John Gabriel Borkman | Page 8

way.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Vehemently.] I!
ELLA RENTHEIM. And then this Mrs. Wilton, too, I am afraid.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Looks at her for a moment in speechless surprise.] And you think such things of Erhart! Of my own boy! He, who has his great mission to fulfil!
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Lightly.] Oh, his mission!
MRS. BORKMAN. [Indignantly.] How dare you say that so scornfully?
ELLA RENTHEIM. Do you think a young man of Erhart's age, full of health and spirits--do you think he is going to sacrifice himself for--for such a thing as a "mission"?
MRS. BORKMAN. [Firmly and emphatically.] Erhart will! I know he will.
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Shaking her head.] You neither know it nor believe it, Gunhild.
MRS. BORKMAN. I don't believe it!
ELLA RENTHEIM. It is only a dream that you cherish. For if you hadn't that to cling to, you feel that you would utterly despair.
MRS. BORKMAN. Yes, indeed I should despair. [Vehemently.] And I daresay that is what you would like to see, Ella!
ELLA RENTHEIM. [With head erect.] Yes, I would rather see that than see you "redeem" yourself at Erhart's expense.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Threateningly.] You want to come between us? Between mother and son? You?
ELLA RENTHEIM. I want to free him from your power--your will--your despotism.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Triumphantly.] You are too late! You had him in your nets all these years--until he was fifteen. But now I have won him again, you see!
ELLA RENTHEIM. Then I will win him back from you! [Hoarsely, half whispering.] We two have fought a life-and-death battle before, Gunhild--for a man's soul!
MRS. BORKMAN. [Looking at her in triumph.] Yes, and I won the victory.
ELLA RENTHEIM. [With a smile of scorn.] Do you still think that victory was worth the winning?
MRS. BORKMAN. [Darkly.] No; Heaven knows you are right there.
ELLA RENTHEIM. You need look for no victory worth the winning this time either.
MRS. BORKMAN. Not when I am fighting to preserve a mother's power over my son!
ELLA RENTHEIM. No; for it is only power over him that you want.
MRS. BORKMAN. And you?
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Warmly.] I want his affection--his soul--his whole heart!
MRS. BORKMAN. [With an outburst.] That you shall never have in this world!
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Looking at her.] You have seen to that?
MRS. BORKMAN. [Smiling.] Yes, I have taken that liberty. Could you not see that in his letters?
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Nods slowly.] Yes. I could see you--the whole of you--in his letters of late.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Gallingly.] I have made the best use of these eight years. I have had him under my own eye, you see.
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Controlling herself.] What have you said to Erhart about me? Is it the sort of thing you can tell me?
MRS. BORKMAN. Oh yes, I can tell you well enough.
ELLA RENTHEIM. Then please do.
MRS. BORKMAN. I have only told him the truth.
ELLA RENTHEIM. Well?
MRS. BORKMAN. I have impressed upon him, every day of his life, that he must never forget that it is you we have to thank for being able to live as we do--for being able to live at all.
ELLA RENTHEIM. Is that all?
MRS. BORKMAN. Oh, that is the sort of thing that rankles; I feel that in my own heart.
ELLA RENTHEIM. But that is very much what Erhart knew already.
MRS. BORKMAN. When he came home to me, he imagined that you did it all out of goodness of heart. [Looks malignly at her.] Now he does not believe that any longer, Ella.
ELLA RENTHEIM. Then what does he believe now?
MRS. BORKMAN. He believes what is the truth. I asked him how he accounted for the fact that Aunt Ella never came here to visit us----
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Interrupting.] He knew my reasons already!
MRS. BORKMAN. He knows them better now. You had got him to believe that it was to spare me and--and him up there in gallery----
ELLA RENTHEIM. And so it was.
MRS. BORKMAN. Erhart does not believe that for a moment, now.
ELLA RENTHEIM. What have you put in his head?
MRS. BORKMAN. He thinks, what is the truth, that you are ashamed of us--that you despise us. And do you pretend that you don't? Were you not once planning to take him quite away from me? Think, Ella; you cannot have forgotten.
ELLA RENTHEIM. [With a gesture of negation.] That was at the height of the scandal--when the case was before the courts. I have no such designs now.
MRS. BORKMAN. And it would not matter if you had. For in that case what would become of his mission? No, thank you. It is me that Erhart needs-- not you. And therefore he is as good as dead to you--and you to him.
ELLA RENTHEIM. [Coldly, with resolution.] We shall see. For now I shall remain out here.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Stares at her.] Here? In this house?
ELLA RENTHEIM. Yes, here.
MRS. BORKMAN. Here--with us? Remain all night?
ELLA RENTHEIM. I shall remain here all the rest of my days if need be.
MRS. BORKMAN. [Collecting