Henrik Ibsens Prose Dramas, Vol III. | Page 5

arms, and the whole crowd then withdraws by the door on the right.)
ELINA (softly to BIORN). Do you still think I have sinned in misjudging--the Lady of Ostrat?
LADY INGER (beckons to BIORN, and says). Have a guest chamber ready.
BIORN. It is well, Lady Inger!
LADY INGER. And let the gate stand open to all that knock.
BIORN. But----?
LADY INGER. The gate open!
BIORN. The gate open. (Goes out to the right.)
LADY INGER (to ELINA, who has already reached the door on the left). Stay here!---- ---- Elina--my child--I have something to say to you alone.
ELINA. I hear you.
LADY INGER. Elina---- ----you think evil of your mother.
ELINA. I think, to my sorrow, what your deeds have forced me to think.
LADY INGER. You answer out of the bitterness of your heart.
ELINA. Who has filled my heart with bitterness? From my childhood I have been wont to look up to you as a great and high-souled woman. It was in your likeness I pictured the women we read of in the chronicles and the Book of Heroes. I thought the Lord God himself had set his seal on your brow, and marked you out as the leader of the helpless and the oppressed. Knights and nobles sang your praise in the feast-hall, and the peasants, far and near, called you the country's pillar and its hope. All thought that through you the good times were to come again! All thought that through you a new day was to dawn over the land! The night is still here; and I no longer know if I dare look for any morning to come through you.
LADY INGER. It is easy to see whence you have learnt such venomous words. You have let yourself give ear to what the thoughtless rabble mutters and murmurs about things it can little judge of.
ELINA. "Truth is in the people's mouth," was your word when they praised you in speech and song.
LADY INGER. May be so. But if indeed I had chosen to sit here idle, though it was my part to act--do you not think that such a choice were burden enough for me, without your adding to its weight?
ELINA. The weight I add to your burden bears on me as heavily as on you. Lightly and freely I drew the breath of life, so long as I had you to believe in. For my pride is my life; and well had it become me, if you had remained what once you were.
LADY INGER. And what proves to you I have not? Elina, how can you know so surely that you are not doing your mother wrong?
ELINA (vehemently). Oh, that I were!
LADY INGER. Peace! You have no right to call your mother to account---- With a single word I could---- ----; but it would be an ill word for you to hear; you must await what time shall bring; may be that----
ELINA (turns to go). Sleep well, my mother!
LADY INGER (hesitates). Nay, stay with me; I have still somewhat-- Come nearer;--you must hear me, Elina!
(Sits down by the table in front of the window.)
ELINA. I am listening.
LADY INGER. For as silent as you are, I know well that you often long to be gone from here. Ostrat is too lonely and lifeless for you.
ELINA. Do you wonder at that, my mother?
LADY INGER. It rests with you whether all this shall henceforth be changed.
ELINA. How so?
LADY INGER. Listen.--I look for a guest to-night.
ELINA (comes nearer). A guest?
LADY INGER. A stranger, who must remain a stranger to all. None must know whence he comes or whither he goes.
ELINA (throws herself, with a cry of joy, at her mother's feet and seizes her hands). My mother! My mother! Forgive me, if you can, all the wrong I have done you!
LADY INGER. What do you mean? Elina, I do not understand you.
ELINA. Then they were all deceived! You are still true at heart!
LADY INGER. Rise, rise and tell me----
ELINA. Do you think I do not know who the stranger is?
LADY INGER. You know? And yet----?
ELINA. Do you think the gates of Ostrat shut so close that never a whisper of evil tidings can slip through? Do you think I do not know that the heir of many a noble line wanders outlawed, without rest or shelter, while Danish masters lord it in the home of their fathers?
LADY INGER. And what then?
ELINA. I know well that many a high-born knight is hunted through the woods like a hungry wolf. No hearth has he to rest by, no bread to eat----
LADY INGER (coldly). Enough! Now I understand you.
ELINA (continuing). And that is why the gates of Ostrat must stand open by night! That is why he must remain a stranger to all, this guest of whom none must know whence he comes or whither he goes! You are setting