Part 17
[_Stands a moment immovable, in terror and perplexity, biting her lips to keep back the tears; then she clenches her hands convulsively, and says softly_:] The wild duck.
[_She steals over and takes the pistol from the shelf, opens the garret door a little way, creeps in, and draws the door to after her._
[HIALMAR _and_ GINA _can be heard disputing in the sitting-room._
HIALMAR.
[_Comes in with some manuscript books and old loose papers, which he lays upon the table._] That portmanteau is of no use! There are a thousand and one things I must drag with me.
GINA.
[_Following with the portmanteau._] Why not leave all the rest for the present, and only take a shirt and a pair of woollen drawers with you?
HIALMAR.
Whew!—all these exhausting preparations——!
[_Pulls off his overcoat and throws it upon the sofa._
GINA.
And there’s the coffee getting cold.
HIALMAR.
H'm.
[_Drinks a mouthful without thinking of it, and then another._
GINA.
[_Dusting the backs of the chairs._] A nice job you’ll have to find such another big garret for the rabbits.
HIALMAR.
What! Am I to drag all those rabbits with me too?
GINA.
You don’t suppose grandfather can get on without his rabbits.
HIALMAR.
He must just get used to doing without them. Have not _I_ to sacrifice very much greater things than rabbits!
GINA.
[_Dusting the bookcase._] Shall I put the flute in the portmanteau for you?
HIALMAR.
No. No flute for me. But give me the pistol!
GINA.
Do you want to take the pigstol with you?
HIALMAR.
Yes. My loaded pistol.
GINA.
[_Searching for it._] It’s gone. He must have taken it in with him.
HIALMAR.
Is he in the garret?
GINA.
Yes, of course he’s in the garret.
HIALMAR.
H'm—poor lonely old man.
[_He takes a piece of bread and butter, eats it, and finishes his cup of coffee._
GINA.
If we hadn’t have let that room, you could have moved in there.
HIALMAR.
And continued to live under the same roof with——! Never,—never!
GINA.
But couldn’t you put up with the sitting-room for a day or two? You could have it all to yourself.
HIALMAR.
Never within these walls!
GINA.
Well then, down with Relling and Molvik.
HIALMAR.
Don’t mention those wretches' names to me! The very thought of them almost takes away my appetite.—Oh no, I must go out into the storm and the snow-drift,—go from house to house and seek shelter for my father and myself.
GINA.
But you’ve got no hat, Ekdal! You’ve been and lost your hat, you know.
HIALMAR.
Oh those two brutes, those slaves of all the vices! A hat must be procured. [_Takes another piece of bread and butter._] Some arrangement must be made. For I have no mind to throw away my life, either.
[_Looks for something on the tray._
GINA.
What are you looking for?
HIALMAR.
Butter.
GINA.
I'll get some at once. _Goes out into the kitchen._
HIALMAR.
[_Calls after her._] Oh it doesn’t matter; dry bread is good enough for me.
GINA.
[_Brings a dish of butter._] Look here; this is fresh churned.
[_She pours out another cup of coffee for him; he seats himself on the sofa, spreads more butter on the already buttered bread, and eats and drinks awhile in silence._
HIALMAR.
Could I, without being subject to intrusion—intrusion of _any_ sort—could I live in the sitting-room there for a day or two?
GINA.
Yes, to be sure you could, if you only would.
HIALMAR.
For I see no possibility of getting all father’s things out in such a hurry.
GINA.
And besides, you’ve surely got to tell him first as you don’t mean to live with us others no more.
HIALMAR.
[_Pushes away his coffee cup._] Yes, there is that too; I shall have to lay bare the whole tangled story to him——. I must turn matters over; I must have breathing-time; I cannot take all these burdens on my shoulders in a single day.
GINA.
No, especially in such horrible weather as it is outside.
HIALMAR.
[_Touching_ WERLE’S _letter._] I see that paper is still lying about here.
GINA.
Yes, _I_ haven’t touched it.
HIALMAR.
So far as I am concerned it is mere waste paper——
GINA.
Well, _I_ have certainly no notion of making any use of it.
HIALMAR.
——but we had better not let it get lost all the same;—in all the upset when I move, it might easily——
GINA.
I'll take good care of it, Ekdal.
HIALMAR.
The donation is in the first instance made to father, and it rests with him to accept or decline it.
GINA.
[_Sighs._] Yes, poor old father——
HIALMAR.
To make quite safe—— Where shall I find some gum?
GINA.
[_Goes to the bookcase._] Here’s the gum-pot.
HIALMAR.
And a brush?
GINA.
The brush is here too. _Brings him the things._
HIALMAR.
[_Takes a pair of scissors._] Just a strip of paper at the back——[_Clips and gums._] Far be it from me to lay hands upon what is not my own—and least of all upon what belongs to a destitute old man—and to—the other as well.—There now. Let it lie there for a time; and when it is dry, take it away. I wish never to see that document again. Never!
GREGERS WERLE _enters from the passage._
GREGERS.
[_Somewhat surprised._] What,—are you sitting here, Hialmar?
HIALMAR.
[_Rises hurriedly._] I had sunk down from fatigue.
GREGERS.
You have been having breakfast, I see.
HIALMAR.
The body sometimes makes its claims felt too.
GREGERS.
What have you decided to do?
HIALMAR.
For a man like me, there is only one course possible. I am just putting my most important things together. But it takes time, you know.
GINA.
[_With a touch of impatience._] Am I to get the room ready for you, or am I to pack your portmanteau?
HIALMAR.
[_After a glance of annoyance at_ GREGERS.] Pack—and get the room ready!
GINA.
[_Takes the portmanteau._] Very well; then I'll put in the shirt and the other things.
[_Goes into the sitting-room and draws the door to after her._
GREGERS.
[_After a short silence._] I never dreamed that this would be the end of it. Do you really feel it a necessity to leave house and home?
HIALMAR.
[_Wanders about restlessly._] What would you have me do?—I am not fitted to bear unhappiness, Gregers. I must feel secure and at peace in my surroundings.
GREGERS.
But can you not feel that here? Just try it. I should have thought you had firm ground to build upon now—if only you start afresh. And remember, you have your invention to live for.
HIALMAR.
Oh don’t talk about my invention. It’s perhaps still in the dim distance.
GREGERS.
Indeed!
HIALMAR.
Why, great heavens, what would you have me invent? Other people have invented almost everything already. It becomes more and more difficult every day——
GREGERS.
And you have devoted so much labour to it.
HIALMAR.
It was that blackguard Relling that urged me to it.
GREGERS.
Relling?
HIALMAR.
Yes, it was he that first made me realise my aptitude for making some notable discovery in photography.
GREGERS.
Aha—it was Relling!
HIALMAR.
Oh! I have been so truly happy over it! Not so much for the sake of the invention itself, as because Hedvig believed in it—believed in it with a child’s whole eagerness of faith.—At least, I have been fool enough to go and imagine that she believed in it.
GREGERS.
Can you really think that Hedvig has been false towards you?
HIALMAR.
I can think anything now. It is Hedvig that stands in my way. She will blot out the sunlight from my whole life.
GREGERS.
Hedvig! Is it Hedvig you are talking of? How should _she_ blot out your sunlight?
HIALMAR.
[_Without answering._] How unutterably I have loved that child! How unutterably happy I have felt every time I came home to my humble room, and she flew to meet me, with her sweet little blinking eyes. Oh, confiding fool that I have been! I loved her unutterably;—and I yielded myself up to the dream, the delusion, that she loved me unutterably in return.
GREGERS.
Do you call that a delusion?
HIALMAR.
How should I know? I can get nothing out of Gina; and besides, she is totally blind to the ideal side of these complications. But to you I feel impelled to open my mind, Gregers. I cannot shake off this frightful doubt—perhaps Hedvig has never really and honestly loved me.
GREGERS.
What would you say if she were to give you a proof of her love? [_Listens._] What’s that? I thought I heard the wild duck——?
HIALMAR.
It’s the wild duck quacking. Father’s in the garret.
GREGERS.
Is he? [_His face lights up with joy._] I say you may yet have proof that your poor misunderstood Hedvig loves you!
HIALMAR.
Oh, what proof can she give me? I dare not believe in any assurances from that quarter.
GREGERS.
Hedvig does not know what deceit means.
HIALMAR.
Oh Gregers, that is just what I cannot be sure of. Who knows what Gina and that Mrs. Sörby may many a time have sat here whispering and tattling about? And Hedvig usually has her ears open, I can tell you. Perhaps the deed of gift was not such a surprise to her, after all. In fact, I'm not sure but that I noticed something of the sort.
GREGERS.
What spirit is this that has taken possession of you?
HIALMAR.
I have had my eyes opened. Just you notice;—you’ll see, the deed of gift is only a beginning. Mrs. Sörby has always been a good deal taken up with Hedvig; and now she has the power to do whatever she likes for the child. They can take her from me whenever they please.
GREGERS.
Hedvig will never, never leave you.
HIALMAR.
Don’t be so sure of that. If only they beckon to her and throw out a golden bait——! And oh! I have loved her so unspeakably! I would have counted it my highest happiness to take her tenderly by the hand and lead her, as one leads a timid child through a great dark empty room!—I am cruelly certain now that the poor photographer in his humble attic has never really and truly been anything to her. She has only cunningly contrived to keep on a good footing with him until the time came.
GREGERS.
You don’t believe that yourself, Hialmar.
HIALMAR.
That is just the terrible part of it—I don’t know what to believe,—I never can know it. But can you really doubt that it must be as I say? Ho-ho, you have far too much faith in the claim of the ideal, my good Gregers! If those others came, with the glamour of wealth about them, and called to the child:—“Leave him: come to us: here life awaits you——!”
GREGERS.
[_Quickly._] Well, what then?
HIALMAR.
If I then asked her: Hedvig, are you willing to renounce that life for me? [_Laughs scornfully._] No thank you! You would soon hear what answer I should get.
[_A pistol shot is heard from within the garret._
GREGERS.
[_Loudly and joyfully._] Hialmar!
HIALMAR.
There now; he must needs go shooting too.
GINA.
[_Comes in._] Oh Ekdal, I can hear grandfather blazing away in the garret by hisself.
HIALMAR.
I'll look in——
GREGERS.
[_Eagerly, with emotion._] Wait a moment! Do you know what that was?
HIALMAR.
Yes, of course I know.
GREGERS.
No you don’t know. But _I_ do. That was the proof!
HIALMAR.
What proof?
GREGERS.
It was a child’s free-will offering. She has got your father to shoot the wild duck.
HIALMAR.
To shoot the wild duck!
GINA.
Oh, think of that——!
HIALMAR.
What was _that_ for?
GREGERS.
She wanted to sacrifice to you her most cherished possession; for then she thought you would surely come to love her again.
HIALMAR.
[_Tenderly, with emotion._] Oh, poor child!
GINA.
What things she does think of!
GREGERS.
She only wanted your love again, Hialmar. She could not live without it.
GINA.
[_Struggling with her tears._] There, you can see for yourself, Ekdal.
HIALMAR.
Gina, where is she?
GINA.
[_Sniffs._] Poor dear, she’s sitting out in the kitchen, I dare say.
HIALMAR.
[_Goes over, tears open the kitchen door, and says_:] Hedvig, come, come in to me! [_Looks round._] No, she’s not here.
GINA.
Then she must be in her own little room.
HIALMAR.
[_Without._] No, she’s not here either. [_Comes in._] She must have gone out.
GINA.
Yes, you wouldn’t have her anywheres in the house.
HIALMAR.
Oh, if she would only come home quickly, so that I can tell her—— Everything will come right now, Gregers; now I believe we can begin life afresh.
GREGERS.
[_Quietly._] I knew it; I knew the child would make amends.
OLD EKDAL _appears at the door of his room; he is in full uniform, and is busy buckling on his sword._
HIALMAR.
[_Astonished._] Father! Are you there?
GINA.
Have you been firing in your room?
EKDAL.
[_Resentfully approaching._] So you go shooting alone, do you, Hialmar?
HIALMAR.
[_Excited and confused._] Then it wasn’t you that fired that shot in the garret?
EKDAL.
_Me_ that fired? H'm.
GREGERS.
[_Calls out to HIALMAR._] She has shot the wild duck herself!
HIALMAR.
What can it mean? [_Hastens to the garret door, tears it aside, looks in and calls loudly_:] Hedvig!
GINA.
[_Runs to the door._] Good God, what’s that!
HIALMAR.
[_Goes in._] She’s lying on the floor!
GREGERS.
Hedvig! lying on the floor!
[_Goes in to_ HIALMAR.
GINA.
[_At the same time._] Hedvig! [_Inside the garret._] No, no, no!
EKDAL.
Ho-ho! does _she_ go shooting too, now?
[HIALMAR, GINA, _and_ GREGERS _carry_ HEDVIG _into the studio; in her dangling right hand she holds the pistol fast clasped in her fingers._
HIALMAR.
[_Distracted._] The pistol has gone off. She has wounded herself. Call for help! Help!
GINA.
[_Runs into the passage and calls down._] Relling! Relling! Doctor Relling; come up as quick as you can!
[HIALMAR _and_ GREGERS _lay_ HEDVIG _down on the sofa._
EKDAL.
[_Quietly._] The woods avenge themselves.
HIALMAR.
[_On his knees beside HEDVIG._] She’ll soon come to now. She’s coming to——; yes, yes, yes.
GINA.
[_Who has come in again._] Where has she hurt herself? I can’t see anything——
[RELLING _comes hurriedly, and immediately after him_ MOLVIK; _the latter without his waistcoat and necktie, and with his coat open._
RELLING.
What’s the matter here?
GINA.
They say Hedvig has shot herself.
HIALMAR.
Come and help us!
RELLING.
Shot herself!
[_He pushes the table aside and begins to examine her._
HIALMAR.
[_Kneeling and looking anxiously up at him._] It can’t be dangerous? Speak, Relling! She is scarcely bleeding at all. It can’t be dangerous?
RELLING.
How did it happen?
HIALMAR.
Oh, we don’t know——!
GINA.
She wanted to shoot the wild duck.
RELLING.
The wild duck?
HIALMAR.
The pistol must have gone off.
RELLING.
H'm. Indeed.
EKDAL.
The woods avenge themselves. But I'm not afraid, all the same.
[_Goes into the garret and closes the door after him._
HIALMAR.
Well, Relling,—why don’t you say something?
RELLING.
The ball has entered the breast.
HIALMAR.
Yes, but she’s coming to!
RELLING.
Surely you can see that Hedvig is dead.
GINA.
[_Bursts into tears._] Oh my child, my child!
GREGERS.
[_Huskily._] In the depths of the sea——
HIALMAR.
[_Jumps up._] No, no, she _must_ live! Oh, for God’s sake, Relling—only a moment—only just till I can tell her how unspeakably I loved her all the time!
RELLING.
The bullet has gone through her heart. Internal hemorrhage. Death must have been instantaneous.
HIALMAR.
And I! I hunted her from me like an animal! And she crept terrified into the garret and died for love of me! [_Sobbing._] I can never atone to her! I can never tell her——! [_Clenches his hands and cries, upwards._] O thou above——! If thou be indeed! Why hast thou done this thing to me?
GINA.
Hush, hush, you mustn’t go on that awful way. We had no right to keep her, I suppose.
MOLVIK.
The child is not dead, but sleepeth.
RELLING.
Bosh!
HIALMAR.
[_Becomes calm, goes over to the sofa, folds his arms, and looks at HEDVIG._] There she lies so stiff and still.
RELLING.
[_Tries to loosen the pistol._] She’s holding it so tight, so tight.
GINA.
No, no, Relling, don’t break her fingers; let the pigstol be.
HIALMAR.
She shall take it with her.
GINA.
Yes, let her. But the child mustn’t lie here for a show. She shall go to her own room, so she shall. Help me, Ekdal.
[HIALMAR _and_ GINA _take_ HEDVIG _between them._
HIALMAR.
[_As they are carrying her._] Oh Gina, Gina, can you survive this!
GINA.
We must help each other to bear it. For _now_ at least she belongs to both of us.
MOLVIK.
[_Stretches out his arms and mumbles._] Blessed be the Lord; to earth thou shalt return; to earth thou shalt return——
RELLING.
[_Whispers._] Hold your tongue, you fool; you’re drunk.
[HIALMAR _and_ GINA _carry the body out through the kitchen door._ RELLING _shuts it after them._ MOLVIK _slinks out into the passage._
RELLING.
[_Goes over to GREGERS and says_:] No one shall ever convince me that the pistol went off by accident.
GREGERS.
[_Who has stood terrified, with convulsive twitchings._] Who can say how the dreadful thing happened?
RELLING.
The powder has burnt the body of her dress. She must have pressed the pistol right against her breast and fired.
GREGERS.
Hedvig has not died in vain. Did you not see how sorrow set free what is noble in him?
RELLING.
Most people are ennobled by the actual presence of death. But how long do you suppose this nobility will last in _him_?
GREGERS.
Why should it not endure and increase throughout his life?
RELLING.
Before a year is over, little Hedvig will be nothing to him but a pretty theme for declamation.
GREGERS.
How dare you say that of Hialmar Ekdal?
RELLING.
We will talk of this again, when the grass has first withered on her grave. Then you’ll hear him spouting about “the child too early torn from her father’s heart;” then you’ll see him steep himself in a syrup of sentiment and self-admiration and self-pity. Just you wait!
GREGERS.
If you are right and I am wrong, then life is not worth living.
RELLING.
Oh, life would be quite tolerable, after all, if only we could be rid of the confounded duns that keep on pestering us, in our poverty, with the claim of the ideal.
GREGERS.
[_Looking straight before him._] In that case, I am glad that my destiny is what it is.
RELLING.
May I inquire,—what is your destiny?
GREGERS.
[_Going._] To be the thirteenth at table.
RELLING.
The devil it is.
THE END.
-----
Footnote 19:
“Livslögnen,” literally “the life-lie.”
Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Note
There are quite a few instances of missing punctuation. The conventional period following the character’s name is sometimes missing and has been added for consistency’s sake without further comment. Those missing from setting and stage direction are also added without comment, since there is no obvious purpose to be served by the omission. However, the restoration of punctuation missing from dialogue is noted below, since the punctuation is frequently expressive. Several instances of dubious ‘?’ marks have been corrected, based on context.
As noted below, on p. 62, there is apparently a missing word in the phrase ‘And even it were so...’, most likely ‘if’.
Volume I of this series included errata for each succeeding volume, and noted the following for Volume VIII. Each of these was corrected in printing.
Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.
xii.11 was four [old years/years old] before Transposed. xxii.22 [‘]But you really ought to do so. Restored. xxiii.3 the name of his only sister[,] Restored. 21.29 one ought at least to vote[.] Added. 41.10 Dr. Stockman[n]. Added. 62.19 And even[ ]it were so? _sic_: if? 64.20 or a whole pamph[l]et about it. Inserted. 69.29 Father! Dismissal[!] Added. 76.2 “People’s Messenger[.]” Added. 76.3 an entrance-door[—]to the right Restored. 79.13 Asla[sk/ks]en! just come here a moment. Transposed. 81.28 but that’s too outrageous[!] Probable. 106.18 just as I thought[.] Added. 106.24 You know very well what I want[.] Added. 108.9 Dr. Hovst[e/a]d. Replaced. 109.33 sunshine and spring air, Thomas[.] Added. 113.25 won’t be so easy a[t/s] you think Replaced. 114.24 It[’]s because in this town Inserted. 124.14 We protest[!] Added. 144.20 Dr. Stockman[n] has unmasked Added. 144.24 we ought to formul[u/a]te this opinion Replaced. 149.7 Good[.] Come Katrina, come boys! Added. 169.23 DR. STOCKMAN[N]. Added. 169.25 MORT[O/E]N KIIL. Replaced. 174.25 Yo[ /u]r attitude, you say? Restored. 211.21 something good, mind[.] Added. 217.7 But that unhappy Ekdal family[.] Added. 217.30 I am not telling you the truth[?] Added. 218.9 Ekdal taught p[r/h]otography? Replaced. 224.25 opposed to it[!/?] Replaced. 241.27 they are t[w/o]o big for curls. Replaced. 259.10 you keep poultry, Lieutenant Ekdal[.] Added. 259.24 like to roost high, you see[.] Added. 270.2 You’re very strange[.] Added. 276.8 a matter of life and death[.] Added. 296.10 to make this great invention[.] Added. 303.3 you’re not to say anything, father[.] Added. 303.29 I brought him home last night[./?] Replaced. 307.22 don’t sit there cricketizing me[.] Added. 309.29 I carry it in my breast[.] Added. 321.14 to have gone so far, Ekdal[;] you’re not Added. 361.15 I'll try it to-morrow morning[!] Added. 378.16 you haven’t caught cold, Ekdal[.] Added. 397.2 Oh my child, my child[!] Added.