Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (182 page)

Lona: And you, Karsten — ?

Bernick: I grasped at the rumour like a drowning man at a straw.

Lona: You helped to spread it?

Bernick: I did not contradict it. Our creditors had begun to be pressing, and I had the task of keeping them quiet. The result was the dissipating of any suspicion as to the stability of the firm; people said that we had been hit by a temporary piece of ill-luck — that all that was necessary was that they should not press us — only give us time and every creditor would be paid in full.

Lona: And every creditor was paid in full?

Bernick: Yes, Lona, that rumour saved our house and made me the man I now am.

Lona: That is to say, a lie has made you the man you now are.

Bernick: Whom did it injure at the time? It was Johan’s intention never to come back.

Lona: You ask whom it injured. Look into your own heart, and tell me if it has not injured you.

Bernick: Look into any man’s heart you please, and you will always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has to keep concealed.

Lona: And you call yourselves pillars of society!

Bernick: Society has none better.

Lona: And of what consequence is it whether such a society be propped up or not? What does it all consist of? Show and lies — and nothing else. Here are you, the first man in the town, living in grandeur and luxury, powerful and respected — you, who have branded an innocent man as a criminal.

Bernick: Do you suppose I am not deeply conscious of the wrong I have done him? And do you suppose I am not ready to make amends to him for it?

Lona: How? By speaking out?

Bernick: Would you have the heart to insist on that?

Lona: What else can make amends for such a wrong?

Bernick: I am rich, Lona; Johan can demand any sum he pleases.

Lona: Yes, offer him money, and you will hear what he will say.

Bernick: Do you know what he intends to do?

Lona: No; since yesterday he has been dumb. He looks as if this had made a grown man of him all at once.

Bernick: I must talk to him.

Lona: Here he comes.
(JOHAN comes in from the right.)

Bernick
(going towards hint)
: Johan — !

Johan
(motioning him away)
: Listen to me first. Yesterday morning I gave you my word that I would hold my tongue.

Bernick: You did.

Johan: But then I did not know —

Bernick: Johan, only let me say a word or two to explain the circumstances —

Johan: It is unnecessary; I understand the circumstances perfectly. The firm was in a dangerous position at the time; I had gone off, and you had my defenceless name and reputation at your mercy. Well, I do not blame you so very much for what you did; we were young and thoughtless in those days. But now I have need of the truth, and now you must speak.

Bernick: And just now I have need of all my reputation for morality, and therefore I cannot speak.

Johan: I don’t take much account of the false reports you spread about me; it is the other thing that you must take the blame of. I shall make Dina my wife, and here — here in your town — I mean to settle down and live with her.

Lona: Is that what you mean to do?

Bernick: With Dina? Dina as your wife? — in this town?

Johan: Yes, here and nowhere else. I mean to stay here to defy all these liars and slanderers. But before I can win her, you must exonerate me.

Bernick: Have you considered that, if I confess to the one thing, it will inevitably mean making myself responsible for the other as well? You will say that I can show by our books that nothing dishonest happened? But I cannot; our books were not so accurately kept in those days. And even if I could, what good would it do? Should I not in any case be pointed at as the man who had once saved himself by an untruth, and for fifteen years had allowed that untruth and all its consequences to stand without having raised a finger to demolish it? You do not know our community very much, or you would realise that it would ruin me utterly.

Johan: I can only tell you that I mean to make Mrs. Dorf’s daughter my wife, and live with her in this town.

Bernick
(wiping the perspiration from his forehead)
: Listen to me, Johan — and you too, Lona. The circumstances I am in just now are quite exceptional. I am situated in such a way that if you aim this blow at me you will not only destroy me, but will also destroy a great future, rich in blessings, that lies before the community which, after all, was the home of your childhood.

Johan: And if I do not aim this blow at you, I shall be destroying all my future happiness with my own hand.

Lona: Go on, Karsten.

Bernick: I will tell you, then. It is mixed up with the railway project, and the whole thing is not quite so simple as you think. I suppose you have heard that last year there was some talk of a railway line along the coast? Many influential people backed up the idea — people in the town and the suburbs, and especially the press; but I managed to get the proposal quashed, on the ground that it would have injured our steamboat trade along the coast.

Lona: Have you any interest in the steamboat trade?

Bernick: Yes. But no one ventured to suspect me on that account; my honoured name fully protected me from that. For the matter of that, I could have stood the loss; but the place could not have stood it. So the inland line was decided upon. As soon as that was done, I assured myself — without saying anything about it — that a branch line could be laid to the town.

Lona: Why did you say nothing about it, Karsten?

Bernick: Have you heard the rumours of extensive buying up of forest lands, mines and waterfalls — ?

Johan: Yes, apparently it is some company from another part of the country.

Bernick: As these properties are situated at present, they are as good as valueless to their owners, who are scattered about the neighbourhood; they have therefore been sold comparatively cheap. If the purchaser had waited till the branch line began to be talked of, the proprietors would have asked exorbitant prices.

Lona: Well — what then?

Bernick: Now I am going to tell you something that can be construed in different ways — a thing to which, in our community, a man could only confess provided he had an untarnished and honoured name to take his stand upon.

Lona: Well?

Bernick: It is I that have bought up the whole of them.

Lona: You?

Johan: On your own account?

Bernick: On my own account. If the branch line becomes an accomplished fact, I am a millionaire; if it does not, I am ruined.

Lona: It is a big risk, Karsten.

Bernick: I have risked my whole fortune on it.

Lona: I am not thinking of your fortune; but if it comes to light that —

Bernick. Yes, that is the critical part of it. With the unblemished and honoured name I have hitherto borne, I can take the whole thing upon my shoulders, carry it through, and say to my fellow-citizens: “See, I have taken this risk for the good of the community.”

Lona: Of the community?

Bernick: Yes; and not a soul will doubt my motives.

Lona: Then some of those concerned in it have acted more openly — without any secret motives or considerations.

Bernick: Who?

Lona: Why, of course, Rummel and Sandstad and Vigeland.

Bernick: To get them on my side I was obliged to let them into the secret.

Lona: And they?

Bernick: They have stipulated for a fifth part of the profits as their share.

Lona: Oh, these pillars of society.

Bernick: And isn’t it society itself that forces us to use these underhanded means? What would have happened if I had not acted secretly? Everybody would have wanted to have a hand in the undertaking; the whole thing would have been divided up, mismanaged and bungled. There is not a single man in the town except myself who is capable of directing so big an affair as this will be. In this country, almost without exception, it is only foreigners who have settled here who have the aptitude for big business schemes. That is the reason why my conscience acquits me in the matter. It is only in my hands that these properties can become a real blessing to the many who have to make their daily bread.

Lona: I believe you are right there, Karsten.

Johan: But I have no concern with the many, and my life’s happiness is at stake.

Bernick: The welfare of your native place is also at stake. If things come out which cast reflections on my earlier conduct, then all my opponents will fall upon me with united vigour. A youthful folly is never allowed to be forgotten in our community. They would go through the whole of my previous life, bring up a thousand little incidents in it, interpret and explain them in the light of what has been revealed; they would crush me under the weight of rumours and slanders. I should be obliged to abandon the railway scheme; and, if I take my hand off that, it will come to nothing, and I shall be ruined and my life as a citizen will be over.

Lona: Johan, after what we have just heard, you must go away from here and hold your tongue.

Bernick: Yes, yes, Johan — you must!

Johan: Yes, I will go away, and I will hold my tongue; but I shall come back, and then I shall speak.

Bernick: Stay over there, Johan; hold your tongue, and I am willing to share with you —

Johan: Keep your money, but give me back my name and reputation.

Bernick: And sacrifice my own!

Johan: You and your community must get out of that the best way you can. I must and shall win Dina for my wife. And therefore, I am going to sail tomorrow in the “Indian Girl” —

Bernick: In the “Indian Girl”?

Johan: Yes. The captain has promised to take me. I shall go over to America, as I say; I shall sell my farm, and set my affairs in order. In two months I shall be back.

Bernick: And then you will speak?

Johan: Then the guilty man must take his guilt on himself.

Bernick: Have you forgotten that, if I do that, I must also take on myself guilt that is not mine?

Johan: Who is it that for the last fifteen years has benefited by that shameful rumour?

Bernick: You will drive me to desperation! Well, if you speak, I shall deny everything! I shall say it is a plot against me — that you have come here to blackmail me!

Lona: For shame, Karsten!

Bernick: I am a desperate man, I tell you, and I shall fight for my life. I shall deny everything — everything!

Johan: I have your two letters. I found them in my box among my other papers. This morning I read them again; they are plain enough.

Bernick: And will you make them public?

Johan: If it becomes necessary.

Bernick: And you will be back here in two months?

Johan: I hope so. The wind is fair. In three weeks I shall be in New York — if the “Indian Girl” does not go to the bottom.

Bernick
(with a start)
: Go to the bottom? Why should the “Indian Girl” go to the bottom?

Johan: Quite so — why should she?

Bernick
(scarcely audibly)
: Go to the bottom?

Johan: Well, Karsten, now you know what is before you. You must find your own way out. Good-bye! You can say good-bye to Betty for me, although she has not treated me like a sister. But I must see Martha. She shall tell Dina — ; she shall promise me —
(Goes out through the farther door on the left.)