Pillars of Society: Act I.
Act I.
(SCENE.--A spacious garden-room in the BERNICKS' house. In the foreground on the left is a door leading to BERNICK'S business room; farther back in the same wall, a similar door. In the middle of the opposite wall is a large entrance-door, which leads to the street. The wall in the background is almost wholly composed of plate-glass; a door in it opens upon a broad flight of steps which lead down to the garden; a sun-awning is stretched over the steps.Below the steps a part of the garden is visible,bordered by a fence with a small gate in it. On the other side of the fence runs a street, the opposite side of which is occupied by small wooden houses painted in bright colours. It is summer, and the sun is shining warmly. People are seen, every now and then, passing along the street and stopping to talk to one another; others going in and out of a shop at the corner, etc.
In the room a gathering of ladies is seated round a table. MRS. BERNICK is presiding; on her left side are MRS. HOLT and her daughter NETTA, and next to them MRS. RUMMEL and HILDA RUMMEL. On MRS. BERNICK'S right are MRS. LYNGE, MARTHA BERNICK and DINA DORF. All the ladies are busy working. On the table lie great piles of linen garments and other articles of clothing, some half finished, and some merely cut out. Farther back, at a small table on which two pots of flowers and a glass of sugared water are standing, RORLUND is sitting, reading aloud from a book with gilt edges, but only loud enough for the spectators to catch a word now and then. Out in the garden OLAF BERNICK is running about and shooting at a target with a toy crossbow.
After a moment AUNE comes in quietly through the door on the right. There is a slight interruption in the reading. MRS. BERNICK nods to him and points to the door on the left. AUNE goes quietly across, knocks softly at the door of BERNICK'S room, and after a moment's pause, knocks again. KRAP comes out of the room, with his hat in his hand and some papers under his arm.)
KRAP
Oh, it was you knocking?
AUNE
Mr. Bernick sent for me.
KRAP
He did--but he cannot see you. He has deputed me to tell you--
AUNE
Deputed you? All the same, I would much rather--
KRAP
--deputed me to tell you what he wanted to say to you. You must
give up these Saturday lectures of yours to the men.
AUNE
Indeed? I supposed I might use my own time--
KRAP
You must not use your own time in making the men useless in
working hours. Last Saturday you were talking to them of the harm that
would be done to the workmen by our new machines and the new working
methods at the yard. What makes you do that?
AUNE
I do it for the good of the community.
KRAP
That's curious, because Mr. Bernick says it is disorganising the
community.
AUNE
My community is not Mr. Bernick's, Mr. Krap! As President of the
Industrial Association, I must--
KRAP
You are, first and foremost, President of Mr. Bernick's
shipbuilding yard; and, before everything else, you have to do your
duty to the community known as the firm of Bernick & Co.; that is what
every one of us lives for. Well, now you know what Mr. Bernick had to
say to you.
AUNE
Mr. Bernick would not have put it that way, Mr. Krap! But I know
well enough whom I have to thank for this. It is that damned American
boat. Those fellows expect to get work done here the way they are
accustomed to it over there, and that--
KRAP
Yes, yes, but I can't go into all these details. You know now
what Mr. Bernick means, and that is sufficient. Be so good as to go
back to the yard; probably you are needed there. I shall be down myself
in a little while. --Excuse me, ladies! (Bows to the ladies and goes
out through the garden and down the street. AUNE goes quietly out to
the right. RORLUND, who has continued his reading during the foregoing
conversation, which has been carried on in low tones, has now come to
the end of the book, and shuts it with a bang.)
RORLUND
There, my dear ladies, that is the end of it.
MRS. RUMMEL
What an instructive tale!
MRS. HOLT
And such a good moral!
MRS. BERNICK
A book like that really gives one something to think
about.
RORLUND
Quite so; it presents a salutary contrast to what,
unfortunately, meets our eyes every day in the newspapers and
magazines. Look at the gilded and painted exterior displayed by any
large community, and think what it really conceals!--emptiness and
rottenness, if I may say so; no foundation of morality beneath it. In a
word, these large communities of ours now-a-days are whited sepulchres.
MRS. HOLT
How true! How true!
MRS. RUMMEL
And for an example of it, we need look no farther than at
the crew of the American ship that is lying here just now.
RORLUND
Oh, I would rather not speak of such offscourings of humanity
as that. But even in higher circles--what is the case there? A spirit
of doubt and unrest on all sides; minds never at peace, and instability
characterising all their behaviour. Look how completely family life is
undermined over there! Look at their shameless love of casting doubt on
even the most serious truths!
DINA (without looking up from her work)
But are there not many big
things done there too?
RORLUND
Big things done--? I do not understand--.
MRS. HOLT (in amazement)
Good gracious, Dina--!
MRS. RUMMEL (in the same breath)
Dina, how can you--?
RORLUND
I think it would scarcely be a good thing for us if such "big
things" became the rule here. No, indeed, we ought to be only too
thankful that things are as they are in this country. It is true enough
that tares grow up amongst our wheat here too, alas; but we do our best
conscientiously to weed them out as well as we are able. The important
thing is to keep society pure, ladies--to ward off all the hazardous
experiments that a restless age seeks to force upon us.
MRS.HOLT
And there are more than enough of them in the wind,
unhappily.
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, you know last year we only by a hair's breadth escaped
the project of having a railway here.
MRS.BERNICK
Ah, my husband prevented that.
RORLUND
Providence, Mrs. Bernick. You may be certain that your husband
was the instrument of a higher Power when he refused to have anything
to do with the scheme.
MRS.BERNICK
And yet they said such horrible things about him in the
newspapers! But we have quite forgotten to thank you, Mr. Rorlund. It
is really more than friendly of you to sacrifice so much of your time
to us.
RORLUND
Not at all. This is holiday time, and--
MRS.BERNICK
Yes, but it is a sacrifice all the same, Mr. Rorlund.
RORLUND (drawing his chair nearer)
Don't speak of it, my dear lady.
Are you not all of you making some sacrifice in a good cause?--and that
willingly and gladly? These poor fallen creatures for whose rescue we
are working may be compared to soldiers wounded on the field of battle;
you, ladies, are the kind-hearted sisters of mercy who prepare the lint
for these stricken ones, lay the bandages softly on their wounds, heal
them and cure them.
MRS.BERNICK
It must be a wonderful gift to be able to see everything
in such a beautiful light.
RORLUND
A good deal of it is inborn in one--but it can be to a great
extent acquired, too. All that is needful is to see things in the light
of a serious mission in life. (To MARTHA:) What do you say, Miss
Bernick? Have you not felt as if you were standing on firmer ground
since you gave yourself up to your school work?
MARTHA
I really do not know what to say. There are times, when I am in
the schoolroom down there, that I wish I were far away out on the
stormy seas.
RORLUND
That is merely temptation, dear Miss Bernick. You ought to
shut the doors of your mind upon such disturbing guests as that. By the
"stormy seas"--for of course you do not intend me to take your words
literally--you mean the restless tide of the great outer world, where
so many are shipwrecked. Do you really set such store on the life you
hear rushing by outside? Only look out into the street. There they go,
walking about in the heat of the sun, perspiring and tumbling about
over their little affairs. No, we undoubtedly have the best of it, who
are able to sit here in the cool and turn our backs on the quarter from
which disturbance comes.
MARTHA
Yes,I have no doubt you are perfectly right.
RORLUND
And in a house like this,in a good and pure home, where family
life shows in its fairest colours--where peace and harmony rule-- (To
MRS. BERNICK:) What are you listening to, Mrs. Bernick?
MRS.BERNICK (who has turned towards the door of BERNICK'S room)
They are talking very loud in there.
RORLUND
Is there anything particular going on?
MRS.BERNICK
I don't know. I can hear that there is somebody with my
husband.
(HILMAR TONNESEN, smoking a cigar, appears in the doorway on the right, but stops short at the sight of the company of ladies.)
HILMAR
Oh, excuse me-- (Turns to go back.)
MRS.BERNICK
No, Hilmar, come along in; you are not disturbing us. Do
you want something?
HILMAR
No, I only wanted to look in here--Good morning, ladies. (To
MRS. BERNICK :) Well, what is the result?
MRS.BERNICK
Of what?
HILMAR
Karsten has summoned a meeting, you know.
MRS.BERNICK
Has he? What about?
HILMAR
Oh, it is this railway nonsense over again.
MRS.RUMMEL
Is it possible?
MRS.BERNICK
Poor Karsten, is he to have more annoyance over that?
RORLUND
But how do you explain that, Mr. Tonnesen? You know that last
year Mr. Bernick made it perfectly clear that he would not have a
railway here.
HILMAR
Yes, that is what I thought, too; but I met Krap, his
confidential clerk, and he told me that the railway project had been
taken up again, and that Mr. Bernick was in consultation with three of
our local capitalists.
MRS.RUMMEL
Ah, I was right in thinking I heard my husband's voice.
HILMAR
Of course Mr. Rummel is in it, and so are Sandstad and Michael
Vigeland,"Saint Michael", as they call him.
RORLUND
Ahem!
HILMAR
I beg your pardon, Mr. Rorlund?
MRS.BERNICK
Just when everything was so nice and peaceful.
HILMAR
Well, as far as I am concerned, I have not the slightest
objection to their beginning their squabbling again. It will be a
little diversion, any way.
RORLUND
I think we can dispense with that sort of diversion.
HILMAR
It depends how you are constituted. Certain natures feel the
lust of battle now and then. But unfortunately life in a country town
does not offer much in that way, and it isn't given to every one to
(turns the leaves of the book RORLUND has been reading). " Woman as the
Handmaid of Society." What sort of drivel is this?
MRS.BERNICK
My dear Hilmar, you must not say that. You certainly have
not read the book.
HILMAR
No, and I have no intention of reading it, either.
MRS.BERNICK
Surely you are not feeling quite well today.
HILMAR
No, I am not.
MRS.BERNICK
Perhaps you did not sleep well last night?
HILMAR
No, I slept very badly. I went for a walk yesterday evening for
my health's sake; and I finished up at the club and read a book about a
Polar expedition. There is something bracing in following the
adventures of men who are battling with the elements.
MRS.RUMMEL
But it does not appear to have done you much good, Mr.
Tonnesen.
HILMAR
No, it certainly did not. I lay all night tossing about, only
half asleep, and dreamt that I was being chased by a hideous walrus.
OLAF (who meanwhile has come up the steps from the garden)
Have you
been chased by a walrus, uncle?
HILMAR
I dreamt it, you duffer! Do you mean to say you are still
playing about with that ridiculous bow? Why don't you get hold of a
real gun?
OLAF
I should like to, but--
HILMAR
There is some sense in a thing like that; it is always an
excitement every time you fire it off.
OLAF
And then I could shoot bears, uncle. But daddy won't let me.
MRS.BERNICK
You really mustn't put such ideas into his head, Hilmar.
HILMAR
Hm! It's a nice breed we are educating up now-a-days, isn't
it! We talk a great deal about manly sports, goodness knows--but we
only play with the question, all the same; there is never any serious
inclination for the bracing discipline that lies in facing danger
manfully. Don't stand pointing your crossbow at me, blockhead--it might
go off!
OLAF
No, uncle, there is no arrow in it.
HILMAR
You don't know that there isn't--there may be, all the same.
Take it away, I tell you !--Why on earth have you never gone over to
America on one of your father's ships? You might have seen a buffalo
hunt then, or a fight with Red Indians.
MRS.BERNICK
Oh, Hilmar--!
OLAF
I should like that awfully, uncle; and then perhaps I might meet
Uncle Johan and Aunt Lona.
HILMAR
Hm!--Rubbish.
MRS.BERNICK
You can go down into the garden again now, Olaf.
OLAF
Mother, may I go out into the street too?
MRS.BERNICK
Yes, but not too far, mind.
(OLAF runs down into the garden and out through the gate in the fence.)
RORLUND
You ought not to put such fancies into the child's head, Mr.
Tonnesen.
HILMAR
No, of course he is destined to be a miserable stay-at-home,
like so many others.
RORLUND
But why do you not take a trip over there yourself?
HILMAR
I? With my wretched health? Of course I get no consideration on
that account. But putting that out of the question, you forget that one
has certain obligations to perform towards the community of which one
forms a part. There must be some one here to hold aloft the banner of
the Ideal.--Ugh, there he is shouting again !
THE LADIES
Who is shouting?
HILMAR
I am sure I don't know. They are raising their voices so loud
in there that it gets on my nerves.
MRS.BERNICK
I expect it is my husband, Mr. Tonnesen. But you must
remember he is so accustomed to addressing large audiences.
RORLUND
I should not call the others low-voiced, either.
HILMAR
Good Lord, no!--not on any question that touches their
pockets. Everything here ends in these petty material considerations.
Ugh!
MRS.BERNICK
Anyway, that is a better state of things than it used to
be when everything ended in mere frivolity.
MRS.LYNGE
Things really used to be as bad as that here?
MRS.RUMMEL
Indeed they were, Mrs. Lynge. You may think yourself lucky
that you did not live here then.
MRS.HOLT
Yes, times have changed, and no mistake, when I look back to
the days when I was a girl.
MRS. RUMMEL
Oh, you need not look back more than fourteen or fifteen
years. God forgive us, what a life we led! There used to be a Dancing
Society and a Musical Society--
MRS.BERNICK
And the Dramatic Club. I remember it very well.
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, that was where your play was performed, Mr. Tonnesen.
HILMAR (from the back of the room)
What, what?
RORLUND
A play by Mr. Tonnesen?
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, it was long before you came here, Mr. Rorlund. And it
was only performed once.
MRS.LYNGE
Was that not the play in which you told me you took the part
of a young man's sweetheart, Mrs. Rummel?
MRS.RUMMEL (glancing towards RORLUND)
I? I really cannot remember,
Mrs.Lynge. But I remember well all the riotous gaiety that used to go
on.
MRS.HOLT
Yes, there were houses I could name in which two large
dinner-parties were given in one week.
MRS.LYNGE
And surely I have heard that a touring theatrical company
came here, too?
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, that was the worst thing of the lot.
MRS.HOLT (uneasily)
Ahem!
MRS.RUMMEL
Did you say a theatrical company? No, I don't remember that
at all.
MRS.LYNGE
Oh yes, and I have been told they played all sorts of mad
pranks. What is really the truth of those stories?
MRS.RUMMEL
There is practically no truth in them, Mrs. Lynge.
MRS.HOLT
Dina, my love, will you give me that linen?
MRS.BERNICK (at the same time)
Dina, dear, will you go and ask Katrine
to bring us our coffee?
MARTHA
I will go with you, Dina.
(DINA and MARTHA go out by the farther door on, the left.)
MRS. BERNICK (getting up)
Will you excuse me for a few minutes?
I think we will have our coffee outside. (She goes out to the
verandah and sets to work to lay a table. RORLUND stands in the
doorway talking to her. HILMAR sits outside, smoking.)
MRS. RUMMEL (in a low voice)
My goodness, Mrs. Lynge, how you
frightened me!
MRS.LYNGE
I?
MRS.HOLT
Yes, but you know it was you that began it, Mrs.
Rummel.
MRS.RUMMEL
I? How can you say such a thing, Mrs. Holt? Not a
syllable passed my lips!
MRS.LYNGE
But what does it all mean?
MRS.RUMMEL
What made you begin to talk about--? Think--did you
not see that Dina was in the room?
MRS.LYNGE
Dina? Good gracious, is there anything wrong with--?
MRS.HOLT
And in this house, too! Did you not know it was Mrs.
Bernick's brother--?
MRS.LYNGE
What about him? I know nothing about it at all; I am
quite new to the place, you know.
MRS.RUMMEL
Have you not heard that--? Ahem!
(To her daughter) Hilda, dear, you can go for a little stroll in the
garden?
MRS.HOLT
You go too, Netta. And be very kind to poor Dina when
she comes back. (HILDA and NETTA go out into the garden.)
MRS.LYNGE
Well, what about Mrs. Bernick's brother?
MRS.RUMMEL
Don't you know the dreadful scandal about him?
MRS.LYNGE
A dreadful scandal about Mr. Tonnesen?
MRS.RUMMEL
Good Heavens, no. Mr. Tonnesen is her cousin, of
course, Mrs. Lynge. I am speaking of her brother--
MRS.HOLT
The wicked Mr. Tonnesen--
MRS.RUMMEL
His name was Johan. He ran away to America.
MRS.HOLT
Had to run away, you must understand.
MRS.LYNGE
Then it is he the scandal is about?
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes; there was something--how shall I put it?--there
was something of some kind between him and Dina's mother. I
remember it all as if it were yesterday. Johan Tonnesen was in
old Mrs. Bernick's office then; Karsten Bernick had just come
back from Paris--he had not yet become engaged--
MRS.LYNGE
Yes, but what was the scandal?
MRS.RUMMEL
Well, you must know that Moller's company were
acting in the town that winter--
MRS.HOLT
And Dorf, the actor, and his wife were in the company.
All the young men in the town were infatuated with her.
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, goodness knows how they could think her pretty.
Well, Dorf came home late one evening--
MRS.HOLT
Quite unexpectedly.
MRS.RUMMEL
And found his-- No, really it isn't a thing one can
talk about.
MRS.HOLT
After all, Mrs. Rummel, he didn't find anything,
because the door was locked on the inside.
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, that is just what I was going to say--he found
the door locked. And--just think of it--the man that was in the
house had to jump out of the window.
MRS.HOLT
Right down from an attic window.
MRS.LYNGE
And that was Mrs. Bernick's brother?
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, it was he.
MRS.LYNGE
And that was why he ran away to America?
MRS.HOLT
Yes, he had to run away, you may be sure.
MRS.RUMMEL
Because something was discovered afterwards that was
nearly as bad; just think--he had been making free with the cash-
box...
MRS.HOLT
But, you know, no one was certain of that, Mrs.
Rummel; perhaps there was no truth in the rumour.
MRS.RUMMEL
Well, I must say--! Wasn't it known all over the
town? Did not old Mrs. Bernick nearly go bankrupt as the result
of it? However, God forbid I should be the one to spread such
reports.
MRS.HOLT
Well, anyway, Mrs. Dorf didn't get the money, because
she--
MRS.LYNGE
Yes, what happened to Dina's parents afterwards?
MRS.RUMMEL
Well, Dorf deserted both his wife and his child. But
madam was impudent enough to stay here a whole year. Of course
she had not the face to appear at the theatre any more, but she
kept herself by taking in washing and sewing--
MRS.HOLT
And then she tried to set up a dancing school.
MRS.RUMMEL
Naturally that was no good. What parents would trust
their children to such a woman? But it did not last very long.
The fine madam was not accustomed to work; she got something
wrong with her lungs and died of it.
MRS.LYNGE
What a horrible scandal!
MRS.RUMMEL
Yes, you can imagine how hard it was upon the
Bernicks. It is the dark spot among the sunshine of their good
fortune, as Rummel once put it. So never speak about it in this
house, Mrs. Lynge.
MRS.HOLT
And for heaven's sake never mention the stepsister,
either!
MRS.LYNGE
Oh, so Mrs. Bernick has a step-sister, too?
MRS.RUMMEL
Had, luckily-- for the relationship between them is
all over now. She was an extraordinary person too! Would you
believe it, she cut her hair short, and used to go about in men's
boots in bad weather!
MRS.HOLT
And when her step-brother,the black sheep, had gone
away, and the whole town naturally was talking about him--what do
you think she did? She went out to America to him!
MR.RUMMEL
Yes, but remember the scandal she caused before she
went, Mrs. Holt.
MRS.HOLT
Hush, don't speak of it.
MRS.LYNGE
My goodness, did she create a scandal too?
MRS.RUMMEL
I think you ought to hear it, Mrs. Lynge. Mr.
Bernick had just got engaged to Betty Tonnesen, and the two of
them went arm in arm into her aunt's room to tell her the news--
MRS.HOLT
The Tonnesens' parents were dead, you know--
MRS.RUMMEL
When, suddenly, up got Lona Hessel from her chair
and gave our refined and well-bred Karsten Bernick such a box on
the ear that his head swam.
MRS.LYNGE
Well, I am sure I never--
MRS.HOLT
It is absolutely true.
MRS.RUMMEL
And then she packed her box and went away to
America.
MRS.LYNGE
I suppose she had had her eye on him for herself.
MRS.RUMMEL
Of course she had. She imagined that he and she
would make a match of it when he came back from Paris.
MRS.HOLT
The idea of her thinking such a thing! Karsten
Bernick--a man of the world and the pink of courtesy, a perfect
gentleman, the darling of all the ladies...
MRS.RUMMEL
And, with it all, such an excellent young man, Mrs.
Holt--so moral.
MRS.LYNGE
But what has this Miss Hessel made of herself in
America?
MRS.RUMMEL
Well, you see, over that (as my husband once put it)
has been drawn a veil which one should hesitate to lift.
MRS.LYNGE
What do you mean?
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
MRS.RUMMEL
Your family affection is beautiful, Mr. Bernick!
BERNICK
Well, the family is the kernel of society. A good home,
honoured and trusty friends, a little snug family circle where no
disturbing elements can cast their shadow-- (KRAP comes in from
the right, bringing letters and papers.)
KRAP
The foreign mail, Mr. Bernick--and a telegram from New
York.
BERNICK (taking the telegram)
Ah--from the owners of the "Indian
Girl".
RUMMEL
Is the mail in? Oh, then you must excuse me.
VIGELAND
And me too.
SANDSTAD
Good day, Mr. Bernick.
BERNICK
Good day, good day, gentlemen. And remember, we have a
meeting this afternoon at five o'clock.
THE THREE MEN
Yes--quite so--of course. (They go out to the
right.)
BERNICK (who has read the telegram)
This is thoroughly American!
Absolutely shocking!
MRS.BERNICK
Good gracious, Karsten, what is it?
BERNICK
Look at this, Krap! Read it!
KRAP (reading)
"Do the least repairs possible. Send over 'Indian
Girl' as soon as she is ready to sail; good time of year; at a
pinch her cargo will keep her afloat." Well, I must say--
RORLUND
You see the state of things in these vaunted great
communities!
BERNICK
You are quite right; not a moment's consideration for
human life, when it is a question of making a profit. (To KRAP:)
Can the "Indian Girl" go to sea in four--or five--days?
KRAP
Yes, if Mr. Vigeland will agree to our stopping work on the
"Palm Tree" meanwhile.
BERNICK
Hm--he won't. Well, be so good as to look through the
letters. And look here, did you see Olaf down at the quay?
KRAP
No, Mr. Bernick. (Goes into BERNICK'S room.)
BERNICK (looking at the telegram again)
These gentlemen think
nothing of risking eight men's lives--
HILMAR
Well, it is a sailor's calling to brave the elements; it
must be a fine tonic to the nerves to be like that, with only a
thin plank between one and the abyss--
BERNICK
I should like to see the ship-owner amongst us who would
condescend to such a thing! There is not one that would do it--
not a single one! (Sees OLAF coming up to the house.) Ah, thank
Heaven, here he is, safe and sound. (OLAF, with a fishing-line in
his hand, comes running up the garden and in through the
verandah.)
OLAF
Uncle Hilmar, I have been down and seen the steamer.
BERNICK
Have you been down to the quay again?
OLAF
No, I have only been out in a boat. But just think, Uncle
Hilmar, a whole circus company has come on shore, with horses and
animals; and there were such lots of passengers.
MRS.RUMMEL
No, are we really to have a circus?
RORLUND
We? I certainly have no desire to see it.
MRS.RUMMEL
No, of course I don't mean we, but--
DINA
I should like to see a circus very much.
OLAF
So should I.
HILMAR
You are a duffer. Is that anything to see? Mere tricks.
No, it would be something quite different to see the Gaucho
careering over the Pampas on his snorting mustang. But,Heaven
help us, in these wretched little towns of ours.
OLAF (pulling at MARTHA'S dress)
Look, Aunt Martha! Look, there
they come!
MRS.HOLT
Good Lord, yes--here they come.
MRS.LYNGE
Ugh, what horrid people!
(A number of passengers and a whole crowd of townsfolk, are seen coming up the street.)
MRS.RUMMEL
They are a set of mountebanks, certainly. Just look
at that woman in the grey dress, Mrs. Holt--the one with a
knapsack over her shoulder.
MRS.HOLT
Yes--look--she has slung it on the handle of her
parasol. The manager's wife, I expect.
MRS.RUMMEL
And there is the manager himself, no doubt. He
looks a regular pirate. Don't look at him, Hilda!
MRS.HOLT
Nor you, Netta!
OLAF
Mother, the manager is bowing to us.
BERNICK
What?
MRS. BERNICK
What are you saying, child?
MRS. RUMMEL
Yes, and--good Heavens--the woman is bowing to us
too.
BERNICK
That is a little too cool--
MARTHA (exclaims involuntarily)
Ah--!
MRS.BERNICK
What is it, Martha?
MARTHA
Nothing, nothing. I thought for a moment--
OLAF (shrieking with delight)
Look, look, there are the rest of
them, with the horses and animals! And there are the Americans,
too! All the sailors from the "Indian Girl"! (The strains of
"Yankee Doodle," played on a clarinet and a drum, are heard.)
HILMAR (stopping his ears)
Ugh, ugh, ugh!
RORLUND
I think we ought to withdraw ourselves from sight a
little, ladies; we have nothing to do with such goings on. Let us
go to our work again.
MRS.BERNICK
Do you think we had better draw the curtains?
RORLUND
Yes, that was exactly what I meant.
(The ladies resume their places at the work-table; RORLUND shuts the verandah door, and draws the curtains over it and over the windows, so that the room becomes half dark.)
OLAF (peeping out through the curtains)
Mother, the manager's
wife is standing by the fountain now, washing her face.
MRS.BERNICK
What? In the middle of the marketplace?
MRS.RUMMEL
And in broad daylight, too!
HILMAR
Well, I must say if I were travelling across a desert
waste and found myself beside a well, I am sure I should not stop
to think whether--. Ugh, that frightful clarinet!
RORLUND
It is really high time the police interfered.
BERNICK
Oh no; we must not be too hard on foreigners. Of course
these folk have none of the deep-seated instincts of decency
which restrain us within proper bounds. Suppose they do behave
outrageously, what does it concern us? Fortunately this spirit of
disorder, that flies in the face of all that is customary and
right, is absolutely a stranger to our community, if I may say
so--. What is this! (LONA HESSEL walks briskly in from the door
on the right.)
THE LADIES (in low, frightened tones)
The circus woman! The
manager's wife!
MRS.BERNICK
Heavens, what does this mean?
MARTHA (jumping up)
Ah--!
LONA
How do you do, Betty dear! How do you do, Martha! How do
you do, brother-in-law!
MRS.BERNICK (with a cry)
Lona--!
BERNICK (stumbling backwards)
As sure as I am alive--!
MRS.HOLT
Mercy on us--!
MRS.RUMMEL
It cannot possibly be--!
HILMAR
Well! Ugh!
MRS.BERNICK
Lona--! Is it really--?
LONA
Really me? Yes, indeed it is; you may fall on my neck if
you like.
HILMAR
Ugh, ugh!
MRS.BERNICK
And coming back here as--?
MRS.BERNICK
And actually mean to appear in--?
LONA
Appear? Appear in what?
BERNICK
Well, I mean--in the circus--
LONA
Ha, ha, ha! Are you mad, brother-in-law? Do you think I
belong to the circus troupe? No,certainly I have turned my hand
to a good many things and made a fool of myself in a good many
ways--
MRS.RUMMEL
Hm!
LONA
But I have never tried circus riding.
BERNICK
Then you are not--?
MRS.BERNICK
Thank Heaven!
LONA
No, we travelled like other respectable folk, second-class,
certainly, but we are accustomed to that.
MRS.BERNICK
We, did you say?
BERNICK (taking a step for-ward)
Whom do you mean by "we"?
LONA
I and the child, of course.
THE LADIES (with a cry)
The child!
HILMAR
What?
RORLUND
I really must say--!
MRS.BERNICK
But what do you mean, Lona?
LONA
I mean John, of course; I have no other child, as far as I
know, but John, or Johan as you used to call him.
MRS.BERNICK
Johan--
MRS.RUMMEL (in an undertone to MRS. LYNGE)
The scapegrace
brother!
BERNICK (hesitatingly)
Is Johan with you?
LONA
Of course he is; I certainly would not come without him.
Why do you look so tragical? And why are you sitting here in the
gloom, sewing white things? There has not been a death in the
family, has there?
RORLUND
Madam,you find yourself in the Society for Fallen Women.
LONA (half to herself)
What? Can these nice, quiet-looking
ladies possibly be--?
MRS.RUMMEL
Well, really--!
LONA
Oh, I understand! But, bless my soul, that is surely Mrs.
Rummel? And Mrs. Holt sitting there too! Well, we three have not
grown younger since the last time we met. But listen now, good
people; let the Fallen Women wait for a day--they will be none
the worse for that. A joyful occasion like this--
RORLUND
A home-coming is not always a joyful occasion.
LONA
Indeed? How do you read your Bible, Mr. Parson?
RORLUND
I am not a parson.
LONA
Oh, you will grow into one, then. But--faugh!--this moral
linen of yours smells tainted,just like a winding-sheet. I am
accustomed to the air of the prairies, let me tell you.
BERNICK (wiping his forehead)
Yes, it certainly is rather close
in here.
LONA
Wait a moment; we will resurrect ourselves from this vault.
(Pulls the curtains to one side) We must have broad daylight in
here when the boy comes. Ah, you will see a boy then that has
washed himself.
HILMAR
Ugh!
LONA (opening the verandah door and window)
I should say, when
he has washed himself, up at the hotel--for on the boat he got
piggishly dirty.
HILMAR
Ugh, ugh!
LONA
Ugh? Why, surely isn't that--? (Points at HILDAR and asks
the others): Is he still loafing about here saying "Ugh"?
HILMAR
I do not loaf; it is the state of my health that keeps me
here.
RORLUND
Ahem! Ladies, I do not think--
LONA (who has noticed OLAF)
Is he yours, Betty? Give me a paw,
my boy! Or are you afraid of your ugly old aunt?
RORLUND (putting his book under his arm)
Ladies, I do not think
any of us is in the mood for any more work today. I suppose we
are to meet again tomorrow?
LONA (while the others are getting up and taking their leave)
Yes, let us. I shall be on the spot.
RORLUND
You? Pardon me, Miss Hessel, but what do you propose to
do in our Society?
LONA
I will let some fresh air into it, Mr. Parson.