh yes, you do, Dr. Stockmann.

Hovstad. It is no good making a mystery of it any longer.

Dr. Stockmann
(looking first at one of them and then at the other)
. What the devil do you both mean?

Aslaksen. May I ask if your father-in-law is not going round the town buying up all the shares in the Baths?

Dr. Stockmann. Yes, he has been buying Baths shares today; but —

Aslaksen. It would have been more prudent to get someone else to do it — someone less nearly related to you.

Hovstad. And you should not have let your name appear in the affair. There was no need for anyone to know that the attack on the Baths came from you. You ought to have consulted me, Dr. Stockmann.

Dr. Stockmann
(looks in front of him; then a light seems to dawn on him and he says in amazement.)
Are such things conceivable? Are such things possible?

Aslaksen
(with a smile)
. Evidently they are. But it is better to use a little finesse, you know.

Hovstad. And it is much better to have several persons in a thing of that sort; because the responsibility of each individual is lessened, when there are others with him.

Dr. Stockmann
(composedly)
. Come to the point, gentlemen. What do you want?

Aslaksen. Perhaps Mr. Hovstad had better —

Hovstad. No, you tell him, Aslaksen.

Aslaksen. Well, the fact is that, now we know the bearings of the whole affair, we think we might venture to put the “People’s Messenger” at your disposal.

Dr. Stockmann. Do you dare do that now? What about public opinion? Are you not afraid of a storm breaking upon our heads?

Hovstad. We will try to weather it.

Aslaksen. And you must be ready to go off quickly on a new tack, Doctor. As soon as your invective has done its work —

Dr. Stockmann. Do you mean, as soon as my father-in-law and I have got hold of the shares at a low figure?

Hovstad. Your reasons for wishing to get the control of the Baths are mainly scientific, I take it.

Dr. Stockmann. Of course; it was for scientific reasons that I persuaded the old “Badger” to stand in with me in the matter. So we will tinker at the conduit-pipes a little, and dig up a little bit of the shore, and it shan’t cost the town a sixpence. That will be all right — eh?

Hovstad. I think so — if you have the “People’s Messenger” behind you.

Aslaksen. The Press is a power in a free community. Doctor.

Dr. Stockmann. Quite so. And so is public opinion. And you, Mr. Aslaksen — I suppose you will be answerable for the Householders’ Association?

Aslaksen. Yes, and for the Temperance Society. You may rely on that.

Dr. Stockmann. But, gentlemen — I really am ashamed to ask the question — but, what return do you — ?

Hovstad. We should prefer to help you without any return whatever, believe me. But the “People’s Messenger” is in rather a shaky condition; it doesn’t go really well; and I should be very unwilling to suspend the paper now, when there is so much work to do here in the political way.

Dr. Stockmann. Quite so; that would be a great trial to such a friend of the people as you are.
(Flares up.)
But I am an enemy of the people, remember!
(Walks about the room.)
Where have I put my stick? Where the devil is my stick?

Hovstad. What’s that?

Aslaksen. Surely you never mean —

Dr. Stockmann
(standing still.)
And suppose I don’t give you a single penny of all I get out of it? Money is not very easy to get out of us rich folk, please to remember!

Hovstad. And you please to remember that this affair of the shares can be represented in two ways!

Dr. Stockmann. Yes, and you are just the man to do it. If I don’t come to the rescue of the “People’s Messenger,” you will certainly take an evil view of the affair; you will hunt me down, I can well imagine — pursue me — try to throttle me as a dog does a hare.

Hovstad. It is a natural law; every animal must fight for its own livelihood.

Aslaksen. And get its food where it can, you know.

Dr. Stockmann
(walking about the room)
. Then you go and look for yours in the gutter; because I am going to show you which is the strongest animal of us three!
(Finds an umbrella and brandishes it above his head.)
Ah, now — !

Hovstad. You are surely not going to use violence!

Aslaksen. Take care what you are doing with that umbrella.

Dr. Stockmann. Out of the window with you, Mr. Hovstad!

Hovstad
(edging to the door)
. Are you quite mad!

Dr. Stockmann. Out of the window, Mr. Aslaksen! Jump, I tell you! You will have to do it, sooner or later.

Aslaksen
(running round the writing-table)
. Moderation, Doctor — I am a delicate man — I can stand so little —
(calls out)
help, help!

(MRS. STOCKMANN, PETRA and HORSTER come in from the sitting-room.)

Mrs. Stockmann. Good gracious, Thomas! What is happening?

Dr. Stockmann
(brandishing the umbrella)
. Jump out, I tell you! Out into the gutter!

Hovstad. An assault on an unoffending man! I call you to witness, Captain Horster.
(Hurries out through the hall.)

Aslaksen
(irresolutely)
. If only I knew the way about here — .
(Steals out through the sitting-room.)

Mrs. Stockmann
(holding her husband back)
. Control yourself, Thomas!

Dr. Stockmann
(throwing down the umbrella)
. Upon my soul, they have escaped after all.

Mrs. Stockmann. What did they want you to do?

Dr. Stockmann. I will tell you later on; I have something else to think about now.
(Goes to the table and writes something on a calling-card.)
Look there, Katherine; what is written there?

Mrs. Stockmann. Three big Noes; what does that mean.

Dr. Stockmann. I will tell you that too, later on.
(Holds out the card to PETRA.)
There, Petra; tell sooty-face to run over to the “Badger’s” with that, as quick as she can. Hurry up!
(PETRA takes the card and goes out to the hall.)

Dr. Stockmann. Well, I think I have had a visit from every one of the devil’s messengers to-day! But now I am going to sharpen my pen till they can feel its point; I shall dip it in venom and gall; I shall hurl my inkpot at their heads!

Mrs. Stockmann. Yes, but we are going away, you know, Thomas.

(PETRA comes back.)

Dr. Stockmann. Well?

Petra. She has gone with it.

Dr. Stockmann. Good. — Going away, did you say? No, I’ll be hanged if we are going away! We are going to stay where we are, Katherine!

Petra. Stay here?

Mrs. Stockmann. Here, in the town?

Dr. Stockmann. Yes, here. This is the field of battle — this is where the fight will be. This is where I shall triumph! As soon as I have had my trousers sewn up I shall go out and look for another house. We must have a roof over our heads for the winter.

Horster. That you shall have in my house.

Dr. Stockmann. Can I?

Horsier. Yes, quite well. I have plenty of room, and I am almost never at home.

Mrs. Stockmann. How good of you, Captain Horster!

Petra. Thank you!

Dr. Stockmann
(grasping his hand)
. Thank you, thank you! That is one trouble over! Now I can set to work in earnest at once. There is an endless amount of things to look through here, Katherine! Luckily I shall have all my time at my disposal; because I have been dismissed from the Baths, you know.

Mrs. Stockmann
(with a sigh)
. Oh yes, I expected that.

Dr. Stockmann. And they want to take my practice away from me too. Let them! I have got the poor people to fall back upon, anyway — those that don’t pay anything; and, after all, they need me most, too. But, by Jove, they will have to listen to me; I shall preach to them in season and out of season, as it says somewhere.

Mrs. Stockmann. But, dear Thomas, I should have thought events had showed you what use it is to preach.

Dr. Stockmann. You are really ridiculous, Katherine. Do you want me to let myself be beaten off the field by public opinion and the compact majority and all that devilry? No, thank you! And what I want to do is so simple and clear and straightforward. I only want to drum into the heads of these curs the fact that the liberals are the most insidious enemies of freedom — that party programmes strangle every young and vigorous truth — that considerations of expediency turn morality and justice upside down — and that they will end by making life here unbearable. Don’t you think, Captain Horster, that I ought to be able to make people understand that?

Horster. Very likely; I don’t know much about such things myself.

Dr. Stockmann. Well, look here — I will explain! It is the party leaders that must be exterminated. A party leader is like a wolf, you see — like a voracious wolf. He requires a certain number of smaller victims to prey upon every year, if he is to live. Just look at Hovstad and Aslaksen! How many smaller victims have they not put an end to — or at any rate maimed and mangled until they are fit for nothing except to be householders or subscribers to the “People’s Messenger”!
(Sits down on the edge of the table.)
Come here, Katherine — look how beautifully the sun shines to-day! And this lovely spring air I am drinking in!