Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (282 page)

Hedda.
Oh, how can you think such a thing!

Brack.
Good heavens, Mrs. Hedda — we have eyes in our head. Mark my words! This Mrs. Elvsted will be in no hurry to leave town again.

Hedda.
Well, even if there should be anything between them, I suppose there are plenty of other places where they could meet.

Brack.
Not a single home. Henceforth, as before, every respectable house will be closed against Eilert Lovborg.

Hedda.
And so ought mine to be, you mean?

Brack.
Yes. I confess it would be more than painful to me if this personage were to be made free of your house. How superfluous, how intrusive, he would be, if he were to force his way into —

Hedda.
— into the triangle?

Brack.
Precisely. It would simply mean that I should find myself homeless.

Hedda.
[Looks at him with a smile.]
So you want to be the one cock in the basket — that is your aim.

Brack.
[Nods slowly and lowers his voice.]
Yes, that is my aim. And for that I will fight — with every weapon I can command.

Hedda.
[Her smile vanishing.]
I see you are a dangerous person — when it comes to the point.

Brack.
Do you think so?

Hedda.
I am beginning to think so. And I am exceedingly glad to think — that you have no sort of hold over me.

Brack.
[Laughing equivocally.]
Well well, Mrs. Hedda — perhaps you are right there. If I had, who knows what I might be capable of?

Hedda.
Come come now, Judge Brack! That sounds almost like a threat.

Brack.
[Rising.]
Oh, not at all! The triangle, you know, ought, if possible, to be spontaneously constructed.

Hedda.
There I agree with you.

Brack.
Well, now I have said all I had to say; and I had better be getting back to town. Good-bye, Mrs. Hedda. [He goes towards the glass door.

Hedda.
[Rising.]
Are you going through the garden?

Brack.
Yes, it’s a short cut for me.

Hedda.
And then it is a back way, too.

Brack.
Quite so. I have no objection to back ways. They may be piquant enough at times.

Hedda.
When there is ball practice going on, you mean?

Brack.
[In the doorway, laughing to her.]
Oh, people don’t shoot their tame poultry, I fancy.

Hedda.
[Also laughing.]
Oh no, when there is only one cock in the basket —

They exchange laughing nods of farewell. He goes. She closes the door behind him.

Hedda
, who has become quite serious, stands for a moment looking out. Presently she goes and peeps through the curtain over the middle doorway. Then she goes to the writing-table, takes
Lovborg’s
packet out of the bookcase, and is on the point of looking through its contents.
Berta
is heard speaking loudly in the hall.
Hedda
turns and listens. Then she hastily locks up the packet in the drawer, and lays the key on the inkstand.

Eilert Lovborg
, with his greatcoat on and his hat in his hand, tears open the hall door. He looks somewhat confused and irritated.

Lovborg.
[Looking towards the hall.]
and I tell you I must and will come in! There!

He closes the door, turns, sees
Hedda
, at once regains his self-control, and bows.

Hedda.
[At the writing-table.]
Well, Mr Lovborg, this is rather a late hour to call for Thea.

Lovborg.
You mean rather an early hour to call on you. Pray pardon me.

Hedda.
How do you know that she is still here?

Lovborg.
They told me at her lodgings that she had been out all night.

Hedda.
[Going to the oval table.]
Did you notice anything about the people of the house when they said that?

Lovborg.
[Looks inquiringly at her.]
Notice anything about them?

Hedda.
I mean, did they seem to think it odd?

Lovborg.
[Suddenly understanding.]
Oh yes, of course! I am dragging her down with me! However, I didn’t notice anything. — I suppose Tesman is not up yet.

Hedda.
No — I think not —

Lovborg.
When did he come home?

Hedda.
Very late.

Lovborg.
Did he tell you anything?

Hedda.
Yes, I gathered that you had had an exceedingly jolly evening at Judge Brack’s.

Lovborg.
Nothing more?

Hedda.
I don’t think so. However, I was so dreadfully sleepy —

Mrs. Elvsted
enters through the curtains of the middle doorway.

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[Going towards him.]
Ah, Lovborg! At last — !

Lovborg.
Yes, at last. And too late!

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[Looks anxiously at him.]
What is too late?

Lovborg.
Everything is too late now. It is all over with me.

Mrs.
Elvsted. Oh no, no — don’t say that!

Lovborg.
You will say the same when you hear —

Mrs.
Elvsted. I won’t hear anything!

Hedda.
Perhaps you would prefer to talk to her alone? If so, I will leave you.

Lovborg.
No, stay — you too. I beg you to stay.

Mrs.
Elvsted. Yes, but I won’t hear anything, I tell you.

Lovborg.
It is not last night’s adventures that I want to talk about.

Mrs.
Elvsted. What is it then — ?

Lovborg.
I want to say that now our ways must part.

Mrs.
Elvsted. Part!

Hedda.
[Involuntarily.]
I knew it!

Lovborg.
You can be of no more service to me, Thea.

Mrs.
Elvsted. How can you stand there and say that! No more service to you! Am I not to help you now, as before? Are we not to go on working together?

Lovborg.
Henceforward I shall do no work.

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[Despairingly.]
Then what am I to do with my life?

Lovborg.
You must try to live your life as if you had never know me.

Mrs.
Elvsted. But you know I cannot do that!

Lovborg.
Try if you cannot, Thea. You must go home again —

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[In vehement protest.]
Never in this world! Where you are, there will I be also! I will not let myself be driven away like this! I will remain here! I will be with you when the book appears.

Hedda.
[Half aloud, in suspense.]
Ah yes — the book!

Lovborg.
[Looks at her.]
My book and Thea’s; for that is what it is.

Mrs.
Elvsted. Yes, I feel that it is. And that is why I have a right to be with you when it appears! I will see with my own eyes how respect and honour pour in upon you afresh. And the happiness — the happiness — oh, I must share it with you!

Lovborg.
Thea — our book will never appear.

Hedda.
Ah!

Mrs.
Elvsted. Never appear!

Lovborg.
Can never appear.

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[In agonised foreboding.]
Lovborg — what have you done with the manuscript?

Hedda.
[Looks anxiously at him.]
Yes, the manuscript — ?

Mrs.
Elvsted. Where is it?

Lovborg.
The manuscript — . Well then — I have torn the manuscript into a thousand pieces.

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[Shrieks.]
Oh no, no — !

Hedda.
[Involuntarily.]
But that’s not —

Lovborg.
[Looks at her.]
Not true, you think?

Hedda.
[Collecting herself.]
Oh well, of course — since you say so. But it sounded so improbable —

Lovborg.
It is true, all the same.

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[Wringing her hands.]
Oh God — oh God, Hedda — torn his own work to pieces!

Lovborg.
I have torn my own life to pieces. So why should I not tear my life-work too — ?

Mrs.
Elvsted. And you did this last night?

Lovborg.
Yes, I tell you! Tore it into a thousand pieces — and scattered them on the fiord — far out. There there is cool sea-water at any rate — let them drift upon it — drift with the current and the wind. And then presently they will sink — deeper and deeper — as I shall, Thea.

Mrs.
Elvsted. Do you know, Lovborg, that what you have done with the book — I shall think of it to my dying day as though you had killed a little child.

Lovborg.
Yes, you are right. It is a sort of child-murder.

Mrs.
Elvsted. How could you, then — ! Did not the child belong to me too?

Hedda.
[Almost inaudibly.]
Ah, the child —

Mrs.
Elvsted.
[Breathing heavily.]
It is all over then. Well well, now I will go, Hedda.

Hedda.
But you are not going away from town?

Mrs.
Elvsted. Oh, I don’t know what I shall do. I see nothing but darkness before me. [She goes out by the hall door.

Hedda.
[Stands waiting for a moment.]
So you are not going to see her home, Mr. Lovborg?

Lovborg.
I? Through the streets? Would you have people see her walking with me?

Hedda.
Of course I don’t know what else may have happened last night. But is it so utterly irretrievable?

Lovborg.
It will not end with last night — I know that perfectly well. And the thing is that now I have no taste for that sort of life either. I won’t begin it anew. She has broken my courage and my power of braving life out.

Hedda.
[Looking straight before her.]
So that pretty little fool has had her fingers in a man’s destiny.
[Looks at him.]
But all the same, how could you treat her so heartlessly.

Lovborg.
Oh, don’t say that I was heartless!

Hedda.
To go and destroy what has filled her whole soul for months and years! You do not call that heartless!

Lovborg.
To you I can tell the truth, Hedda.