Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (262 page)

Ellida. Oh! no, it is not so. The joy is, I suppose, something like our joy at the long pleasant summer days — it has the presentiment of the dark days coming. And it is this presentiment that casts its shadows over the joy of men, just as the driving clouds cast their shadow over the fjords. It lies there so bright and blue — and of a sudden.

Arnholm. You shouldn’t give way to such sad thoughts. Just now you were so glad and so bright.

Ellida. Yes, yes, so I was. Oh, this — this is so stupid of me.
(Looking about her uneasily.)
If only Wangel would come! He promised me so faithfully he would. And yet he does not come. Dear Mr. Arnholm, won’t you try and find him for me?

Arnholm. Gladly!

Ellida. Tell him he must come here directly now. For now I can’t see him.

Arnholm. Not see him?

Ellida. Oh! you don’t understand. When he is not by me I often can’t remember how he looks. And then it is as if I had quite lost him. That is so terribly painful. But do go, please.
(She paces round the pond.)

Bolette
(to ARNHOLM)
. I will go with you — you don’t know the way.

Arnholm. Nonsense, I shall be all right.

Bolette
(aside)
. No, no, no. I am anxious. I’m afraid he is on board the steamer.

Arnholm. Afraid?

Bolette. Yes. He usually goes to see if there are any acquaintances of his. And there’s a restaurant on board.

Arnholm. Ah! Come then.

(He and BOLETTE go off. ELLIDA stands still awhile, staring down at the pond. Now and again she speaks to herself in a low voice, and breaks off. Along the footpath beyond the garden fence a STRANGER in travelling dress comes from the left. His hair and beard are bushy and red. He has a Scotch cap on, and a travelling bag with strap across his shoulders.)

The Stranger
(goes slowly along by the fence and peeps into the garden. When he catches sight of ELLIDA he stands still, looks at her fixedly and searchingly, and speaks in a low voice)
. Good-evening, Ellida!

Ellida
(turns round with a cry)
. Oh dear! have you come at last!

The Stranger. Yes, at last.

Ellida
(looking at him astonished and frightened)
. Who are you? Do you seek anyone here?

The Stranger. You surely know that well enough, Ellida.

Ellida
(starting)
. What is this! How do you address me? Whom are you looking for?

The Stranger. Well, I suppose I’m looking for you.

Ellida
(shuddering)
. Oh!
(She stares at him, totters back, uttering a half-suffocating cry.)
The eyes! — the eyes!

The Stranger. Are you beginning to recognise me at last? I knew you at once, Ellida.

Ellida. The eyes! Don’t look at me like that! I shall cry for help!

The Stranger. Hush, hush! Do not fear. I shan’t hurt you.

Ellida
(covering her eyes with her hands)
. Do not look at me like that, I say!

The Stranger
(leaning with his arms on the garden fence)
. I came with the English steamer.

Ellida
(stealing a frightened look at him)
. What do you want with me?

The Stranger. I promised you to come as soon as I could —

Ellida. Go — go away! Never, never come here again! I wrote to you that everything must be over between us — everything! Oh! you know that!

The Stranger
(imperturbably, and not answering her)
. I would gladly have come to you sooner; but I could not. Now, at last I am able to, and I am here, Ellida.

Ellida. What is it you want with me? What do you mean? Why have you come here?

The Stranger. Surely you know I’ve come to fetch you.

Ellida
(recoils in terror)
. To fetch me! Is that what you mean?

The Stranger. Of course.

Ellida. But surely you know that I am married?

The Stranger. Yes, I know.

Ellida. And yet — and yet you have come to — to fetch me!

The Stranger. Certainly I have.

Ellida
(seizing her head with both her hands)
. Oh! this misery — this horror! This horror!

The Stranger. Perhaps you don’t want to come?

Ellida
(bewildered)
. Don’t look at me like that.

The Stranger. I was asking you if you didn’t want to come.

Ellida. No, no, no! Never in all eternity! I will not, I tell you. I neither can nor will.
(In lower tone.)
I dare not.

The Stranger
(climbs over the fence, and comes into the garden)
. Well, Ellida, let me tell you one thing before I go.

Ellida
(wishes to fly, but cannot. She stands as one paralysed with terror, and leans for support against the trunk of a tree by the pond)
. Don’t touch me! Don’t come near me! No nearer! Don’t touch me, I say!

The Stranger
(cautiously coming a few steps nearer)
. You need not be so afraid of me, Ellida.

Ellida
(covering her eyes with her hands)
. Don’t look at me like that.

The Stranger. Do not be afraid — not afraid.

(WANGEL comes through the garden, from the left.)

Wangel
(still half-way between the trees)
. Well, you’ve had to wait for me a long while.

Ellida
(rushes towards him, clings fast to his arm, and cries out)
. Oh! Wangel! Save me! You save me — if you can!

Wangel. Ellida! What in heaven’s name!

Ellida. Save me, Wangel! Don’t you see him there? Why, he is standing there!

Wangel
(looking thither)
. That man?
(Coming nearer.)
May I ask you who you are, and what you have come into this garden for?

The Stranger
(motions with a nod towards ELLIDA)
. I want to talk to her.

Wangel. Oh! indeed. So I suppose it was you.
(To ELLIDA.)
I hear a stranger has been to the house and asked for you?

The Stranger. Yes, it was I.

Wangel. And what do you want with my wife?
(Turning round.)
Do you know him, Ellida?

Ellida
(in a low voice and wringing her hands)
. Do I know him! Yes, yes, yes!

Wangel
(quickly)
. Well!

Ellida. Why, it is he, Wangel! — he himself! He who you know!

Wangel. What! What is it you say?
(Turning.)
Are you the Johnston who once...

The Stranger. You may call me Johnston for aught I care! However, that’s not my name.

Wangel. It is not?

The Stranger. It is — no longer. No!

Wangel. And what may you want with my wife? For I suppose you know the lighthouse-keeper’s daughter has been married this long time, and whom she married, you of course also know.

The Stranger. I’ve known it over three years.

Ellida
(eagerly)
. How did you come to know it?

The Stranger. I was on my way home to you, Ellida. I came across an old newspaper. It was a paper from these parts, and in it there was that about the marriage.

Ellida
(looking straight in front of her)
. The marriage! So it was that!

The Stranger. It seemed so wonderful to me. For the rings — why that, too, was a marriage, Ellida.

Ellida
(covering her face with her hands)
. Oh! — Wangel. How dare you?

The Stranger. Have you forgotten that?

Ellida
(feeling his look, suddenly cries out)
. Don’t stand there and look at me like that!

Wangel
(goes up to him)
. You must deal with me, and not with her. In short — now that you know the circumstances — what is it you really want here? Why do you seek my wife?

The Stranger. I promised Ellida to come to her as soon as I could.

Wangel. Ellida, again — !

The Stranger. And Ellida promised faithfully she would wait for me until I came.

Wangel. I notice you call my wife by her first name. This kind of familiarity is not customary with us here.

The Stranger. I know that perfectly. But as she first, and above all, belongs to me —

Wangel. To you, still —

Ellida
(draws back behind WANGEL)
. Oh! he will never release me!

Wangel. To you? You say she belongs to you?

The Stranger. Has she told you anything about the two rings — my ring and Ellida’s?

Wangel. Certainly. And what then? She put an end to that long ago. You have had her letters, so you know this yourself.

The Stranger. Both Ellida and I agreed that what we did should have all the strength and authority of a real and full marriage.

Ellida. But you hear, I will not! Never on earth do I wish to know anything more of you. Do not look at me like that. I will not, I tell you!

Wangel. You must be mad to think you can come here, and base any claim upon such childish nonsense.

The Stranger. That’s true. A claim, in your sense, I certainly have not.

Wangel. What do you mean to do, then? You surely do not imagine you can take her from me by force, against her own will?

The Stranger. No. What would be the good of that? If Ellida wishes to be with me she must come freely.

Ellida
(starts, crying out)
. Freely!

Wangel. And you actually believe that —

Ellida
(to herself)
. Freely!

Wangel. You must have taken leave of your senses! Go your ways. We have nothing more to do with you.

The Stranger
(looking at his watch)
. It is almost time for me to go on board again.
(Coming nearer.)
Yes, yes, Ellida, now I have done my duty.
(Coming still nearer.)
I have kept the word I gave you.

Ellida
(beseechingly drawing away)
. Oh! don’t touch me!

The Stranger. And so now you must think it over till tomorrow night —

Wangel. There is nothing to think over here. See that you get away.

The Stranger
(still to ELLIDA)
. Now I’m going with the steamer up the fjord. Tomorrow night I will come again, and then I shall look for you here. You must wait for me here in the garden, for I prefer settling the matter with you alone; you understand?

Ellida
(in low, trembling tone)
. Do you hear that, Wangel?

Wangel. Only keep calm. We shall know how to prevent this visit.

The Stranger. Goodbye for the present, Ellida. So tomorrow night —

Ellida
(imploringly)
. Oh! no, no! Do not come tomorrow night! Never come here again!

The Stranger. And should you then have a mind to follow me over the seas —

Ellida. Oh, don’t look at me like that!

The Stranger. I only mean that you must then be ready to set out.

Wangel. Go up to the house, Ellida.

Ellida. I cannot! Oh, help me! Save me, Wangel!

The Stranger. For you must remember that if you do not go with me tomorrow, all is at an end.