Part 9
JULIE [Presto tempo]. You have never been out and traveled, Kristin. You shall look about you in the world. You can't believe how pleasant traveling on a train is--new faces continually, new countries--and we'll go to Hamburg--and passing through we'll see the zoological gardens--that you will like--then we'll go to the theatre and hear the opera--and when we reach Munich there will be the museum--there are Rubins and Raphaels and all the big painters that you know--you have heard of Munich--where King Ludwig lived--the King, you know, who went mad. Then we'll see his palace--a palace like those in the Sagas--and from there it isn't far to Switzerland--and the Alps, the Alps mind you with snow in mid-summer. And there oranges grow and laurel--green all the year round if--[Jean is seen in the doorway R. stropping his razor on the strop which he holds between his teeth and left hand. He listens and nods his head favorably now and then. Julie continues, tempo prestissimo] And there we'll take a hotel and I'll sit taking the cash while Jean greets the guests--goes out and markets--writes letters--that will be life, you may believe--then the train whistles--then the omnibus comes--then a bell rings upstairs, then in the restaurant--and then I make out the bills--and I can salt them--you can't think how people tremble when they receive their bill--and you--you can sit like a lady--of course you won't have to stand over the stove--you can dress finely and neatly when you show yourself to the people--and you with your appearance--Oh, I'm not flattering, you can catch a husband some fine day--a rich Englishman perhaps--they are so easy to--[Slowing up] to catch-- --Then we'll be rich--and then we'll build a villa by Lake Como--to be sure it rains sometimes--but [becoming languid] the sun must shine too sometimes-- -- --although it seems dark-- -- --and if not--we can at least travel homeward--and come back--here--or some other place.
KRISTIN. Listen now. Does Miss Julie believe in all this?
[Julie going to pieces.]
JULIE. Do I believe in it?
KRISTIN. Yes.
JULIE [Tired]. I don't know. I don't believe in anything any more. [Sinks down on bench, and takes head in her hand on table.] In nothing--nothing!
KRISTIN [Turns to R. and looks toward Jean]. So--you intended to run away?
JEAN [Rather shamefaced comes forward and puts razor on table]. Run away? That's putting it rather strong. You heard Miss Julie's project, I think it might be carried out.
KRISTIN. Now listen to that! Was it meant that I should be her cook--
JEAN [Sharply]. Be so good as to use proper language when you speak of your mistress.
KRISTIN. Mistress?
JEAN. Yes.
KRISTIN. No--hear! Listen to him!
JEAN. Yes, you listen--you need to, and talk less. Miss Julie is your mistress and for the same reason that you do not respect her now you should not respect yourself.
KRISTIN. I have always had so much respect for myself--
JEAN. That you never had any left for others!
KRISTIN. I have never lowered my position. Let any one say, if they can, that the Count's cook has had anything to do with the riding master or the swineherd. Let them come and say it!
JEAN. Yes, you happened to get a fine fellow. That was your good luck.
KRISTIN. Yes, a fine fellow--who sells the Count's oats from his stable.
JEAN. Is it for you to say anything--you who get a commission on all the groceries and a bribe from the butcher?
KRISTIN. What's that?
JEAN. And you can't have respect for your master and mistress any longer--you, you!
KRISTIN [Glad to change the subject]. Are you coming to church with me? You need a good sermon for your actions.
JEAN. No, I'm not going to church today. You can go alone--and confess your doings.
KRISTIN. Yes, that I shall do, and I shall return with so much forgiveness that there will be enough for you too. The Savior suffered and died on the cross for all our sins, and when we go to Him in faith and a repentant spirit he takes our sins on Himself.
JULIE. Do you believe that, Kristin?
KRISTIN. That is my life's belief, as true as I stand here. And that was my childhood's belief that I have kept since my youth, Miss Julie. And where sin overflows, there mercy overflows also.
JULIE. Oh, if I only had your faith. Oh, if--
KRISTIN. Yes, but you see that is not given without God's particular grace, and that is not allotted to all, that!
JULIE. Who are the chosen?
KRISTIN. That is the great secret of the Kingdom of Grace, and the Lord has no respect for persons. But there the last shall be first.
JULIE. But then has he respect for the last--the lowliest person?
KRISTIN [Continuing]. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That's the way it is, Miss Julie. However--now I am going--alone. And on my way I shall stop in and tell the stable boy not to let any horses go out in case any one wants to get away before the Count comes home. Good bye.
[Exit Kristin.]
JEAN. Such a devil. And all this on account of your confounded canary!
JULIE [Tired]. Oh, don't speak of the canary--do you see any way out--any end to this?
JEAN [Thinking]. No.
JULIE. What would you do in my place?
JEAN. In your place--wait. As a noble lady, as a woman--fallen--I don't know. Yes, now I know.
JULIE [She takes up razor from table and makes gestures saying] This?
JEAN. Yes. But _I_ should not do it, mark you, for there is a difference between us.
JULIE. Because you are a man and I am a woman? What other difference is there?
JEAN. That very difference--of man and woman.
JULIE [Razor in hand]. I want to do it--but I can't. My father couldn't either that time when he should have done it.
JEAN. No, he was right, not to do it--he had to avenge himself first.
JULIE. And now my mother revenges herself again through me.
JEAN. Haven't you loved your father, Miss Julie?
JULIE. Yes, deeply. But I have probably hated him too, I must have--without being aware of it. And it is due to my father's training that I have learned to scorn my own sex. Between them both they have made me half man, half woman. Whose is the fault for what has happened--my father's? My mother's? My own? I haven't anything of my own. I haven't a thought which was not my father's--not a passion that wasn't my mother's. And last of all from my betrothed the idea that all people are equal. For that I now call him a wretch. How can it be my own fault then? Throw the burden on Jesus as Kristin did? No, I am too proud, too intelligent, thanks to my father's teaching.-- --And that a rich man cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven--that is a lie, and Kristin, who has money in the savings bank--she surely cannot enter there. Whose is the fault? What does it concern us whose fault it is? It is I who must bear the burden and the consequences.
JEAN. Yes, but-- --
[Two sharp rings on bell are heard. Julie starts to her feet. Jean changes his coat.]
JEAN. The Count--has returned. Think if Kristin has-- [Goes up to speaking tube and listens.]
JULIE. Now he has seen the desk!
JEAN [Speaking in the tube]. It is Jean, Excellency. [Listens]. Yes, Excellency. [Listens].Yes, Excellency,--right away--immediately, Excellency. Yes--in half an hour.
JULIE [In great agitation]. What did he say? In Heaven's name, what did he say?
JEAN. He wants his boots and coffee in a half hour.
JULIE. In half an hour then. Oh, I'm so tired--I'm incapable of feeling, not able to be sorry, not able to go, not able to stay, not able to live--not able to die. Help me now. Command me--I will obey like a dog. Do me this last service--save my honor. Save his name. You know what I have the will to do--but cannot do. You will it and command me to execute your will.
JEAN. I don't know why--but now I can't either.--I don't understand myself. It is absolutely as though this coat does it--but I can't command you now. And since the Count spoke to me-- --I can't account for it--but oh, it is that damned servant in my back--I believe if the Count came in here now and told me to cut my throat I would do it on the spot.
JULIE. Make believe you are he--and I you. You could act so well a little while ago when you knelt at my feet. Then you were a nobleman--or haven't you ever been at the theatre and seen the hypnotist--[Jean nods] He says to his subject "Take the broom," and he takes it; he says, "Sweep," and he sweeps.
JEAN. Then the subject must be asleep!
JULIE [Ecstatically]. I sleep already. The whole room is like smoke before me--and you are like a tall black stove, like a man clad in black clothes with a high hat; and your eyes gleam like the hot coals when the fire is dying; and your face a white spot like fallen ashes. [The sunshine is coming in through the windows and falls on Jean. Julie rubs her hands as though warming them before a fire]. It is so warm and good--and so bright and quiet!
JEAN [Takes razor and puts it in her hand]. There is the broom, go now while it's bright--out to the hay loft--and--[He whispers in her ear.]
JULIE [Rousing herself]. Thanks. And now I go to rest. But tell me this--the foremost may receive the gift of Grace? Say it, even if you don't believe it.
JEAN. The foremost? No, I can't say that. But wait, Miss Julie--you are no longer among the foremost since you are of the lowliest.
JULIE. That's true, I am the lowliest--the lowliest of the lowly. Oh, now I can't go. Tell me once more that I must go.
JEAN. No, now I cannot either--I cannot.
JULIE. And the first shall be last-- -- --
JEAN. Don't think. You take my strength from me, too, so that I become cowardly.--What-- --I thought I heard the bell!-- -- No! To be afraid of the sound of a bell! But it's not the bell--it's someone behind the bell, the hand that sets the bell in motion--and something else that sets the hand in motion. But stop your ears, stop your ears. Then he will only ring louder and keep on ringing until it's answered--and then it is too late! Then come the police and then--[Two loud rings on bell are heard, Jean falls in a heap for a moment, but straightens up immediately.] It is horrible! But there is no other way. Go!
[Countess Julie goes out resolutely.]
CURTAIN.
*****
THE OUTLAW
CHARACTERS
THORFINN, Erl of Iceland VALGERD, his wife GUNLÖD, their daughter GUNNAR, a Crusader ORM, a minstrel, foster brother to Thorfinn A THRALL A MESSENGER
Action takes place in Iceland.
[SCENE--A hut, door at back, window-holes, right and, left, closed by big heavy wooden shutters. Wooden benches against walls, the high bench, a sort of rude throne, at left. The uprights of this high beach are carved with images of the gods Odin and Thor. From the wall beams hang swords, battle axes and shields. Near the high bench stands a harp. Gunlöd stands at an open window-hole peering out; through the opening one gets a glimpse of the sea lighted by the aurora borealis. Valgerd sits by the fire, which is in the middle of the room, spinning.]
VALGERD. Close the window-hole.
[Gunlöd is silent.]
VALGERD. Gunlöd!
GUNLÖD. Did you speak, mother?
VALGERD. What are you doing?
GUNLÖD. I am watching the sea.
VALGERD. When will you learn to forget?
GUNLÖD. Take everything away from me but memories!
VALGERD. Look forward--not back.
GUNLÖD. Who reproaches the strong viking who looks back when he is quitting his native strand?
VALGERD. You have had three winters to make your farewell.
GUNLÖD. You speak truly--three winters! For here never came a summer!
VALGERD. When the floating ice melts, then shall spring be here.
GUNLÖD. The Northern Lights melt no ice.
VALGERD. Nor your tears.
GUNLÖD. You never saw me weep.
VALGERD. But I have heard you. As long as you do that, you are a child.
GUNLÖD. I am not a child.
VALGERD. If you would be a woman, suffer in silence.
GUNLÖD. I'll cast sorrow from me, mother.
VALGERD. No, no--bury it, as your deepest treasure. The seed must not lie on top of the earth if it would sprout and ripen. You have a deep sorrow. It should bear great gladness--and great peace.
GUNLÖD [After a pause]. I shall forget.
VALGERD. Everything?
GUNLÖD. I shall try.
VALGERD. Can you forget your father's hardness?
GUNLÖD. That I have forgotten.
VALGERD. Can you forget that there was a time when your fore-fathers' dwelling stood on Brövikens' strand? Where the south wind sang in the oak wood when the ice-bound seas ran free--where the hemlocks gave forth their fragrance and the finches twittered among the linden trees--and Balder, the God of spring and joy, lulled you to sleep on the green meadows? Can you forget all this, while you listen to the sea gulls' plaints on these bare rocks and cliffs, and the cold storms out of the north howl through the stunted birches?
GUNLÖD. Yes!
VALGERD. Can you forget the friend of your childhood from whom your father tore you to save you from the white Christ?
GUNLÖD [in desperation]. Yes, yes!
VALGERD. You are weeping.
GUNLÖD [Disturbed]. Some one is walking out there. Perhaps father is coming home.
VALGERD. Will you bear in mind every day without tears that we now dwell in the land of ice--fugitives from the kingdom of Svea and hated here by the Christ-men? But we have suffered no loss of greatness, although we have not been baptized and kissed the bishop's hand. Have you ever spoken to any of the Christians since we have been here?
GUNLÖD [After a pause]. No. Tell me, mother, is it true that father is to be Erl here in Iceland, too?
VALGERD. Don't let that trouble you, child.
GUNLÖD. Then I'm afraid he will fare badly with the Christians.
VALGERD. You fear that?
GUNLÖD. Some one is out there.
VALGERD [Anxiously]. Did you see the ship lying in the inlet this morning?
GUNLÖD. With heart-felt gladness!
VALGERD. Bore it the figure-head of Thorfinn?
GUNLÖD. That I could not make out.
VALGERD. Have a care, girl.
GUNLÖD. Is it tonight that I may go out?
VALGERD. Tomorrow--that you know well.
GUNLÖD Mother!
VALGERD [Going]. Mind the fire. [Valgerd goes.]
[Gunlöd looks after her mother, then cautiously takes from her breast a crucifix, puts it on the high bench and falls on her knees.]
GUNLÖD. Christ, Christ, forgive me the lie I told. [Springs up noticing the images of the gods on the high bench.] No, I cannot pray before these wicked images. [She looks for another place.] Holy St. Olof, holy--oh, I can't remember how the bishop named her! God! God! Cast me not into purgatory for this sin! I will repeat the whole long prayer of the monks--credo, credo--in patrem--oh, I have forgotten that too. I shall give five tall candles for the altar of the mother of God the next time I go to the chapel--Credo, in patrem omnipotentem--[Kissing the crucifix eagerly.]
[A song is heard outside the hut accompanied by a lyre.]
A crusader went out to the Holy Land, O, Christ, take the maiden's soul in hand, And to your kingdom bring her! I'll return, mayhap, when the spruce trees bloom.
Summers three he wanders far from thee, Where nightingales sing their delight, And masses he holds both day and night, At the holy sepulchre's chapel. I'll return, mayhap, when the spruce trees bloom.
When the palm trees bud on Jordan's strand, Then makes he a prayer to God, That he may return to his native land, And press to his heart his love. I'll return, my love, when the spruce trees bloom.
GUNLÖD [At beginning of song springs up and then listens with more and more agitation and eagerness. When the song is over she goes toward door to bolt it, but so slowly that Gunnar is able to enter before she slips the bolt. Gunnar is clad in the costume of a crusader with a lyre swung across his shoulder.]
GUNNAR. Gunlöd! [They embrace. Gunlöd pulls away and goes toward door.] You are afraid of me? What is it, Gunlöd?
GUNLÖD. You never took me in your arms before!
GUNNAR. We were children then!
GUNLÖD You are right--we were children then. What means that silver falcon on your shield? I saw it on your ship's bow this morning, too.
GUNNAR. You saw my ship--you knew my song, and you would have barred the door against me! What am I to understand, Gunlöd?
GUNLÖD. Oh, ask me nothing! I am so unquiet of spirit but sit and let me talk to you.
GUNNAR [Sits]. You are silent.
GUNLÖD. You are silent, too.
GUNNAR [Pulls her to his side]. Gunlöd, Gunlöd--has the snow fallen so heavily that memories have been chilled even the mountains here burst forth with fire--and you are cold as a snow wind--but speak--speak! Why are you here in Iceland--and what has happened?
GUNLÖD. Terrible things--and more may follow if you stay here longer.--[Springs up]. Go, before my father comes.
GUNNAR. Do you think I would leave you now--I, who have sought you for long years? When I could not find you in the home land I went to the wars against the Saracens to seek you the other side of the grave. But my time had not yet come; when the fourth spring came, I heard through wandering merchants that you were to be found here. Now I have found you--and you wish me to leave you in this heathen darkness.
GUNLÖD. I am not alone!
GUNNAR. Your father does not love you--your mother does not understand you, and they are both heathen.
GUNLÖD. I have friends among the Christians.
GUNNAR. Then you have become a Christian, Gunlöd!--the holy virgin has heard my prayer.
GUNLÖD. Yes, yes! Oh, let me kiss the cross you bear on your shoulder--that you got at the holy sepulchre!
GUNNAR. Now I give you a brother Christian's kiss--the first, Gunlöd, you have from me.
GUNLÖD. You must never kiss me again.
GUNNAR. But tell me, how did you become a Christian?
GUNLÖD. First I believed in my father--he was so strong; then I believed in my mother--she was so good; last I believed in you--you were so strong and good--and so beautiful; and when you went away--I stood alone--myself I could never believe in--I was so weak; then I thought of your God, whom you so often begged me to love--and I prayed to Him.
GUNNAR. And the old gods--
GUNLÖD. I have never been able to believe in them--although my father commanded me to do so--they are wicked.
GUNNAR. Who has taught you to pray? Who gave you the crucifix?
GUNLÖD. The bishop.
GUNNAR. And that no one knows?
GUNLÖD. No--I have had to lie to my mother and that troubles me.
GUNNAR. And your father hid you here so that the Christians should not get you?
GUNLÖD. Yes--and now he is expected home from Norway with followers as he is to be Erl of the island.
GUNNAR. God forbid!
GUNLÖD. Yes--yes--but you must not delay. He is expected home tonight.
GUNNAR. Good--there beyond Hjärleif's headland lies my ship.--Out to sea! There is a land wind, and before the first cock's crow we shall be beyond pursuit.
GUNLÖD. Yes! Yes!
GUNNAR. Soon we should be at Ostergötland--where the summer is still green--and there you shall live in my castle which I have built where your father's house stood.
GUNLÖD. Does not that still stand?
GUNNAR. No--it was burned.
GUNLÖD. By the Christians?
GUNNAR. You are so passionate, Gunlöd!
GUNLÖD. I suffer to say I would rather be a heathen.
GUNNAR. What are you saying, girl!
GUNLÖD. [After a pause]. Forgive me, forgive me--I am in such a wild mood--and when I see the Christians, who should be examples, commit such deeds--
GUNNAR. Crush out that thought, Gunlöd--it is ungodly. Do you see this wreath?
GUNLÖD. Where did you gather it?
GUNNAR. You recognize the flowers, Gunlöd?
GUNLÖD. They grew in my father's garden--may I keep them?
GUNNAR. Gladly--but, why do you care to have them when we are going to journey there ourselves?
GUNLÖD. I shall look at them the long winter through--the hemlock shall remind me of the green woods and the anemones of the blue sky.
GUNNAR. And when they are withered--
GUNLÖD. Of that I do not think.
GUNNAR. Then go with me from this drear land--far away, and there where our childhood was spent we will live as free as the birds among the flowers and sunshine. There you shall not go in stealth to the temple of the Lord when the bells tell you of the Sabbath. Oh, you shall see the new chapel with its vaulted roof and high pillared aisles. And hear the acolytes singing when the bishop lights the incense on the high altar. There shall you solemnize the God service with those of Christ and you shall feel you heart cleansed of sin.
GUNLÖD. Shall I fly--leave my mother?
GUNNAR. She will forgive you some time.
GUNLÖD. But my father would call me cowardly and that I would never allow.
GUNNAR. That you must endure for the sake of your belief.
GUNLÖD. Thorfinn's daughter was never cowardly.
GUNNAR. Your father does not love you, and he will hate you when he knows of your conversion.
GUNLÖD. That he may do--but he shall never despise me.
GUNNAR. You surrender your love, Gunlöd.
GUNLÖD. Love!--I remember--there was a maiden--she had a friend who went away--after, she was never again glad--she only sat sewing silk and gold--what she was making no one knew--and when they asked her she would only weep. And when they asked her why she wept, she never answered--only wept. She grew pale of cheek and her mother made ready her shroud.--Then there came an old woman and she said it was love. Gunnar,--I never wept when you went away as father says it is weak to shed tears; I never sewed silk and gold for that my mother has never taught me to do--then had I not love?
GUNNAR. You have often thought of me during these years?
GUNLÖD. I have dreamed so often of you, and this morning when I stood by the window where I linger so willingly and, gazing over the sea, I saw your ship come up out of the east, I became unquiet although I did not know it was your ship.
GUNNAR. Why do you gaze so willingly over the sea?
GUNLÖD. You ask many questions!
GUNNAR. Why did you want to close the door against me?
GUNLÖD. [Silent].
GUNNAR. Why didn't you close it?
GUNLÖD. [Silent].
GUNNAR. Why are you silent?
[Gunlöd bursts into tears.]
GUNNAR. You weep, Gunlöd, and you know why? I know,--you love! [Takes her in his arms and kisses her.]
GUNLÖD. [Tearing herself away]. You must not kiss me! Go!
GUNNAR. Yes--and you shall go with me.
GUNLÖD. I do not care to be commanded by you--and I shall not obey.
GUNNAR. The volcano gives forth fire--and burns itself out!
GUNLÖD. You have destroyed my peace--forever! Go and let me forget you.