Part 8

They want to see how he daren't climb to the top of his own house.

HILDA.

Oh, that is what those boys want, is it?

RAGNAR.

[Spitefully and scornfully.] He has kept us down so long--now we are going to see him keep quietly down below himself.

HILDA.

You will not see that--not this time.

RAGNAR.

[Smiles.] Indeed! Then where shall we see him?

HILDA.

High--high up by the vane! That is where you will see him!

RAGNAR.

[Laughs.] Him! Oh yes, I daresay!

HILDA.

His will is to reach the top--so at the top you shall see him.

RAGNAR.

His will, yes; that I can easily believe. But he simply cannot do it. His head would swim round, long, long before he got half-way. He would have to crawl down again on his hands and knees.

DR. HERDAL.

[Points across.] Look! There goes the foreman up the ladders.

MRS. SOLNESS.

And of course he has the wreath to carry too. Oh, I do hope he will be careful!

RAGNAR.

[Stares incredulously and shouts.] Why, but it's--

HILDA.

[Breaking out in jubilation.] It is the master builder himself?

MRS. SOLNESS.

[Screams with terror.] Yes, it is Halvard! Oh my great God--! Halvard! Halvard!

DR. HERDAL.

Hush! Don't shout to him!

MRS. SOLNESS.

[Half beside herself.] I must go to him! I must get him to come down again!

DR. HERDAL.

[Holds her.] Don't move, any of you! Not a sound!

HILDA.

[Immovable, follows SOLNESS with her eyes.] He climbs and climbs. Higher and higher! Higher and higher! Look! Just look!

RAGNAR.

[Breathless.] He must turn now. He can't possibly help it.

HILDA.

He climbs and climbs. He will soon be at the top now.

MRS. SOLNESS.

Oh, I shall die of terror. I cannot bear to see it.

DR. HERDAL.

Then don't look up at him.

HILDA.

There he is standing on the topmost planks! Right at the top!

DR. HERDAL.

Nobody must move! Do you dear?

HILDA.

[Exulting, with quiet intensity.] At last! At last! Now I see him great and free again!

RAGNAR.

[Almost voiceless.] But this is im--

HILDA.

So I have seen him all through these ten years. How secure he stands! Frightfully thrilling all the same. Look at him! Now he is hanging the wreath round the vane!

RAGNAR.

I feel as if I were looking at something utterly impossible.

HILDA.

Yes, it is the impossible that he is doing now! [With the indefinable expression in her eyes.] Can you see any one else up there with him?

RAGNAR.

There is no one else.

HILDA.

Yes, there is one he is striving with.

RAGNAR.

You are mistaken.

HILDA.

Then do you hear no song in the air, either?

RAGNAR.

It must be the wind in the tree-tops.

HILDA.

_I_ hear a song--a mighty song! [Shouts in wild jubilation and glee.] Look, look! Now he is waving his hat! He is waving it to us down here! Oh, wave, wave back to him! For now it is finished! [Snatches the white shawl from the Doctor, waves it, and shouts up to SOLNESS.] Hurrah for Master Builder Solness!

DR. HERDAL.

Stop! Stop! For God's sake--!

[The ladies on the verandah wave their pocket-handkerchiefs, and the shouts of "Hurrah" are taken up in the street. Then they are suddenly silenced, and the crowd bursts out into a shriek of horror. A human body, with planks and fragments of wood, is vaguely perceived crashing down behind the trees.

MRS. SOLNESS AND THE LADIES.

[At the same time.] He is falling! He is falling!

[MRS. SOLNESS totters, falls backwards, swooning, and is caught, amid cries and confusion, by the ladies. The crowd in the street breaks down the fence and storms into the garden. At the same time DR. HERDAL, too, rushes down thither. A short pause.

HILDA.

[Stares fixedly upwards and says, as if petrified.] My Master Builder.

RAGNAR.

[Supports himself, trembling, against the railing.] He must be dashed to pieces--killed on the spot.

ONE OF THE LADIES.

[Whilst MRS. SOLNESS is carried into the house.] Run down for the doctor--

RAGNAR.

I can't stir a root--

ANOTHER LADY.

Then call to some one!

RAGNAR.

[Tries to call out.] How is it? Is he alive?

A VOICE.

[Below, in the garden.] Mr. Solness is dead!

OTHER VOICES.

[Nearer.] The head is all crushed.--he fell right into the quarry.

HILDA.

[Turns to RAGNAR, and says quietly.] I can't see him up there now.

RAGNAR.

This is terrible. So, after all, he could not do it.

HILDA.

[As if in quiet spell-bound triumph.] But he mounted right to the top. And I heard harps in the air. [Waves her shawl in the air, and shrieks with wild intensity.] My--my Master Builder!