Three Dramas | Page 5

get away.
Mrs. Evje. Halvdan so often talks of her.
Harald. Yes, I believe she is the best friend he has.
Evje. No wonder, then, that she wants to come and say good-bye to him. By the way, have you seen how the paper bids him good-bye to-day?
Harald. Yes, I have seen it.
Mrs. Evje (hurriedly). I hope Halvdan has not seen it?
Harald (smiling). No, it is a long time now since Halvdan read a newspaper. (A pause.)
Evje. Then I suppose you have read what they say about you too?
Harald. Naturally.
Mrs. Evje. It is worse than anything they have said about you before.
Harald. Well--of course, you know, my election meeting comes on this evening.
Evje. I can tell you it has upset us.
Mrs. Evje. Day after day we wake up to find our house invaded by these abominations. That is a nice thought to begin your day's work with!
Harald. Is it so indispensable, then, to educated people to begin their day by reading such things?
Mrs. Evje. Well--one must have a paper.
Evje. And most people read it. Besides, one can't deny that a lot of what is in it is true, although its general tendency is to run everyone down.
Harald (getting up). Quite so, yes. (Leans over GERTRUD'S shoulder.) Gertrud, have you read it?
Gertrud (does not look at him, and hesitates for a moment; then says gently): Yes.
Harald (under his breath). So that is it! (Walks away from her.)
Evje. We have had a little bit of a scene here, I must tell you.
Harald (walking up and down). Yes, I can understand that.
Evje. I will repeat what I have said already: they write about you, and we have to suffer for it.
Mrs. Evje. Yes, and Gertrud especially.
Gertrud. No--I don't want anyone to consider me in the matter at all. Besides, it is not what they say of you in the paper that hurts me--. (Stops abruptly.)
Harald (who has come up to her). But what your parents are feeling about it? Is that it? (GERTRUD does not answer.)
Evje (pushing back his plate). There, I have finished! (They rise from the table. MRS. EVJE helps INGEBORG to clear away the things, which INGEBORG carries out of the room.)
Mrs. Evje. Couldn't you wash your hands of politics, Harald? (GERTRUD goes out to the left.)
Evje (who has followed GERTRUD with his eyes). We cannot deny that it pains us considerably that in our old age our peaceful home should be invaded by all this squabbling and abomination.
Mrs. Evje (who rung for INGEBORG to move the table). You have no need to do it, either, Harald! You are a grown man, and your own master. (INGEBORG comes in. HARALD helps her to move the table.)
Evje (to his wife). Don't let Ingeborg hear. Come along, we will go into my room.
Mrs. Evje. You forget, all the windows are open there. I have had the fire lit here, so that we could stay here.
Evje. Very well--then we will sit here. (Sits down by the fire.) Will you have a cigar?
Harald. No, thanks. (INGEBORG goes out.)
Evje (taking a cigar and lighting it). As my wife said just now-- couldn't you wash your hands of politics, Harald? You, who have both talent and means, need not be at a loss for a vocation in life.
Harald (sitting down on the sofa). If I have any talent, it is for politics--and so I intend to devote my means to that.
Evje. What do you propose to gain by it?
Harald. What any one who believes in a cause hopes to gain--that is to say, to help it on.
Evje. And to become a cabinet minister?
Harald. I certainly can't do that any other way; well, I admit-- that is my idea.
Evje. You will not be elected now.
Harald. That we shall see.
Evje. But suppose you are not re-elected to-morrow?
Harald. Then I must find some other way.
Evje. Always with the same object?
Harald. Always with the same object. (EVJE sighs.)
Mrs. Evje (who has taken her sewing and sat down by the fire). Oh, these politics!
Harald. At any rate, they are the most prominent factors in life just now.
Evje. We do not suppose we can exercise any influence over you. But at any rate it is possible that you yourself have not considered the position into which you have put the whole of us. (Both he and his wife avoid looking at HARALD during this discussion.)
Mrs. Evje. Say what you really mean, dear--that he is making us all thoroughly unhappy, and that is the truth!
Harald (getting up, and walking up and down). Well, look here--I have a proposal to make. It is, that you should abandon all opposition to Gertrud's marrying me at once. To-day again my brother has expressed the wish that we should be married by his bedside; so that he should be able to take part in it. I scarcely need add how