Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (23 page)

NILS LYKKE. Hide the ring, man! Hide it, I say! You mistake me. Lady Inger doubts not at all that you are her child; but — ay, look about you; look at all this wealth; look at these mighty ancestors and kinsmen whose pictures deck the walls both high and low; look lastly at herself, the haughty dame, used to bear sway as the first noblewoman in the kingdom. Think you it can be to her mind to take a poor ignorant youth by the hand before all men’s eyes and say: Behold my son!

NILS STENSSON. Ay, you are right, I am poor and ignorant. I have nought to offer her in return for what I crave. Oh, never have I felt my poverty weigh on me till this hour! But tell me — what think you I should do to win her love? Tell me, dear Sir; sure you must know.

NILS LYKKE. You must win your father’s kingdom. But until that may be, look well that you wound not her ears by hinting at kinship or the like. She will bear her as though she believed you to be the real Count Sture, until you have made yourself worthy to be called her son.

NILS STENSSON. Oh, but tell me —— !

NILS LYKKE. Hush; hush!

LADY INGER (rises and hands him a paper). Sir Knight — here is my promise.

NILS LYKKE. I thank you.

LADY INGER (notices NILS STENSSON). Ah, — this young man is —— ?

NILS LYKKE. Ay, Lady Inger, he is Count Sture.

LADY INGER (aside, looks at him stealthily). Feature for
feature; — ay, by God, — it is Sten Sture’s son!
    (Approaches him and says with cold courtesy.)
  I bid you welcome under my roof, Count! It rests with you whether
or not we shall bless this meeting a year hence.

NILS STENSSON. With me? Oh, do but tell me what I must do!
Trust me, I have courage and good-will enough ——

NILS LYKKE (listens uneasily). What is this noise and uproar, Lady Inger? There are people pressing hitherward. What does this mean?

LADY INGER (in a loud voice). ‘Tis the spirits awaking!

(OLAF SKAKTAVL, EINAR HUK, BIORN, FINN, and a number of Peasants and Retainers come in from the back, on the right.)

THE PEASANTS AND RETAINERS. Hail to Lady Inger Gyldenlove!

LADY INGER (to OLAF SKAKTAVL). Have you told them what is in hand?

OLAF SKAKTAVL. I have told them all they need to know.

LADY INGER (to the Crowd). Ay, now, my faithful house-folk and peasants, now must ye arm you as best you can and will. What I forbade you to-night you have now my fullest leave to do. And here I present to you the young Count Sture, the coming ruler of Sweden — and Norway too, if God will it so.

THE WHOLE CROWD. Hail to him! Hail to Count Sture!

(General excitement. The Peasants and Retainers choose out weapons and put on breastplates and helmets, amid great noise.)

NILS LYKKE (softly and uneasily). The spirits awaking, she said? I but feigned to conjure up the devil of revolt—’twere a cursed spite if he got the upper hand of us.

LADY INGER (to NILS STENSSON). Here I give you the first earnest of our service — thirty mounted men, to follow you as bodyguard. Trust me — ere you reach the frontier many hundreds will have ranged themselves under my banner and yours. Go, then, and God be with you!

NILS STENSSON. Thanks, — Inger Gyldenlove! Thanks — and be sure that you shall never have cause to shame you for — for Count Sture! If you see me again I shall have won my father’s kingdom.

NILS LYKKE (to himself). Ay,
if
she see you again!

OLAF SKAKTAVL. The horses wait, good fellows! Are ye ready?

THE PEASANTS. Ay, ay, ay!

NILS LYKKE (uneasily, to LADY INGER). What? You mean not to- night, even now —— ?

LADY INGER. This very moment, Sir Knight!

NILS LYKKE. Nay, nay, impossible!

LADY INGER. I have said it.

NILS LYKKE (softly, to NILS STENSSON). Obey her not!

NILS STENSSON. How can I otherwise? I
will
; I
must!

NILS LYKKE (with authority). And
me!

NILS STENSSON. I shall keep my word; be sure of that. The secret shall not pass my lips till you yourself release me. But she is my mother!

NILS LYKKE (aside). And Jens Bielke in wait on the road!
Damnation! He will snatch the prize out of my fingers ——
    (To LADY INGER.)
Wait till to-morrow!

LADY INGER (to NILS STENSSON). Count Sture — do you obey me or
not?

NILS STENSSON. To horse! (Goes up towards the background).

NILS LYKKE (aside). Unhappy boy! He knows not what he does.
    (To LADY INGER.)
  Well, since so it must be, — farewell!

(Bows hastily, and begins to move away.)

LADY INGER (detains him). Nay, stay! Not so, Sir Knight, — not so!

NILS LYKKE. What mean you?

LADY INGER (in a low voice). Nils Lykke — you are a traitor! Hush! Let no one see there is dissension in the camp of the leaders. You have won Peter Kanzler’s trust by some devilish cunning that as yet I see not through. You have forced me to rebellious acts — not to help our cause, but to further your own plots, whatever they may be. I can draw back no more. But think not therefore that you have conquered! I shall contrive to make you harmless ——

NILS LYKKE (lays his hand involuntarily on his sword). Lady
Inger!

LADY INGER. Be calm, Sir Councillor! Your life is safe. But
you come not outside the gates of Ostrat before victory is ours.

NILS LYKKE. Death and destruction!

LADY INGER. It boots not to resist. You come not from this
place. So rest you quiet; ‘tis your wisest course.

NILS LYKKE (to himself). Ah, — I am overreached. She has been
craftier than I. (A thought strikes him.) But if I yet —— ?

LADY INGER (to OLAF SKAKTAVL). Ride with Count Sture’s troops
to the frontier; then without pause to Peter Kanzler, and bring
me back my child. Now has he no longer any plea for keeping from
me what is my own.
    (Adds, as OLAF SKAKTAVL is going:)
  Wait; a token. — He that wears Sten Sture’s ring is my son.

OLAF SKAKTAVL. By all the saints, you shall have him!

LADY INGER. Thanks, — thanks, my faithful friend!

NILS LYKKE (to FINN, whom he has beckoned to him unobserved, and with whom he has been whispering). Good — now manage to slip out. Let none see you. The Swedes are in ambush two miles hence. Tell the commander that Count Sture is dead. The young man you see there must not be touched. Tell the commander so. Tell him the boy’s life is worth thousands to me.

FINN. It shall be done.

LADY INGER (who has meanwhile been watching NILS LYKKE). And now go, all of you; go with God! (Points to NILS LYKKE.) This noble knight cannot find it in his heart to leave his friends at Ostrat so hastily. He will abide here with me till the tidings of your victory arrive.

NILS LYKKE (to himself). Devil!

NILS STENSSON (seizes his hand). Trust me — you shall not have
long to wait!

NILS LYKKE. It is well; it is well! (Aside.) All may yet be
saved. If only my message reach Jens Bielke in time ——

LADY INGER (to EINAR HUK, the bailiff, pointing to FINN). And
let that man be placed under close guard in the castle dungeon.

FINN. Me?

THE BAILIFF AND THE SERVANTS. Finn!

NILS LYKKE (aside). My last anchor gone!

LADY INGER (imperatively). To the dungeon with him!

 (EINAR HUK, BIORN, and a couple of the house-servants lead
      FINN out to the left.)

ALL THE REST (except NILS LYKKE, rushing out to the right).
Away! To horse, — to horse! Hail to Lady Inger Gyldenlove!

LADY INGER (passes close to NILS LYKKE as she follows the others).
Who wins?

NILS LYKKE (remains alone). Who? Ay, woe to you; — your victory will cost you dear.
I
wash my hands of it. ‘Tis not
I
that am murdering him. But my prey is escaping me none the less; and the revolt will grow and spread! — Ah, ‘tis a foolhardy, a frantic game I have been playing here! (Listens at the window.) There they go clattering out through the gateway. — Now ‘tis closed after them — and I am left here a prisoner. No way of escape! Within half-an-hour the Swedes will be upon him. ‘Twill be life or death. But if they should take him alive after all? — Were I but free, I could overtake the Swedes ere they reach the frontier, and make them deliver him up. (Goes towards the window in the background and looks out.) Damnation! Guards outside on every hand. Can there be no way out of this? (Comes quickly forward again; suddenly stops and listens.) What is that? Music and singing. It seems to come from Elina’s chamber. Ay, it is she that is singing. Then she is still awake —— (A thought seems to strike him.) Elina! — Ah, if
that
could be! If it could but —— And why should I not? Am I not still myself? Says not the song: —

Fair maidens a-many they sigh and they pine; “Ah God, that Nils Lykke were mine, mine, mine.”

And she —— ? ——
 
—— Elina Gyldenlove shall set me free!

(Goes quickly but stealthily towards the first door on the left.)

NOTES.

King Christian II. of Denmark (the perpetrator of the massacre at Stockholm known as the Blood-Bath) fled to Holland in 1523, five years before the date assigned to this play, in order to escape death or imprisonment at the hands of his rebellious nobles, who summoned his uncle, Frederick I., to the throne. Returning to Denmark in 1532, Christian was thrown into prison, where he spent the last twenty-seven years of his life.

ACT FIFTH
.

(The Banquet Hall. It is still night. The hall is but dimly lighted by a branch-candlestick on the table, in front, on the right.)

(LADY INGER is sitting by the table, deep in thought.)

LADY INGER (after a pause). They call me keen-witted beyond all others in the land. I believe they are right. The keenest- witted —— No one knows how I became so. For more than twenty years I have fought to save my child.
That
is the key to the riddle. Ay, that sharpens the wits! My wits? Where have they flown to-night? What has become of my forethought? There is a ringing and rushing in my ears. I see shapes before me, so life-like that methinks I could lay hold on them. (Springs up.) Lord Jesus — what is this? Am I no longer mistress of my reason? Is it to come to that —— ? (Presses her clasped hands over her head; sits down again, and says more calmly:) Nay, ‘tis nought. It will pass. There is no fear; — it will pass. How peaceful it is in the hall to-night! No threatening looks from forefathers or kinsfolk. No need to turn their faces to the wall. (Rises again.) Ay, ‘twas well that I took heart at last. We shall conquer; — and then I am at the end of my longings. I shall have my child again. (Takes up the light as if to go, but stops and says musingly:) At the end? The end? To get him back? Is that all? — is there nought further? (Sets the light down on the table.) That heedless word that Nils Lykke threw forth at random —— How could he see my unborn thought? (More softly.) A king’s mother? A king’s mother, he said —— Why not? Have not my forefathers ruled as kings, even though they bore not the kingly name? Has not
my
son as good a title as the other to the rights of the house of Sture? In the sight of God he has — if so be there is justice in Heaven. And in an hour of terror I have signed away his rights. I have recklessly squandered them, as a ransom for his freedom. If they could be recovered? — Would Heaven be angered, if I —— ? Would it call down fresh troubles on my head if I were to —— ? Who knows; who knows! It may be safest to refrain. (Takes up the light again.) I shall have my child again.
That
must suffice me. I will try to rest. All these desperate thoughts, — I will sleep them away. (Goes towards the back, but stops in the middle of the hall, and says broodingly:) A king’s mother!

(Goes slowly out at the back, to the left.)

(After a short pause, NILS LYKKE and ELINA GYLDENLOVE enter noiselessly by the first door on the left. NILS LYKKE has a small lantern in his hand.)

NILS LYKKE. (throws the light from his lantern around, so as to
search the room). All is still. I must begone.

ELINA. Oh, let me look but once more into your eyes, before
you leave me.

NILS LYKKE (embraces her). Elina!

ELINA (after a short pause). Will you come nevermore to Ostrat?

NILS LYKKE. How can you doubt that I will come? Are you not henceforth my betrothed? — But will
you
be true to
me
, Elina? Will you not forget me ere we meet again?

ELINA. Do you ask if I
will
be true? Have I any will left then? Have I power to be untrue to you, even if I would? — you came by night; you knocked upon my door; — and I opened to you. You spoke to me. What was it you said? You gazed in my eyes. What was the mystic might that turned my brain and lured me, as it were, within a magic net? (Hides her face on his shoulder.) Oh, look not on me, Nils Lykke! You must not look upon me after this —— True, say you ? Do you not own me? I am yours; — I must be yours — to all eternity.

NILS LYKKE. Now, by my knightly honour, ere the year be past, you shall sit as my wife in the hall of my fathers.

ELINA. No vows, Nils Lykke! No oaths to me.

NILS LYKKE. What mean you? Why do you shake your head so mournfully?

ELINA. Because I know that the same soft words wherewith you turned my brain, you have whispered to so many a one before. Nay, nay, be not angry, my beloved! In nought do I reproach you, as I did while yet I knew you not. Now I understand how high above all others is your goal. How can love be aught to you but a pastime, or woman but a toy?

NILS LYKKE. Elina, — hear me!

ELINA. As I grew up, your name was ever in my ears. I hated the name, for meseemed that all women were dishonoured by your life. And yet, — how strange! — when I built up in my dreams the life that should be mine, you were ever my hero, though I knew it not. Now I understand it all — now know I what it was I felt. It was a foreboding, a mysterious longing for you, you only one — for you that were one day to come and glorify my life.

NILS LYKKE (aside, putting down the lantern on the table). How is it with me? This dizzy fascination —— If this it be to love, then have I never known it till this hour. — Is there not yet time —— ? Oh horror — Lucia!

(Sinks into a chair.)

ELINA. What ails you? So heavy a sigh ——

NILS LYKKE. O, ‘tis nought, — nought! Elina, — now will I confess all to you. I have have beguiled many with both words and glances; I have said to many a one what I whispered to you this night. But trust me ——

ELINA. Hush! No more of that. My love is no exchange for that you give me. No, no; I love you because your every glance commands it like a king’s decree. (Lies down at his feet.) Oh, let me once more stamp that kingly message deep into my soul, though well I know it stands imprinted there for all time and eternity. Dear God — how little I have known myself! ‘Twas but to-night I said to my mother: “My pride is my life.” And what is my pride? Is it to know that my countrymen are free, or that my house is held in honour throughout the lands? Oh, no, no! My love is my pride. The little dog is proud when he may sit by his master’s feet and eat bread-crumbs from his hand. Even so am I proud, so long as I may sit at your feet, while your looks and your words nourish me with the bread of life. See, therefore, I say to you, even as I said but now to my mother: “My love is my life;” for therein lies all my pride, now and evermore.

NILS LYKKE (raises her up on his lap). Nay, nay — not at my feet, but at my side is your place, — should fate set me never so high. Ay, Elina — you have led me into a better path; and if it be granted me some day to atone by a deed of fame for the sins of my reckless youth, the honour shall be yours as well as mine.

ELINA. Ah, you speak as though I were still the Elina that but this evening flung down the flowers at your feet. I have read in my books of the many-coloured life in far-off lands. To the winding of horns the knight rides forth into the greenwood, with his falcon on his wrist. Even so do you go your way through life; — your name rings out before you whithersoever you fare. — All that I desire of your glory, is to rest like the falcon on your arm. I too was blind as he to light and life, till you loosed the hood from my eyes and set me soaring high over the leafy tree- tops; — But, trust me — bold as my flight may be, yet shall I ever turn back to my cage.

NILS LYKKE (rises). Then I bid defiance to the past! See now; — take this ring, and be
mine
before God and men —
mine
, ay,though it should trouble the dreams of the dead.

ELINA. You make me afraid. What is it that —— ?

NILS LYKKE. It is nought. Come, let me place the ring on your finger. — Even so — now are you my betrothed!

ELINA.
I
Nils Lykke’s bride! It seems but a dream, all that has befallen this night. Oh, but so fair a dream! My breast is so light. No longer is there bitterness and hatred in my soul. I will atone to all whom I have wronged. I have been unloving to my mother. To-morrow will I go to her; she must forgive me my offence.

NILS LYKKE. And give her consent to our bond.

ELINA. That will she. Oh, I am sure she will. My mother is kind; all the world is kind; — I can feel hatred no more for any living soul — save
one
.

NILS LYKKE. Save
one ?

ELINA. Ah, it is a mournful history. I had a sister ——

NILS LYKKE. Lucia?

ELINA. Have you known Lucia?

NILS LYKKE. No, no; I have but heard her name.

ELINA. She too gave her heart to a knight. He betrayed her; — and now she is in Heaven.

NILS LYKKE. And you —— ?

ELINA. I hate him.

NILS LYKKE. Hate him not! If there be mercy in your heart, forgive him his sin. Trust me, he bears his punishment in his own breast.

ELINA. Him I will never forgive! I
cannot
, even if I would;
for I have sworn so dear an oath ——
    (Listening.)
Hush! Can you hear —— ?

NILS LYKKE. What? Where?

ELINA. Without; far off. The noise of many horsemen on the
high-road.

NILS LYKKE. Ah, it is they! And I had forgotten —— ! They
are coming hither. Then is the danger great; — I must begone!

ELINA. But whither? Oh, Nils Lykke, what are you hiding —— ?

NILS LYKKE. To-morrow, Elina —— ; for as God lives, I will return then. — Quickly now — where is the secret passage you told me of?

ELINA. Through the grave-vault. See, — here is the trap-door.

NILS LYKKE. The grave-vault! (To himself.) No matter, he
must
be saved!

ELINA (by the window). The horsemen have reached the gate ——

(Hands him the lantern.)

NILS LYKKE. Well, now I go ——

(Begins to descend.)

ELINA. Go forward along the passage till you reach the coffin
with the death’s-head and the black cross; it is Lucia’s ——

NILS LYKKE (climbs back hastily and shuts the trap-door to).
Lucia’s! Pah —— !

ELINA. What said you?

NILS LYKKE. Nay, nought. It was the scent of the grave that made me dizzy.

ELINA. Hark; they are hammering at the gate!

NILS LYKKE (lets the lantern fall). Ah! too late —— !

(BIORN enters hurriedly from the right, carrying a light.)

ELINA (goes towards him). What is amiss, Biorn? What is it?

BIORN. An ambuscade! Count Sture ——

ELINA. Count Sture? What of him?

NILS LYKKE. Have they killed him?

BIORN (to ELINA). Where is your mother?

TWO HOUSE-SERVANTS (rushing in from the right). Lady Inger!
Lady Inger!

(LADY INGER GYLDENLOVE enters by the first door on the left, with a branch-candlestick, lighted, in her hand, and says quickly:)

LADY INGER. I know all. Down with you to the courtyard! Keep
the gate open for our friends, but closed against all others!

 (Puts down the candlestick on the table to the left. BIORN
      and the two House-Servants go out again to the right.)

LADY INGER (to NILS LYKKE). So
that
was the trap, Sir
Councillor!

NILS LYKKE. Inger Gyldenlove, trust me —— !

LADY INGER. An ambuscade that was to snap him up, as soon as
you had got the promise that should destroy me!

NILS LYKKE (takes out the paper and tears it to pieces). There
is your promise. I keep nothing that can bear witness against you.

LADY INGER. What will you do?

NILS LYKKE. From this hour I am your champion. If I have sinned against you, — by Heaven I will strive to repair my crime. But now I
must
out, if I have to hew my way through the gate! — Elina — tell your mother all! — And you, Lady Inger, let our reckoning be forgotten! Be generous — and silent! Trust me, ere the day dawns you shall owe me a life’s gratitude.

(Goes out quickly to the right.)

LADY INGER (looks after him with exultation). It is well! I
understand him!
    (Turns to ELINA.)
  Nils Lykke —— ? Well —— ?

ELINA. He knocked upon my door, and set this ring upon my finger.

LADY INGER. And he loves you with all his heart?

ELINA. My mother — you are so strange. Oh, ay — I know — it is my unloving ways that have angered you.

LADY INGER. Not so, dear Elina! You are an obedient child. You have opened your door to him; you have hearkened to his soft words. I know full well what it must have cost you for I know your hatred ——