A spacious garden room in Consul Bernick’s house. In the foreground to the left a door leads into the consul’s room; further back on the same wall is a similar door. In the middle of the opposite wall is a large entrance door. The wall in the background consists almost completely of plate glass with a door opening out on to wide garden steps, over which hangs a sunshade. Below the steps, part of the garden can be seen, enclosed by a fence with a small gate. Beyond this and running along the fence is a street, lined on the opposite side with small wooden houses painted in light colours. It is summer, and the sun is shining warmly. Now and then people walk past in the street, some stopping to talk, some doing their shopping at a little shop on the corner, etc.
A group of ladies is seated round a table in the garden room. At the centre of the table sits MRS BERNICK. To her left sits MRS HOLT with her daughter, followed by MRS RUMMEL and MISS RUMMEL. To the right of MRS BERNICK sit MRS LYNGE, MISS BERNICK and DINA DORF. All the ladies are busy sewing. On the table lie big piles of half-finished and cut-out linen garments and other articles of clothing. Further back, at a small table, on which there are two potted plants and a glass of squash, sits the schoolmaster, MR RØRLUND, reading aloud from a book with gilt edges, although only the occasional word is audible to the audience. Outside in the garden OLAF BERNICK runs about, shooting at things with a bow and arrow.
A short while later MR AUNE comes quietly in through the door on the right. The reading is temporarily interrupted; MRS BERNICK nods to him and points towards the door on the left. AUNE goes quietly over and knocks gently twice on the consul’s door, pausing between each knock. KRAP, the CONSUL’s chief clerk, carrying his hat in his hand and papers under his arm, comes out of the room.
KRAP: Oh, it’s you knocking?
AUNE: The consul sent for me.
KRAP: He did indeed; but can’t see you; he’s delegated it to me to –
AUNE: To you? I’d have preferred –
KRAP: – delegated it to me to tell you this. You have to put a stop to these Saturday lectures for the workers.
AUNE: Oh? But I thought I could use my free time –
KRAP: You can’t go using your free time to make the men useless in their work time. Last Saturday you were speaking on the harm that would come to the workers from our new machinery and the new working methods in the shipyard. Why are you doing this?
AUNE: I do it to uphold6 the community.
KRAP: Extraordinary! The consul says it destabilizes the community.
AUNE: My community is not the consul’s community, Mr7 Chief Clerk! As foreman of the Workers’ Association8 I have to –
KRAP: You are first and foremost foreman of Consul Bernick’s shipyard. You have first and foremost a duty towards the community which is Consul Bernick’s company; because it’s what we all live by. – So, now you know what the consul had to say to you.
AUNE: The consul wouldn’t have said it in that way, Mr Chief Clerk, sir! But I know who I have to thank for this. It’s that damned American ship that’s in for repairs. Those people want the job done in the way they’re accustomed to over there, and that’s –
KRAP: Yes, yes, yes; I can’t get involved in long-winded discussions. You know the consul’s opinion now, and that’s that! Could you go back down to the yard; that might be useful; I’ll come down myself in a bit. – Excuse me, ladies.
He nods and exits through the garden and down the street. MR AUNE walks quietly out to the right. The SCHOOLMASTER, who during the preceding hushed conversation has continued reading aloud, finishes the book soon afterwards and snaps it closed.
MR RØRLUND: And that, my dear lady listeners, brings us to the end.
MRS RUMMEL: Oh, what an instructive tale!
MRS HOLT: And so moral!
MRS BERNICK: Such a book gives us a great deal to think about.
MR RØRLUND: Oh yes; it forms a salutary contrast to what we unfortunately see in the newspapers and magazines every day. The gilded and rouged exterior that these larger societies and communities9 present us with – what does it actually conceal? Hollowness and decay, if you ask me. No moral bedrock under their feet. In a word – they are whited sepulchres,10 these great modern-day societies.
MRS HOLT: Yes, how terribly true.
MRS RUMMEL: We need only look at the American crew docked here right now.
MR RØRLUND: Yes well, such dregs of humanity I’d really rather not discuss. But even in more elevated circles – how are things there? Doubt and fermenting disquiet on every side; discord and uncertainty in everything. Just look at how family life is undermined out there. Look how the voice of wanton revolt shouts down the most solemn of truths.
DINA [without looking up]: But aren’t lots of great things being done out there too?
MR RØRLUND: Great things –? I don’t understand –
MRS HOLT [amazed]: Good heavens, Dina –!
MRS RUMMEL [at the same time]: Really, Dina, how could you –?
MR RØRLUND: I don’t think it would be healthy if such things were to gain entry here. No, we should thank our Lord that things are as they are, here at home. Admittedly tares grow in amongst the wheat here too,11 unfortunately; but then we strive to weed them out as best we can. We must keep our community pure, dear ladies – keep out all the untested things that an impatient age wishes to force upon us.
MRS HOLT: And there are more than enough of those, unfortunately.
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, it was by a hair’s breadth we didn’t end up with a railway into town last year.
MRS BERNICK: Well, Karsten put a stop to that.
MR RØRLUND: Providence, Mrs Bernick. You can be sure your husband was an instrument in the hand of one higher when he refused to take on that scheme.
MRS BERNICK: And yet he had to read so many malicious things in the papers. But we’re completely forgetting to thank you, Mr Rørlund. It really is more than kind of you to sacrifice so much time to us.
MR RØRLUND: Not at all; now with the school holidays –
MRS BERNICK: Yes, yes, but it’s a sacrifice nonetheless, Mr Rørlund.
MR RØRLUND [moves his chair in closer]: Don’t mention it, my good lady. Aren’t you all making a sacrifice for a good cause? And making it willingly and gladly, too? These morally corrupted individuals for whose betterment we work are like wounded soldiers on a battlefield. You, my dear ladies, are the Volunteer Nurses,12 kind-hearted sisters plucking the lint for these unhappy injured souls, tenderly dressing their wounds, mending and healing them –
MRS BERNICK: What a heavenly gift it must be to be able to see everything in such a beautiful light.
MR RØRLUND: As regards that, a great deal is inborn; although a great deal can also be developed. It’s simply a matter of seeing things in the light of a solemn vocation. Yes, what do you say, Miss Bernick? Don’t you find that you’ve somehow found a firmer foundation to stand on since you offered yourself up to your school work?
MISS BERNICK: Oh, I’m not sure what to say. When I’m down there in the schoolroom, I often wish I was far out on the wild sea.
MR RØRLUND: Well, these are the things we wrestle with, my dear Miss Bernick. But we must close the door against such restless guests. The wild sea – well naturally you don’t mean that literally; you mean the vast swell of human society where so many run aground. And do you really put so much value on the life that you hear buzzing and bubbling away outside? Just look down into the street. Out there people are going about in the hot sun, sweating and fretting over their petty concerns. No, those of us sitting here in the cool, our backs turned to the source of this disturbance, are most definitely better off.
MISS BERNICK: Yes, you’re right, I’m sure –
MR RØRLUND: And in a house like this – in a good, pure home, where family life reveals itself in its most beautiful form – where peace and harmony preside – [To MRS BERNICK] What are you listening to, Mrs Bernick?
MRS BERNICK [turned towards the door furthest forward to the left]: They’re getting rather loud in there.
MR RØRLUND: Is something in particular going on?
MRS BERNICK: I don’t know. I can hear somebody’s in there with my husband.
HILMAR TØNNESEN, with a cigar in his mouth, enters the door from the right, but pauses at the sight of the large group of ladies.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Oh, I do apologize – [Wants to withdraw.]
MRS BERNICK: No, Hilmar, do come in, you’re not disturbing us. Did you want something?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: No, I just wanted to look in. – Good morning, ladies. [To MRS BERNICK] So, what’s the outcome?
MRS BERNICK: Of what?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Bernick’s drummed up this meeting.
MRS BERNICK: Oh? About what exactly?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Oh, it’s this railway nonsense again.
MRS RUMMEL: No, is that possible?
MRS BERNICK: Poor Karsten, is he to have still more unpleasantness –
MR RØRLUND: But what should we make of this, Mr Tønnesen? Consul Bernick made it absolutely clear last year that he didn’t want any railway.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Yes, I thought that too, but I met Chief Clerk Krap, and he told me that this railway business13 was back on the agenda, and that Bernick was holding a meeting with three of the town’s investors.
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, that’s what I thought – that I heard Rummel’s voice.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Oh yes, Mr Rummel’s in on it naturally, and then there’s Mr Sandstad from up the hill, and Mikkel Vigeland – ‘Holy Mikkel’ as they call him.
MR RØRLUND: Hrrm –
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Apologies, Mr Rørlund.
MRS BERNICK: And it was so nice and peaceful here just now.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Well, I, for my part, wouldn’t object to them starting to quarrel again. It would be a diversion at least.
MR RØRLUND: Oh, I think we could do without that kind of diversion.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: That’s all according to one’s constitution. Certain natures require the occasional harrowing battle. But sadly that’s not something provincial life offers much of, and it isn’t given to everyone to – [Leafs through the SCHOOLMASTER’s book] ‘Woman as Servant to the Community’.14 What sort of bunkum is this?
MRS BERNICK: Goodness, Hilmar, you oughtn’t say that. You’ve obviously not read the book.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: No, and nor do I intend to read it.
MRS BERNICK: You’re not quite yourself today, it seems.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: No, I am not.
MRS BERNICK: Didn’t you sleep well last night, perhaps?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: No, I slept very badly. I took a stroll yesterday evening on account of my illness. Drifted up to the club and read a travelogue from the North Pole. It has a certain galvanizing effect, following people in their battles with the elements.
MRS RUMMEL: But it doesn’t seem to have agreed with you too well, Mr Tønnesen.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: No, it agreed with me extremely badly; I lay the entire night tossing and turning in a half sleep, dreaming I was being pursued by some ghastly walrus.
OLAF [who has walked up on to the garden steps]: Were you pursued by a walrus, Uncle?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: I dreamed it, you clothead! But are you still running around playing with that ludicrous bow? Why don’t you get hold of a proper gun?
OLAF: Oh yes, I’d love that, but –
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Because a proper gun, there’s some sense in that; there’s always certain nervous thrill to be had when one’s about to fire.
OLAF: And then I could shoot bears, Uncle. But Father won’t let me.
MRS BERNICK: You really mustn’t put things like that into his head, Hilmar.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Hm – well, it’s some generation being raised nowadays! All this talk about sports and more sports15 – heavens preserve us – it’s all nothing but play, never any serious drive towards the toughening-up process that comes from staring danger manfully in the eye. Don’t stand there pointing that bow at me, you clot; it might go off.
OLAF: No, Uncle, there’s no arrow in it.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: You can’t be sure of that; there might just be an arrow in it after all. Put it away, I say! – Why in hell have you never gone over to America with one of your father’s ships? There you might see a buffalo hunt or a battle with Redskins.
MRS BERNICK: But Hilmar –
OLAF: Oh, I’d love that, Uncle; and then perhaps I could meet Uncle Johan and Aunt Lona.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Hm – stuff and nonsense.
MRS BERNICK: You can go back down into the garden now, Olaf.
OLAF: Can I go out into the street too, Mummy?
MRS BERNICK: Yes, but not too far.
OLAF runs out through the metal gate.
MR RØRLUND: You oughtn’t to put such notions into the child’s head, Mr Tønnesen.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: No, naturally, he ought to hang about here and turn into a stay-at-home, like so many others.
MR RØRLUND: Why don’t you travel over there yourself?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Me? With my illness? Yes, well, goes without saying, nobody gives much consideration to that here in town. But, that aside – one does have certain duties towards the community one is a part of. There’s got to be somebody here to hold the flag of ideas aloft. Oof, now he’s screaming again!
THE LADIES: Who’s screaming?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Oh, I don’t know. Their voices are a little raised in there, and it makes me nervous.
MRS RUMMEL: That’s probably my husband, Mr Tønnesen. But you mustn’t forget, he’s so used to speaking at big meetings –
MR RØRLUND: The others aren’t too quiet either, if you ask me.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: No, heavens preserve us, when it comes to guarding their wallets, then –. Everything’s reduced to petty materialistic calculation round here. Oof!
MRS BERNICK: It’s better than before at least, when everything was reduced to the pursuit of pleasure.
MRS LYNGE: Was it really that bad here before?
MRS RUMMEL: Oh yes, believe you me, Mrs Lynge. You can count yourself lucky you didn’t live here at the time.
MRS HOLT: Yes, we’ve certainly had some changes here! When I think back to my girlhood –
MRS RUMMEL: Oh, just think back fourteen, fifteen years. Mercy upon us, what goings-on! Back then we had the Ballroom Society and the Music Society –
MISS BERNICK: And the Dramatics Society. I remember that well.
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, that’s where your play was put on, Mr Tønnesen.
HILMAR TØNNESEN [moving away into the background]: Ah, what, what –?!
MR RØRLUND: A play – by our student Tønnesen?16
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, it was a long time before you came here, Mr Rørlund. Besides, it was only performed once.
MRS LYNGE: Wasn’t that the play you told me about – where you played the mistress, Mrs Rummel?
MRS RUMMEL [shoots a glance at the SCHOOLMASTER]: Me? What, I certainly can’t remember that, Mrs Lynge. But I do remember all the noisy socializing that went on in some families.
MRS HOLT: Yes, I even know houses where they had two big dinner parties a week.
MRS LYNGE: And there was a company of travelling actors here, so I’ve heard.
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, now that really was the worst –!
MRS HOLT[uneasy]: Hrrm, hrrm –
MRS RUMMEL: Ah, actors? No, not at all, I don’t remember that.
MRS LYNGE: Yes, they’re meant to have done so many crazy things, I hear. What was actually behind these stories?
MRS RUMMEL: Oh, nothing at all really, Mrs Lynge.
MRS HOLT: Dina, my sweet, hand me that piece of linen.
MRS BERNICK [at the same time]: Dina dear, go out and ask Katrine to bring the coffee.
MISS BERNICK: I’ll come with you, Dina.
DINA and MISS BERNICK exit through the door at the back to the left.
MRS BERNICK [gets up]: And you’ll have to excuse me for a moment too, ladies; I think we’ll take our coffee outside.
She goes out on the garden steps and lays a table; the SCHOOLMASTER stands in the doorway talking with her. HILMAR TØNNESEN sits outside smoking.
MRS RUMMEL [quietly]: Goodness, Mrs Lynge, you gave me a fright there!
MRS LYNGE: Me?
MRS HOLT: Well, you were the one who actually started it, Mrs Rummel.
MRS RUMMEL: Me? How can you say that, Mrs Holt? Not one word crossed my lips.
MRS LYNGE: But what is all this?
MRS RUMMEL: How could you start talking about –! Just think – didn’t you see that Dina was here?
MRS LYNGE: Dina? But, my goodness, has it got something to do with –?
MRS HOLT: And in this house! You must know it was Mrs Bernick’s brother –?
MRS LYNGE: What – him? I know nothing at all; I am very new here –
MRS RUMMEL: So you’ve not heard –? Hmm – [To her daughter] You can go down into the garden for a bit, Hilda.
MRS HOLT: You too, Netta. And be really friendly to that poor Dina when she comes.
MISS RUMMEL and MISS HOLT go out into the garden.
MRS LYNGE: Well, so what was this about Mrs Bernick’s brother?
MRS RUMMEL: Don’t you know he’s the one that was involved in that awful story?
MRS LYNGE: Mr Tønnesen, the student – in some awful story?
MRS RUMMEL: Good Lord, no, Mrs Lynge, the student is her cousin of course. I’m talking about her brother –
MRS HOLT: – the Prodigal Tønnesen –17
MRS RUMMEL: Johan was his name. He ran off to America.
MRS HOLT: Had to run off, you see.
MRS LYNGE: And he was in this awful story?
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, it was something – how should I describe it? It was something to do with Dina’s mother. Oh, I remember it as though it were yesterday. Johan Tønnesen was working in old Mrs Bernick’s office at the time; Karsten Bernick had just come home from Paris – wasn’t yet engaged –
MRS LYNGE: Yes, but the awful story?
MRS RUMMEL: Well, you see – that winter Møller’s Actors’ Company was here in town –
MRS HOLT: – and among this company were the actor Dorf and his wife. All the young men were completely besotted with her.
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, Lord knows how they could find her attractive. But then Dorf came home late one evening –
MRS HOLT: – rather unexpectedly –
MRS RUMMEL: – and found – no, it really doesn’t bear telling.
MRS HOLT: And found nothing, Mrs Rummel, because the door was locked from the inside.
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying; he found the door locked! And just imagine, the man who’s inside has to leap out of the window.
MRS HOLT: All the way from the loft window!
MRS LYNGE: And that was Mrs Bernick’s brother?
MRS RUMMEL: It was indeed.
MRS LYNGE: And that was when he ran off to America?
MRS HOLT: Yes, he had to, you’ll understand.
MRS RUMMEL: Because later something was discovered that was almost as bad; just think, he’d had his hands in the till –
MRS HOLT: But nobody knows that for sure, Mrs Rummel; it may just have been a rumour.
MRS RUMMEL: Really now, I must say –! Wasn’t it known all over town? Wasn’t old Mrs Bernick close to going bankrupt because of it? I have it from Rummel himself. But heaven guard my tongue.
MRS HOLT: Well, one thing’s certain, Madam Dorf didn’t get the money, because she –
MRS LYNGE: Yes, how did things go between Dina’s parents afterwards?
MRS RUMMEL: Well, Dorf went off, leaving his wife and child behind. But she was brazen enough to stay here for a whole year. She didn’t dare appear at the theatre again, of course, but she made a living by washing and sewing for people –
MRS HOLT: And then she tried to get a dancing school going.
MRS RUMMEL: That didn’t work, of course. What parent would entrust their children to a person like that? Not that she lasted very long anyway; that fine madam clearly wasn’t used to work; something went to her chest, and she died.
MRS LYNGE: Oh, that really is an awful story!
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, believe me, it’s been very painful for the Bernicks. It is, as Rummel once put it, the murky blot on their sun of happiness. So you must never ever mention these things in this house, Mrs Lynge.
MRS HOLT: Nor, for heaven’s sake, her half-sister!
MRS LYNGE: Yes, Mrs Bernick has a half-sister too, hasn’t she?
MRS RUMMEL: Did have – fortunately. I’d say any sense of kinship is over between the two of them now. Oh yes, she was one of a kind! Imagine, she cut off her hair and wore men’s boots when it rained.
MRS HOLT: And when her half-brother – that prodigal creature – had run off, and the whole town was naturally in an uproar over him – do you know what she does? She follows him over!
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, but the scandal she made before she left, Mrs Holt!
MRS HOLT: Shush, don’t talk about it.
MRS LYNGE: Goodness, did she make a scandal too?
MRS RUMMEL: Well, it was like this, Mrs Lynge. Bernick had just got engaged to Betty Tønnesen; and just as he comes in with her on his arm to announce to her aunt –
MRS HOLT: The Tønnesens were parentless, you see –
MRS RUMMEL: – Lona Hessel gets up from the chair she’s sitting on and slaps that fine, cultured Karsten Bernick so hard his ears rang.
MRS LYNGE: No, well I never –!
MRS HOLT: Yes, it’s the truth.
MRS RUMMEL: And then she packed her suitcase and went to America.
MRS LYNGE: But then she must have had an eye for him herself.
MRS RUMMEL: You can be sure of it. She’d gone about here deluding herself that they’d be a couple when he got home from Paris.
MRS HOLT: Yes, to think she could believe such a thing! Bernick – that young, charming man of the world – an absolute gentleman – darling of all the ladies –
MRS RUMMEL: – and yet so respectable, Mrs Holt; and such a moral man.
MRS LYNGE: But what did this Miss Hessel do with herself in America?
MRS RUMMEL: Well, you see, thereover rests, as Rummel once put it, a veil that ought not to be lifted.
MRS LYNGE: Meaning what?
MRS RUMMEL: She no longer has any contact with the family, of course; but this much the whole town knows: she’s sung for money in the taverns over there –
MRS HOLT: – and held lectures in public halls –18
MRS RUMMEL: – and published some crackpot book.
MRS LYNGE: Never –!
MRS RUMMEL: Oh, yes, Lona Hessel is yet another murky blot on the sun of the Bernick’s family happiness. Anyway, you’ve been informed now, Mrs Lynge. I have, God knows, only mentioned this so you’ll exercise caution.
MRS LYNGE: Absolutely, you can rest assured I shall. – But that poor Dina Dorf! I feel so dreadfully sorry for her.
MRS RUMMEL: Well, for her it was rather lucky of course. Imagine, if she’d remained in her parents’ hands! We took care of her, all of us, naturally, and we offered her instruction as best we could. Later Miss Bernick insisted on her coming here into this house.
MRS HOLT: But she’s always been a difficult child. You can just imagine – with all those bad examples. That sort isn’t like one of our own, of course; she must be taken as she comes, Mrs Lynge.
MRS RUMMEL: Shh – here she is. [Loudly] Yes, that Dina, she’s such a clever girl. Oh, is that you, Dina? We were just sitting here putting our needlework away.
MRS HOLT: I say, how delicious your coffee smells, Dina darling. A nice cup of afternoon coffee –
MRS BERNICK [out on the garden steps]: Here we are, ladies!
MISS BERNICK and DINA have meanwhile helped the maid bring out the coffee things. All the ladies take their places outside; they talk to DINA in an exaggeratedly friendly tone. Moments later she goes into the room and looks for her needlework.
MRS BERNICK [outside by the coffee table]: Dina, don’t you want to join us –?
DINA: No, thank you, I don’t.
She sits down with her sewing. MRS BERNICK and the SCHOOLMASTER exchange a few words; a moment later he comes into the room.
MR RØRLUND [makes an excuse to go over to the table and says quietly]: Dina.
DINA: Yes.
MR RØRLUND: Why didn’t you want to be out there?
DINA: When I came in with the coffee, I saw from the new lady’s expression that they’d talked about me.
MR RØRLUND: Then you must also have seen how friendly she was to you out there.
DINA: But I can’t bear it!
MR RØRLUND: You have a stubborn spirit, Dina.
DINA: Yes.
MR RØRLUND: But why?
DINA: I can’t be any different.
MR RØRLUND: Couldn’t you at least try to be different?
DINA: No.
MR RØRLUND: Why not?
DINA [looks at him]: I am one of the morally depraved.
MR RØRLUND: Dina, really!
DINA: Mother was also one of the morally depraved.
MR RØRLUND: Who’s been talking to you about such things?
DINA: Nobody; they never talk. Why don’t they? Everybody always treats me so delicately, as if I’d break if –. Oh, how I loathe all their good-heartedness.
MR RØRLUND: My dear Dina, I do understand your finding it rather oppressive here, but –
DINA: Yes, if only I could get away, far away. I’m sure I’d be able to help myself get on if I didn’t live amongst people who were so – so –
MR RØRLUND: So what?
DINA: So respectable and so moral.
MR RØRLUND: But, Dina, you don’t mean that.
DINA: Oh, you know very well what I mean. Every day Hilda and Netta come here so that I’ll model myself on them. I’ll never be as proper as they are. I don’t want to be. Oh, if I was some place far away, I’m sure I’d prove myself capable.
MR RØRLUND: But you already are capable, Dina dear.
DINA: What good is that to me here?
MR RØRLUND: But to leave –. Are you considering that seriously?
DINA: I wouldn’t stay one day longer if you weren’t here.
MR RØRLUND: Dina, tell me – why exactly do you like to spend time with me?
DINA: Because you teach me so much that’s beautiful.
MR RØRLUND: Beautiful? You call what I can teach you beautiful?
DINA: Yes. Or, rather – you don’t exactly teach me anything, but when I hear you speak I see so much that’s beautiful.
MR RØRLUND: What exactly do you understand by a beautiful thing?
DINA: That’s not something I’ve ever thought about.
MR RØRLUND: Think about it now, then. What do you understand by a beautiful thing?
DINA: A beautiful thing is something big – and far away.
MR RØRLUND: Hm. – Dina my dear, I am deeply concerned about you.
DINA: Nothing more?
MR RØRLUND: You know very well how unutterably dear you are to me.
DINA: If I were Hilda or Netta you wouldn’t be frightened of people noticing it.
MR RØRLUND: Oh, Dina, you have such scant insight into the hundreds of considerations –. When a man is tasked with being a moral pillar of the community in which he lives, well – one just can’t be too careful. If I could only be sure that people would really know how to interpret my motives correctly. – But never mind that; you must and shall be helped up. Are we agreed, Dina, that when I come – when circumstances allow me to come – and I say: here is my hand – then will you take it and be my wife? – Do you promise me, Dina?
DINA: Yes.
MR RØRLUND: Thank you, thank you. And the same goes for me –. Oh, Dina, I really do hold you so very dear –. Shh; someone’s coming. Dina, for my sake – go out to the others.
She goes outside to the coffee table. At the same moment RUMMEL, SANDSTAD and VIGELAND come out from the room in the foreground to the left, followed by CONSUL BERNICK, who has a pile of papers in his hand.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Right, so the matter’s settled.
VIGELAND: In the name of our Lord, let us hope so.
RUMMEL: It’s settled, Bernick! A Norseman’s word19 stands as solid as the rocks of Dovre Mountain, you know that!
KARSTEN BERNICK: And none shall waver; none shall fall away, whatever opposition we might meet.
RUMMEL: We stand or fall together, Bernick!
HILMAR TØNNESEN [who has appeared at the garden door]: Fall? Permit me, isn’t it the railway that’s to take the fall here?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Quite the contrary; it’s going to run –
RUMMEL: – full steam, Mr Tønnesen.
HILMAR TØNNESEN [closer]: Oh?
MR RØRLUND: How?
MRS BERNICK [at the garden door]: But, Karsten dear, what is all this –?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Oh, Betty my dear, how could it possibly interest you? [To the three gentlemen] But we must get the subscription lists ready now, the sooner the better. Needless to say, the four of us will sign up first. The position we occupy in the community makes it our duty to stretch ourselves to the utmost.
SANDSTAD: Of course, Mr Consul, sir.
RUMMEL: It will happen, Bernick; we’re sworn to it.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Oh, I’m not the least worried about the outcome. We must make sure that each of us works on our own circle of contacts; as soon as we can point to a really lively participation in every level of the community, it’ll follow that the council20 will have to make its contribution too.
MRS BERNICK: But, Karsten, you really must come out and explain to us –
KARSTEN BERNICK: Oh, Betty my dear, this isn’t something ladies can understand.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: So you really want to take this railway business on after all?
MR RØRLUND: But last year, consul –?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Last year was quite a different matter. Then the talk was of a coastal line –
VIGELAND: – which would have been quite superfluous, schoolmaster, since of course we have steamships –
SANDSTAD: – and which would have been ridiculously expensive –
RUMMEL: – yes, and would have been downright damaging to important interests here in town.
KARSTEN BERNICK: The main issue was that it wouldn’t have benefited the greater community. That was why I opposed it, and then the inland route21 was granted approval.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Yes, but that’s not going to affect the towns around here.
KARSTEN BERNICK: It’ll affect our town, my dear Hilmar, because we’re going to lay a branch line down here now.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Aha; so some new scheme.
RUMMEL: Yes, a marvellous scheme isn’t it? Eh?
MR RØRLUND: Hm –
VIGELAND: It can’t be denied that Providence has almost laid the terrain out perfectly for a branch line.
MR RØRLUND: Are you really saying that, Mr Vigeland?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Yes, well, I must admit that I too view it as a form of guidance that I should go up that way on business this spring and chance upon a valley I’d never previously been in. It struck me like a bolt of lightning that we should be able to lay a branch line down to us. I’ve had an engineer survey the area; I have here the preliminary calculations and estimates. There’s nothing to stand in the way.
MRS BERNICK [still standing with the other ladies gathered by the garden door]: But, Karsten dear, how could you keep all this hidden from us?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Oh, Betty my sweet, you ladies would never have been able to grasp the intricacies of it. Besides, I’ve not talked about it to a living soul before today. But now the critical moment is arrived; now we will execute it in the open and with absolute vigour. Yes, even if it means investing my entire being in it, I shall drive this matter through.
RUMMEL: And we with you, Bernick; you can rely on it.
MR RØRLUND: You really expect so much of this enterprise then, gentlemen?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Yes, I think so, absolutely. Imagine what a powerful lever it’ll represent for our entire community. Think of the enormous tracts of forest22 that’ll be made accessible; think of all the rich seams of ore that can be worked; think of the river with one waterfall after the other. Just imagine all the industry that can be established there.
MR RØRLUND: And you don’t fear that more frequent intercourse with a corrupt outside world might –?
KARSTEN BERNICK: No, you can rest easy, schoolmaster. Our industrious little town stands, thank the Lord, upon good, sound moral soil these days, which all of us, if I may say, have helped to drain; and we shall continue to do so, each in our own way. You, schoolmaster, will continue your spiritually uplifting work in our school and our homes. We, the men of practical affairs, will support our community by spreading well-being in as wide a circle as possible – and our women – yes, ladies, come closer now, you’re welcome to listen – our women, I say, our wives and our daughters – you will continue uninterrupted in your service to charity, dear ladies, and, I might also add, be a help and comfort to those closest to you, just as my darling Betty and Marta are to myself and Olaf – [Looking around] But where is Olaf today?
MRS BERNICK: Oh, it’s impossible to keep him at home in the holidays.
KARSTEN BERNICK: So I take it he’s down by the water again! You’ll see; he won’t stop before there’s an accident.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Bah – a little toying with the forces of nature –
MRS RUMMEL: How beautiful that you should be so family-minded,23 Mr Bernick.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Well, the family is after all the kernel of society. A good home, honourable and loyal friends, a tight-knit little circle into which no disturbing elements cast their shadow –
KRAP comes in from the right with letters and newspapers.
KRAP: The overseas post, Mr Consul, sir – and a telegram24 from New York.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Ah, the owners of the Indian Girl.
RUMMEL: So the post has come? Then I must ask you to excuse me.
VIGELAND: As must I.
SANDSTAD: Goodbye, Mr Consul.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Goodbye, goodbye, gentlemen. And do remember, we have a meeting at five o’clock this afternoon.
THE THREE GENTLEMEN: Yes; right, of course.
They exit to the right.
KARSTEN BERNICK [who has read the telegram]: Well, this is typically American! Downright shocking –
MRS BERNICK: Heavens, Karsten, what is it?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Just look, Mr Krap; read that!
KRAP [reading]: ‘Make minimum repairs; despatch Indian Girl as soon as able to sail; good time of year; at worst the cargo will keep her afloat.’ Well, I must say –
KARSTEN BERNICK: The cargo keep her afloat! These gentlemen know full well that with that cargo the ship will sink to the bottom like a stone, should anything happen.
MR RØRLUND: Yes well, there we see how things are in these much-lauded larger communities.
KARSTEN BERNICK: You’re right there; no regard even for human life, the moment profits come into play. [To KRAP] Can the Indian Girl sail in four or five days?
KRAP: Yes, if Mr Vigeland agrees to our stopping work on the Palm Tree in the meantime.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Hm, he won’t. Now, perhaps you could look through the post. Listen, you didn’t see Olaf down on the quay, did you?
KRAP: No, Mr Consul, sir.
He goes into the room to the left nearest the front.
KARSTEN BERNICK [looks again at the telegram]: These gentlemen think nothing of risking eighteen human lives –
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Well, it’s a sailor’s calling to challenge the elements; there must be a certain nervous thrill in having just a thin plank between oneself and the abyss –
KARSTEN BERNICK: Well, I’d like to see the shipowner over here who’d bring himself to do such a thing! Not one, not a single one – [Spots OLAF] Oh, thank heavens, he’s in one piece.
OLAF, with a fishing rod in his hand, has come running up the street and through the garden gate.
OLAF [still in the garden]: Uncle Hilmar, I’ve been down looking at the steamship.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Have you been on the quay again?
OLAF: No, I was only out in a boat. But imagine, Uncle Hilmar, a whole circus troupe25 came ashore with their horses and animals; and there were such a lot of passengers too.
MRS RUMMEL: No, are we really going to see circus riders?
MR RØRLUND: We? I trust not.
MRS RUMMEL: Well, of course not we, but –
DINA: I’d love to see circus riders.
OLAF: Me too.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: You are a clothead. Is that something to see? Mere dressage. It would be something quite different, of course, to see the gaucho chase across the Pampas on his snorting mustang. But, heavens, here in the provinces –
OLAF [tugging at MISS BERNICK] Aunty Marta, look, look – here they come!
MRS HOLT: Yes, Lord above, there they are.
MRS LYNGE: Oof, such dreadful people!
A large number of PASSENGERS and a great crowd of the TOWNSFOLK come up the street.
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, a real bunch of rogues and vagabonds. Just look at that woman in the grey dress, Mrs Holt; she’s carrying her travel bag on her back.
MRS HOLT: And to think, she’s carrying it on the handle of her parasol! That’s the manager’s madam of course.
MRS RUMMEL: And that must be the manager himself; the one with the beard. Yes, he looks like an absolute rogue. Don’t look at him, Hilda!
OLAF: Mummy, the manager’s waving up at us.
KARSTEN BERNICK: What?
MRS BERNICK: What are you saying, child?
MRS RUMMEL: Yes, Lord above, now the woman’s26 waving too!
KARSTEN BERNICK: Well, that really is too outrageous!
MISS BERNICK [with an involuntary gasp]: Ah –!
MRS BERNICK: What is it, Marta?
MISS BERNICK: Oh, no, nothing; I just thought –
OLAF [shrieks with joy]: Look, look, there are the others with the horses and animals! And the Americans are there too! All the sailors from the Indian Girl –
‘Yankee Doodle’ can be heard, accompanied by clarinet and drum.
HILMAR TØNNESEN [holding his ears]: Oof! Oof! Oof!
MR RØRLUND: I think we should shut ourselves off a little from this, ladies; it’s nothing for us. Let’s return to our work.
MRS BERNICK: Should we perhaps draw the curtains?
MR RØRLUND: My thoughts precisely.
The ladies take their places by the table; the SCHOOLMASTER closes the garden door and draws the curtains on the door and windows; the room is in semi-darkness.
OLAF [peeping out]: Mummy, the manager’s madam is standing by the pump now, washing her face.
MRS BERNICK: What? In the middle of the square!
MRS RUMMEL: And in broad daylight!
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Well, if I was out on a desert expedition and stumbled on a water butt, then neither would I hesitate to –. Oof, that dreadful clarinet!
MR RØRLUND: Surely this is provocation enough for the police to step in.
KARSTEN BERNICK: Oh come now; one shouldn’t be unduly strict when judging foreigners; these people don’t have the deep-rooted sense of propriety that keeps us within the proper bounds. Let them kick over the traces. How does it affect us? This uncouth behaviour that flaunts proper convention fortunately bears no kinship with our community, if I may say. – What’s this!
An unknown LADY strides quickly in through the door to the right.
LADIES [startled but quietly]: The circus-rider! The manager’s madam!
MRS BERNICK: Lord above, what’s the meaning of this?
MISS BERNICK [leaps up]: Ah –!
THE LADY: Afternoon, Betty dear! Afternoon, Marta! Afternoon, brother-in-law!
MRS BERNICK [with a shriek]: Lona –!
KARSTEN BERNICK [takes an unsteady step back]: Well, I never –!
MRS HOLT: Lord have mercy –!
MRS RUMMEL: It’s impossible –!
HILMAR TØNNESEN: What! Oof!
MRS BERNICK: Lona –! Is it really –?
MISS HESSEL: Is it really me? Yes, it most certainly is; well, feel free to fall about my neck.
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Oof; oof!
MRS BERNICK: And you’ve come back as a –?
KARSTEN BERNICK: – you’re really going to perform –?
MISS HESSEL: Perform? What do you mean, perform?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Well, I mean – with the circus riders –
MISS HESSEL: Ha-ha-ha! Are you mad, brother-in-law? You think I’m with the circus riders? Well, I’ve certainly learned a few tricks and made a fool of myself in various ways –
MRS RUMMEL: Hm –
MISS HESSEL: – but tricks on horseback – no, never.
KARSTEN BERNICK: So, you’re not –
MRS BERNICK: Ah, thank God!
MISS HESSEL: No, we came, of course, like other respectable folk – in second class right enough, but we’re used to that.
MRS BERNICK: We, you say?
KARSTEN BERNICK: Who’s we?
MISS HESSEL: Me and the kid, of course.
LADIES [in exclamation]: Kid!
HILMAR TØNNESEN: What?
MR RØRLUND: Well, I must say –!
MRS BERNICK: But what do you mean, Lona?
MISS HESSEL: I mean John, of course; I don’t have any other kid but John, that’s for sure – or Johan, as you called him.
MRS BERNICK: Johan –!
MRS RUMMEL [quietly to MRS LYNGE]: The prodigal brother.
KARSTEN BERNICK [hesitantly]: Is Johan with you?
MISS HESSEL: Of course; of course; I’d not travel without him. But you all look so grim. And you’re sitting here in the twilight, stitching away at some white cloth or other. Not been a death in the family, has there?
MR RØRLUND: Madam, you find yourself here among the Association for the Morally Corrupt –
MISS HESSEL [half to herself]: What are you saying? That these sweet, retiring ladies are –?
MRS RUMMEL: Now, I must say –!
MISS HESSEL: Oh, I get it, I get it! But damned if it isn’t Mrs Rummel! And sitting right there, Mrs Holt too! Well, we three haven’t got any younger since the last time. But listen, my good people, let the morally corrupt wait a day; they won’t get any worse for that. A joyous occasion like this –
MR RØRLUND: A homecoming is not always a joyous occasion.
MISS HESSEL: Oh? How do you read your Bible, pastor?
MR RØRLUND: I’m not a pastor.
MISS HESSEL: Oh, but you will be, I’m sure. – But dear, dear, dear me – this moral linen has a certain corrupt odour about it – like a shroud. I’m used to the air out on the prairies, I’ll tell you.
KARSTEN BERNICK [wipes his forehead]: Yes, it really is rather stuffy in here.
MISS HESSEL: Wait, wait; I’m sure we can find a way up from this burial chamber. [Pulls the curtains open] Full daylight is what’s needed here when my boy arrives. Then you’ll see a young man who’s scrubbed up well –
HILMAR TØNNESEN: Oof!
MISS HESSEL [opening doors and windows]: – when he’s had a scrub, that is – over at the hotel; he got as filthy as a pig on the steamship.
MISS HESSEL: Oof? Goodness me, if it isn’t –! [Points to HILMAR and asks the others] Is he still drifting about here saying oof all the time?
HILMAR TØNNESEN: I do not drift about; I am here because of my illness.
MR RØRLUND: Ahem, ladies, I don’t think –
MISS HESSEL [has spotted OLAF]: Is that yours, Betty? – Give us a paw, boy! Or maybe you’re scared of your ugly old aunt?
MR RØRLUND [as he takes his book under his arm]: Ladies, I don’t think the mood here is conducive to our working any further today. But we’ll meet up again tomorrow, yes?
MISS HESSEL [as the lady visitors get up to take their leave]: Oh yes, let’s do that. I’ll be right here.
MR RØRLUND: You? With permission, madam, what would you do in our association?
MISS HESSEL: Let some fresh air in, pastor.