Pillars of Society | Page 9

of being with me?
Dina: Because you teach me so much that is beautiful.
Rorlund: Beautiful? Do you call the little I can teach you, beautiful?
Dina: Yes. Or perhaps, to be accurate, it is not that you teach me anything; but when I listen to you talking I see beautiful visions.
Rorlund: What do you mean exactly when you call a thing beautiful?
Dina: I have never thought it out.
Rorlund: Think it out now, then. What do you understand by a beautiful thing?
Dina: A beautiful thing is something that is great--and far off.
Rorlund: Hm!--Dina, I am so deeply concerned about you, my dear.
Dina: Only that?
Rorlund: You know perfectly well that you are dearer to me than I can say.
Dina: If I were Hilda or Netta, you would not be afraid to let people see it.
Rorlund: Ah, Dina, you can have no idea of the number of things I am forced to take into consideration. When it is a man's lot to be a moral pillar of the community he lives in, he cannot be too circumspect. If only I could be certain that people would interpret my motives properly. But no matter for that; you must, and shall be, helped to raise yourself. Dina, is it a bargain between us that when I come--when circumstances allow me to come - -to you and say: "Here is my hand," you will take it and be my wife? Will you promise me that, Dina?
Dina: Yes.
Rorlund: Thank you, thank you! Because for my part, too--oh, Dina, I love you so dearly. Hush! Some one is coming. Dina--for my sake--go out to the others.(She goes out to the coffee table. At the same moment RUMMEL, SANDSTAD and VIGELAND come out of BERNICK'S room, followed by Bernick, who has a bundle of papers in his hand.)
Bernick: Well, then, the matter is settled.
Vigeland: Yes, I hope to goodness it is.
Rummel: It is settled, Bernick. A Norseman's word stands as firm as the rocks on Dovrefjeld, you know!
Bernick: And no one must falter, no one give way, no matter what opposition we meet with.
Rummel: We will stand or fall together, Bernick.
Hilmar (coming in from the verandah): Fall? If I may ask, isn't it the railway scheme that is going to fall?
Bernick: No, on the contrary, it is going to proceed--
Rummel: Full steam, Mr. Tonnesen.
Hilmar (coming nearer): Really?
Rorlund: How is that?
Mrs. Bernick(at the verandah door): Karsten, dear, what is it that--?
Bernick: My dear Betty, how can it interest you? (To the three men.) We must get out lists of subscribers, and the sooner the better. Obviously our four names must head the list. The positions we occupy in the community makes it our duty to make ourselves as prominent as possible in the affair.
Sandstad: Obviously, Mr. Bernick.
Rummel: The thing shall go through, Bernick; I swear it shall!
Bernick: Oh, I have not the least anticipation of failure. We must see that we work, each one among the circle of his own acquaintances; and if we can point to the fact that the scheme is exciting a lively interest in all ranks of society, then it stands to reason that our Municipal Corporation will have to contribute its share.
Mrs.Bernick: Karsten, you really must come out here and tell us--
Bernick: My dear Betty, it is an affair that does not concern ladies at all.
Hilmar: Then you are really going to support this railway scheme after all?
Bernick: Yes, naturally.
Rorlund: But last year, Mr. Bernick--
Bernick: Last year it was quite another thing. At that time it was a question of a line along the coast--
Vigeland: Which would have been quite superfluous, Mr. Rorlund; because, of course, we have our steamboat service--
Sandstad: And would have been quite unreasonably costly--
Rummel: Yes, and would have absolutely ruined certain important interests in the town.
Bernick: The main point was that it would not have been to the advantage of the community as a whole. That is why I opposed it, with the result that the inland line was resolved upon.
Hilmar: Yes, but surely that will not touch the towns about here.
Bernick: It will eventually touch our town, my dear Hilmar, because we are going to build a branch line here.
Hilmar: Aha--a new scheme, then?
Rummel: Yes, isn't it a capital scheme? What?
Rorlund: Hm!--
Vigeland: There is no denying that it looks as though Providence had just planned the configuration of the country to suit a branch line.
Rorlund: Do you really mean it, Mr. Vigeland?
Bernick: Yes, I must confess it seems to me as if it had been the hand of Providence that caused me to take a journey on business this spring, in the course of which I happened to traverse a valley through which I had never been before. It came across my mind like a flash of lightning that this was where we could carry a branch line down to our town.