Part 9
But he won’t, my good Peter. The Badger is only too delighted to see me fall foul of you and your wiseacre friends.
BURGOMASTER.
[_Starts and looks searchingly at him._] Aha! That throws a new light on a good many things.
DR. STOCKMANN.
What things?
BURGOMASTER.
So the whole affair has been a carefully-concocted intrigue. Your recklessly violent onslaught—in the name of truth—upon the leading men of the town——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, what of it?
BURGOMASTER.
It was nothing but a preconcerted requital for that vindictive old Morten Kiil’s will.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Almost speechless._] Peter—you are the most abominable plebeian I have ever known in all my born days.
BURGOMASTER.
All is over between us. Your dismissal is irrevocable—for now we have a weapon against you. _He goes out._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Shame! shame! shame! [_Calls._] Katrina! The floor must be scrubbed after him! Tell her to come here with a pail—what’s her name? confound it—the girl with the smudge on her nose——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_In the sitting-room doorway._] Hush, hush Thomas!
PETRA.
[_Also in the doorway._] Father, here’s grandfather; he wants to know if he can speak to you alone.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, of course he can. [_By the door._] Come in, father-in-law.
MORTEN KIIL _enters._ DR. STOCKMANN _closes the door behind him._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, what is it? Sit down.
MORTEN KIIL.
I won’t sit down. [_Looking about him._] It looks cheerful here to-day, Stockmann.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, don’t you think so?
MORTEN KIIL.
Sure enough. And you’ve plenty of fresh air too; you’ve got your fill of that oxygen you were talking about yesterday. You must have a rare good conscience to-day, I should think.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, I have.
MORTEN KIIL.
So I should suppose. [_Tapping himself on the breast._] But do you know what _I_ have got here?
DR. STOCKMANN.
A good conscience too, I hope.
MORTEN KIIL.
Pooh! No; something far better than that.
[_Takes out a large pocket-book, opens it, and shows_ STOCKMANN _a bundle of papers._
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Looking at him in astonishment._] Shares in the Baths!
MORTEN KIIL.
They weren’t difficult to get to-day.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And you’ve gone and bought these up——?
MORTEN KIIL.
All I had the money to pay for.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Why, my dear sir,—just when things are in such a desperate way at the Baths——
MORTEN KIIL.
If you behave like a reasonable being, you can soon set the Baths all right again.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, you can see for yourself I'm doing all I can. But the people of this town are mad!
MORTEN KIIL.
You said yesterday that the worst filth came from my tannery. Now, if that’s true, then my grandfather, and my father before me, and I myself, have for ever so many years been poisoning the town with filth, like three destroying angels. Do you think I'm going to sit quiet under such a reproach?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Unfortunately, you can’t help it.
MORTEN KIIL.
No, thank you. I hold fast to my good name, I've heard that people call me “the Badger.” A badger’s a sort of a pig, I know; but I'm determined to give them the lie. I will live and die a clean man.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And how will you manage _that_?
MORTEN KIIL.
You shall make me clean, Stockmann.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I!
MORTEN KIIL.
Do you know what money I've used to buy these shares with? No, you can’t know; but now I'll tell you. It’s the money Katrina and Petra and the boys are to have after my death. For, you see, I've laid by something after all.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Flaring up._] And you’ve taken Katrina’s money and done _this_ with it!
MORTEN KIIL.
Yes; the whole of it is invested in the Baths now. And now I want to see if you’re really so stark, staring mad; after all, Stockmann. If you go on making out that these beasts and other abominations dribble down from my tannery, it’ll be just as if you were to flay broad stripes of Katrina’s skin—and Petra’s too, and the boys'. No decent father would ever do that—unless he were a madman.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Walking up and down._] Yes, but I _am_ a madman; I _am_ a madman!
MORTEN KIIL.
You surely can’t be so raving, ramping mad where your wife and children are concerned.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Stopping in front of him._] Why couldn’t you have spoken to me before you went and bought all that rubbish?
MORTEN KIIL.
What’s done can’t be undone.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Walking restlessly about._] If only I weren’t so certain about the affair——! But I am absolutely convinced that I'm right.
MORTEN KIIL.
[_Weighing the pocket book in his hand._] If you stick to this lunacy, these aren’t worth much.
[_Puts the book into his pocket._
DR. STOCKMANN.
But, deuce take it! surely science ought to be able to hit upon some antidote, some sort of prophylactic——
MORTEN KIIL.
Do you mean something to kill the beasts?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, or at least to make them harmless.
MORTEN KIIL.
Couldn’t you try ratsbane?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Oh, nonsense, nonsense!—But since every one declares it’s nothing but fancy, why fancy let it be! Let them have it their own way! Haven’t the ignorant, narrow-hearted curs reviled me as an enemy of the people?—and weren’t they on the point of tearing the clothes off my back?
MORTEN KIIL.
And they’ve smashed all your windows for you too!
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, and then there’s one’s duty to one’s family! I must talk that over with Katrina; such things are more in her line.
MORTEN KIIL.
That’s right! You just follow the advice of a sensible woman.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Turning upon him angrily._] How could you act so preposterously! Risking Katrina’s money, and putting me to this horrible torture! When I look at you, I seem to see the devil himself——!
MORTEN KIIL.
Then I'd better be off. But I must, hear from you, yes or no, by two o’clock. If it’s no, all the shares go to the Hospital—and that this very day.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And what will Katrina get?
MORTEN KIIL.
Not a rap.
[_The door leading to the hall opens. HOVSTAD and ASLAKSEN are seen outside it._
MORTEN KIIL.
Hullo! look at these two.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Staring at them._] What! Do you actually venture to come here?
HOVSTAD.
Why, to be sure we do.
ASLAKSEN.
You see, we’ve something to discuss with you.
MORTEN KIIL.
[_Whispers._] Yes or no—by two o’clock.
ASLAKSEN.
[_With a glance at HOVSTAD._] Aha!
[MORTEN KIIL _goes out._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, what do you want with me? Be brief.
HOVSTAD.
I can quite understand that you resent our attitude at the meeting yesterday——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Your attitude, you say? Yes, it was a pretty attitude! I call it the attitude of cowards—of old women——Shame upon you!
HOVSTAD.
Call it what you will; but we _could_ not act otherwise.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You _dared_ not, I suppose? Isn’t that so?
HOVSTAD.
Yes, if you like to put it so.
ASLAKSEN.
But why didn’t you just say a word to us beforehand? The merest hint to Mr. Hovstad or to me——
DR. STOCKMANN.
A hint? What about?
ASLAKSEN.
About what was really behind it all.
DR. STOCKMANN.
I don’t in the least understand you?
ASLAKSEN.
[_Nods confidentially._] Oh yes, you do, Dr. Stockmann.
HOVSTAD.
It’s no good making a mystery of it any longer.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Looking from one to the other._] Why, what in the devil’s name——!
ASLAKSEN.
May I ask—isn’t your father-in-law going about the town buying up all the Bath stock?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, he has been buying Bath stock to-day but——
ASLAKSEN.
It would have been more prudent to let somebody else do that—some one not so closely connected with you.
HOVSTAD.
And then you ought not to have appeared in the matter under your own name. No one need have known that the attack on the Baths came from you. You should have taken me into your counsels, Dr. Stockmann.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Stares straight in front of him; a light seems to break in upon him, and he says as though thunderstruck._] Is this possible? Can such things be?
ASLAKSEN.
[_Smiling._] It’s plain enough that they can. But they ought to be managed delicately, you understand.
HOVSTAD.
And there ought to be more people in it; for the responsibility always falls more lightly when there are several to share it.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Calmly._] In one word, gentlemen—what is it you want?
ASLAKSEN.
Mr. Hovstad can best——
HOVSTAD.
No, you explain, Aslaksen.
ASLAKSEN.
Well, it’s this: now that we know how the matter really stands, we believe we can venture to place the _People’s Messenger_ at your disposal.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You can venture to _now_, eh? But how about public opinion? Aren’t you afraid of bringing down a storm upon us?
HOVSTAD.
We must manage to ride out the storm.
ASLAKSEN.
And you must be ready to put about quickly, Doctor. As soon as your attack has done its work——
DR. STOCKMANN.
As soon as my father-in-law and I have bought up the shares at a discount, you mean?
HOVSTAD.
I presume it is mainly on scientific grounds that you want to take the management of the Baths into your own hands.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Of course; it was on scientific grounds that I got the old Badger to stand in with me. And then we’ll tinker up the water-works a little, and potter about a bit down at the beach, without its costing the town sixpence. That ought to do the business? Eh?
HOVSTAD.
I think so—if you have the _Messenger_ to back you up.
ASLAKSEN.
In a free community the press is a power, Doctor.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, indeed; and so is public opinion. And you, Mr. Aslaksen—I suppose you will answer for the House-owners' Association?
ASLAKSEN.
Both for the House-owners' Association and the Temperance Society. You may make your mind easy.
DR. STOCKMANN.
But, gentlemen—really I'm quite ashamed to mention such a thing—but—what return——?
HOVSTAD.
Of course, we should prefer to give you our support for nothing. But the _Messenger_ is not very firmly established; it’s not getting on as it ought to; and I should be very sorry to have to stop the paper just now, when there’s so much to be done in general politics.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Naturally; that would be very hard for a friend of the people like you. [_Flaring up._] But I—I am an enemy of the people! [_Striding about the room._] Where’s my stick? Where the devil is my stick?
HOVSTAD.
What do you mean?
ASLAKSEN.
Surely you wouldn’t——
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Standing still._] And suppose I don’t give you a single farthing out of all my shares? You must remember we rich folk don’t like parting with our money.
HOVSTAD.
And you must remember that this business of the shares can be represented in two ways.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, you are the man for that; if I don’t come to the rescue of the _Messenger_, you’ll manage to put a vile complexion on the affair; you’ll hunt me down, I suppose—bait me—try to throttle me as a dog throttles a hare!
HOVSTAD.
That’s a law of nature—every animal fights for its own subsistence.
ASLAKSEN.
And must take its food where it can find it, you know.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Then see if you can’t find some out in the gutter; [_Striding about the room_] for now, by heaven! we shall see which is the strongest animal of us three. [_Finds his umbrella and brandishes it._] Now, look here——!
HOVSTAD.
You surely don’t mean to assault us!
ASLAKSEN.
I say, be careful with that umbrella!
DR. STOCKMANN.
Out at the window with you, Mr. Hovstad!
HOVSTAD.
[_By the hall door._] Are you utterly crazy?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Out at the window, Mr. Aslaksen! Jump I tell you! Be quick about it!
ASLAKSEN.
[_Running round the writing-table._] Moderation, Doctor; I'm not at all strong; I can’t stand much——[_Screams._] Help! help!
MRS. STOCKMANN, PETRA, _and_ HORSTER _enter from sitting-room._
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Good heavens, Thomas! what _can_ be the matter?
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Brandishing the umbrella._] Jump, I tell you! Out into the gutter!
HOVSTAD.
An unprovoked assault! I call you to witness, Captain Horster.
[_Rushes off through the hall._
ASLAKSEN.
[_Bewildered._] If one only knew the local situation——![14]
[_He slinks out by the sitting-room door._
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_Holding back the DOCTOR._] Now, do restrain yourself, Thomas!
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Throwing down the umbrella._] I'll be hanged if they haven’t got off after all.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Why, what can they have wanted with you?
DR. STOCKMANN.
I'll tell you afterwards; I have other things to think of now. [_Goes to the table and writes on a visiting-card._] Look here, Katrina: what’s written here?
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Three big _Noes_; what does that mean?
DR. STOCKMANN.
That I'll tell you afterwards, too. [_Handing the card._] There, Petra; let smudgy-face run to the Badger’s with this as fast as she can. Be quick!
[PETRA _goes out through the hall with the card._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, if I haven’t had visits to-day from all the emissaries of the devil! But now I'll sharpen my pen against them till it becomes a goad; I'll dip it in gall and venom; I'll hurl my inkstand straight at their skulls.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
You forget we are going away, Thomas.
PETRA _returns._
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well?
PETRA.
She has gone.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Good. Going away, do you say? No, I'll be damned if we do; we stay where we are, Katrina!
PETRA.
Stay!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Here in the town?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, here; the field of battle is here; here the fight must be fought; here I will conquer! As soon as my trousers are mended, I shall go out into the town and look for a house; we must have a roof over our heads for the winter.
HORSTER.
That you can have in my house.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Can I?
HORSTER.
Yes, there’s no difficulty about that. I have room enough, and I'm hardly ever at home myself.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Oh, how kind of you, Captain Horster.
PETRA.
Thank you!
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Shaking his hand._] Thanks, thanks! So that is off my mind. And this very day I shall set to work in earnest. Oh, there’s no end of work to be done here, Katrina! It’s a good thing I shall have all my time at my disposal now; for you must know I've had notice from the Baths——
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_Sighing._] Oh yes, I was expecting that.
DR. STOCKMANN.
——And now they want to take away my practice as well. But let them! The poor I shall keep anyhow—those that can’t pay; and, good Lord! it’s they that need me most. But by heaven! I'll make them listen to me; I'll preach to them in season and out of season, as the saying goes.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
My dear Thomas, I should have thought you had learnt what good preaching does.
DR. STOCKMANN.
You really are absurd, Katrina. Am I to let myself be beaten off the field by public opinion, and the compact majority, and all that sort of devilry? No, thank you! Besides, my point is so simple, so clear and straightforward. I only want to drive it into the heads of these curs that the Liberals are the craftiest foes free men have to face; that party-programmes wring the necks of all young and living truths; that considerations of expediency turn justice and morality upside down, until life here becomes simply unlivable. Come, Captain Horster, don’t you think I shall be able to make the people understand that?
HORSTER.
Maybe; I don’t know much about these things myself.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, you see—this is the way of it! It’s the party-leaders that must be exterminated. For a party-leader is just like a wolf, you see—like a ravening wolf; he must devour a certain number of smaller animals a year, if he’s to exist at all. Just look at Hovstad and Aslaksen! How many small animals they polish off—or at least mangle and maim, so that they’re fit for nothing else but to be house-owners and subscribers to the _People’s Messenger_! [_Sits on the edge of the table._] Just come here, Katrina—see how bravely the sun shines to-day! And how the blessed fresh spring air blows in upon me!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Yes, if only we could live on sunshine and spring air, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Well, you’ll have to pinch and save to eke them out—and then we shall get on all right. That’s what troubles me least. No, what does trouble me is that I don’t see any man free enough and high-minded enough to dare to take up my work after me.
PETRA.
Oh, don’t think about that, father; you have time enough before you.—Why, see, there are the boys already.
EILIF _and_ MORTEN _enter from the sitting-room._
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Have you a holiday to-day?
MORTEN.
No; but we had a fight with the other fellows in play-time—-
EILIF.
That’s not true; it was the other fellows that fought us.
MORTEN.
Yes, and then Mr. Rörlund said we had better stop at home for a few days.
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_Snapping his fingers and springing down from the table._] Now I have it! Now I have it, on my soul! You shall never set foot in school again!
THE BOYS.
Never go to school!
MRS. STOCKMANN.
Why, Thomas——
DR. STOCKMANN.
Never, I say! I shall teach you myself—that’s to say, I won’t teach you any mortal thing——
MORTEN.
Hurrah!
DR. STOCKMANN.
——but I shall help you to grow into free, high-minded men.—Look here, you’ll have to help me, Petra.
PETRA.
Yes, father, you may be sure I will.
DR. STOCKMANN.
And we’ll have our school in the room where they reviled me as an enemy of the people. But we must have more pupils. I must have at least a dozen boys to begin with.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
You’ll never get them in this town.
DR. STOCKMANN.
We shall see. [_To the boys._] Don’t you know any street urchins—any regular ragamuffins——?
MORTEN.
Yes, father, I know lots!
DR. STOCKMANN.
That’s all right; bring me a few of them. I shall experiment with the street-curs for once in a way; there are sometimes excellent heads amongst them.
MORTEN.
But what are we to do when we’ve grown into free and high-minded men?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Drive all the wolves out to the far west, boys!
[EILIF _looks rather doubtful;_ MORTEN _jumps about shouting “Hurrah!”_
MRS. STOCKMANN.
If only the wolves don’t drive you out, Thomas.
DR. STOCKMANN.
Are you quite mad, Katrina! _Drive me out!_ Now that I am the strongest man in the town?
MRS. STOCKMANN.
The strongest—now?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, I venture to say this: that now I am one of the strongest men in the whole world.
MORTEN.
I say, what fun!
DR. STOCKMANN.
[_In a subdued voice._] Hush; you mustn’t speak about it yet; but I have made a great discovery.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
What, another?
DR. STOCKMANN.
Yes, of course! [_Gathers them about him, and speaks confidentially._] This is what I have discovered, you see: the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.
MRS. STOCKMANN.
[_Shakes her head, smiling._] Ah, Thomas dear——!
PETRA.
[_Grasping his hands cheerily._] Father!
-----
Footnote 13:
“Has no right” represents the Norwegian “tör ikke”—the phrase which, elsewhere in this scene, is translated “dare not.” The latter rendering should perhaps have been adhered to throughout; but in this passage the Norwegian words convey a shade of meaning which is best represented by “has no right.”
Footnote 14:
“De lokale forholde”—the local conditions, or the circumstances of the locality, a phrase constantly in Aslaksen’s mouth in _The League of Youth_. In the present context it is about equivalent to “the lie of the land.”
THE END.
THE WILD DUCK
(1884)
CHARACTERS.
WERLE, _a merchant, manufacturer, etc._ GREGERS WERLE, _his son_. OLD EKDAL. HIALMAR EKDAL, _his son, a photographer_. GINA EKDAL, _Hialmar’s wife_. HEDVIG, _their daughter, a girl of fourteen_. MRS. SÖRBY, _Werle’s housekeeper_. RELLING, _a doctor_. MOLVIK, _ex-student of theology_. GRABERG, _Werle’s bookkeeper_. PETTERSEN, _Werle’s servant_. JENSEN, _a hired waiter_. A FLABBY GENTLEMAN. A THIN-HAIRED GENTLEMAN. A SHORT-SIGHTED GENTLEMAN. _Six other gentlemen, guests at Werle’s dinner-party._ _Several hired waiters._
_The first act passes in Werle’s house, the remaining acts at Hialmar Ekdal’s._
_Pronunciation of Names_: Gregers Werle = Grayghers Verlë; Hialmar Ekdal = Yalmar Aykdal; Gina = Gheena; Graberg = Graberg; Jensen = Yensen.
THE WILD DUCK.
PLAY IN FIVE ACTS.
ACT FIRST.
_At_ WERLE’S _house. A richly and comfortably furnished study; bookcases and upholstered furniture; a writing-table, with papers and documents, in the centre of the room; lighted lamps with green shades, giving a subdued light. At the back, open folding-doors with curtains drawn back. Within is seen a large and handsome room, brilliantly lighted with lamps and branching candlesticks. In front, on the right (in the study), a small baize door leads into_ WERLE’S _office. On the left, in front, a fireplace with a glowing coal fire, and farther back a double door leading into the dining-room._
WERLE’S _servant,_ PETTERSEN, _in livery, and JENSEN, the hired waiter, in black, are putting the study in order. In the large room, two or three other hired waiters are moving about, arranging things and lighting more candles. From the dining-room, the hum of conversation and laughter of many voices are heard; a glass is tapped with a knife; silence follows, and a toast is proposed; shouts of “Bravo!” and then again a buzz of conversation._
PETTERSEN.
[_Lights a lamp on the chimney-place and places a shade over it._] Hark to them, Jensen! now the old man’s on his legs holding a long palaver about Mrs. Sörby.
JENSEN.
[_Pushing forward an arm-chair._] Is it true, what folks say, that they’re—very good friends, eh?
PETTERSEN.
Lord knows.
JENSEN.
I've heard tell as he’s been a lively customer in his day.
PETTERSEN.
May be.
JENSEN.
And he’s giving this spread in honour of his son, they say.
PETTERSEN.
Yes. His son came home yesterday.
JENSEN.
This is the first time I ever heard as Mr. Werle _had_ a son.
PETTERSEN.
Oh yes, he has a son, right enough. But he’s a fixture, as you might say, up at the Höidal works. He’s never once come to town all the years I've been in service here.
A WAITER.
[_In the doorway of the other room._] Pettersen, here’s an old fellow wanting——
PETTERSEN.
[_Mutters._] The devil—who’s this now?
OLD EKDAL _appears from the right, in the inner room. He is dressed in a threadbare overcoat with a high collar; he wears woollen mittens, and carries in his hand a stick and a fur cap. Under his arm, a brown paper parcel. Dirty red-brown wig and small grey moustache._
PETTERSEN.
[_Goes towards him._] Good Lord—what do you want here?
EKDAL.
[_In the doorway._] Must get into the office, Pettersen.
PETTERSEN.
The office was closed an hour ago, and——
EKDAL.
So they told me at the front door. But Gråberg’s in there still. Let me slip in this way, Pettersen; there’s a good fellow. [_Points towards the baize door._] It’s not the first time I've come this way.
PETTERSEN.
Well, you may pass. [_Opens the door._] But mind you go out again the proper way, for we’ve got company.
EKDAL.
I know, I know—h’m! Thanks, Pettersen, good old friend! Thanks! [_Mutters softly._] Ass!
[_He goes into the office;_ PETTERSEN _shuts the door after him._
JENSEN.
Is _he_ one of the office people?
PETTERSEN.
No, he’s only an outside hand that does odd jobs of copying. But he’s been a tip-topper in his day, has old Ekdal.
JENSEN.
You can see he’s been through a lot.
PETTERSEN.
Yes; he was an army officer, you know.
JENSEN.
You don’t say so?
PETTERSEN.