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Hedda Gabler Act IV · The Henrik Ibsen Library

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  Speaker 1: Act for of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, translated by
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  Speaker 1: Edmund Gausci and William Archer. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Act
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  Speaker 1: forth the same rooms at the Tessments. It is evening.
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  Speaker 1: The drawing room is in darkness. The back room is
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  Speaker 1: light by the hanging lamp over the table. The curtains
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  Speaker 1: over the glass door are drawn close. Hedda, dressed in black,
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  Speaker 1: walks to and fro in the dark room. Then she
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  Speaker 1: goes into the back room and disappears for a moment
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  Speaker 1: to the left. She is hurt to strike a few
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  Speaker 1: cords on the piano. Presently she comes in sight again
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  Speaker 1: and returns to the drawing room. Betta enters from the
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  Speaker 1: right through the inner room with a lighted lamp, which
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  Speaker 1: she places on the table in front of the corner
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  Speaker 1: settee in the drawing room. Her eyes are red with
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  Speaker 1: weeping and she has black ribs in her cap. She
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  Speaker 1: goes quietly and circumspectedly out to the right. Hedda goes
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  Speaker 1: up to the glass door, lifts the curtain a little
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  Speaker 1: aside and looks out into the darkness. Shortly afterwards, Miss Tessmon,
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  Speaker 1: in mourning with a bonnet and veil on, comes in
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  Speaker 1: from the hall. Heda goes towards her and holds out
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  Speaker 1: her hand.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Hedda, here I am in mourning and forlorn. For
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  Speaker 2: now my poor sister has at last found peace.
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  Speaker 3: I have heard the news already, as you see. Tessmon
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  Speaker 3: sent me a card.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, he promised me he would, But nevertheless I thought
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  Speaker 2: that to Hedda here in the house of life, I
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  Speaker 2: ought myself to bring the tidings of death.
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  Speaker 3: That was very kind of you, ah.
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  Speaker 2: Rena ought not to have left us just now. This
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  Speaker 2: is not the time for Hedda's house to be a
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  Speaker 2: house of mourning.
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  Speaker 1: Hedda, changing the subject.
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  Speaker 3: She died quite peacefully, did she not, Miss Tasman.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, her end was so calm, so beautiful. And then
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  Speaker 2: she had the unspeakable happiness of seeing George once more
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  Speaker 2: and bidding him good bye. Has he not come home yet?
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  Speaker 3: No, he wrote that he might be detained. But won't
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  Speaker 3: you sit down?
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  Speaker 2: No, thank you, my dear dear Hetta. I should like to,
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  Speaker 2: but I have so much to do. I must prepare
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  Speaker 2: my dear one for her rest as well as I can.
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  Speaker 2: She shall go to her grave looking her best.
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  Speaker 3: Can I not help you in any way?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, you must not think of it. Headed Tessmon must
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  Speaker 2: have no hand in such mournful work, nor let her
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  Speaker 2: thought dwell on it either, not at this time.
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  Speaker 3: One is not always mistress of one's thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Tessman continuing.
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  Speaker 2: Ah, yes, it is the way of the world. At
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  Speaker 2: home we shall be sewing a shroud, and here there
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  Speaker 2: will soon be sowing too, I suppose, but of another sort.
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  Speaker 2: Thank God.
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  Speaker 1: George Tessman enters by the hall door.
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  Speaker 4: Ah, you've come at last, you hear Aunt Julia with
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  Speaker 4: heather fancy that.
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  Speaker 2: I was just going. My dear boy, well have you
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  Speaker 2: done all you promised?
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  Speaker 4: No, I'm really afraid I have forgotten half of it.
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  Speaker 4: I must come to you again tomorrow to day. My
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  Speaker 4: brain is all in the world. I can't keep my
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  Speaker 4: thoughts together.
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  Speaker 3: My dear George.
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  Speaker 2: You mustn't take it in this.
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  Speaker 4: Way, mustn't. How do you mean, even.
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  Speaker 2: In your sorrow, you must rejoice as I do, rejoice
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  Speaker 2: that she is at rest.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, yes, yes, you are thinking of Aunt Rena.
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  Speaker 3: You will feel lonely now, miss Tessman just at first, yes,
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  Speaker 3: but that will not last very long. I hope, I
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  Speaker 3: dare say, I shall soon find an occupant for Verna's
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  Speaker 3: little room.
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  Speaker 4: Indeed, who do you think will take it?
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  Speaker 5: Eh?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, there's always some poor, invalid or other in want
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  Speaker 2: of nursing. Unfortunately, would you really take.
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  Speaker 3: Such a burden upon you again?
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  Speaker 1: A burden?
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  Speaker 2: Heaven forgive you, child. It has been no burden to me.
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  Speaker 3: But suppose you had a total stranger on your hands.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, one soon makes friends with sick folk, and it's
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  Speaker 2: an absolute necessity for me to have someone to live for. Well,
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  Speaker 2: Heaven be praised. There may soon be something in this
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  Speaker 2: house too, to keep an old aunt busy.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, don't trouble about anything here.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, just fancy what a nice time we three might
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  Speaker 4: have together?
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  Speaker 1: If if Tessman uneasily.
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  Speaker 4: Oh nothing, it will all come right, let us hope
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  Speaker 4: so eh.
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  Speaker 2: Well, well, I dare say you too want to talk
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  Speaker 2: to each other?
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  Speaker 1: Smiling, and perhaps.
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  Speaker 2: Hedda may have something to tell you too, George, good bye.
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  Speaker 1: I must go home to Rena, turning at the door.
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  Speaker 3: How strange it.
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  Speaker 2: Is to think that now Rena is with me and
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  Speaker 2: with my poor brother as well.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, fancy that at Julia Nay.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Tessman goes out by the hall door. Head Anne
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  Speaker 1: follows Tesmon coldly and searching thee with her eyes.
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  Speaker 3: I almost believe your aunt Rena's death affects you more
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  Speaker 3: than it does your aunt Julia.
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  Speaker 4: Oh it's not that alone, it's Eilert. I am so
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  Speaker 4: terribly uneasy about Heada.
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  Speaker 3: Quickly, is there anything new about him?
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  Speaker 4: I looked in at his rooms this afternoon, intending to
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  Speaker 4: tell him the manuscript was in safe keeping.
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  Speaker 3: Well did you find him?
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  Speaker 4: No, he wasn't at home. But afterwards I met Missus
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  Speaker 4: Alvestead and she told me that he had been here
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  Speaker 4: early this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, directly after you had gone.
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  Speaker 4: And he said he had torn his manuscript to pieces. Eh.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, so he declared, Why good heavens, he must have
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  Speaker 3: been completely out of his mind.
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  Speaker 4: And I suppose you thought it best not to give
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  Speaker 4: it back to him. Headah.
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  Speaker 3: No, he did not get it, but of course you.
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  Speaker 4: Told him that we had it.
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  Speaker 3: No quickly did you tell Missus Elvestead?
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  Speaker 4: No? I thought I had better not, But you ought
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  Speaker 4: to have told him. Fancy if in desperation he should
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  Speaker 4: go and do himself some injury. Let me have the manuscript, HEADA,
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  Speaker 4: I will take it to him at once. Where is it?
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  Speaker 1: Heada, cold and immovable, leaning on the armchair.
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  Speaker 3: I have not got it.
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  Speaker 4: Have not got it. What in the world do you mean?
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  Speaker 3: I have burnt it, every line.
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  Speaker 1: Of it, Tessaman, with a violent movement of terror.
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  Speaker 4: Burnt, burnt I Lert's manuscript.
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  Speaker 3: Don't scream so the servants might hear you burnt?
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  Speaker 4: Why good God, No, no, no, it's it's impossible.
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  Speaker 3: It is so. Nevertheless, do you know what you've done?
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  Speaker 4: Hedda? It's a lawful appropriation of lost property. Fancy that?
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  Speaker 4: Just to ask Judge Brack and he'll tell you what
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  Speaker 4: it is.
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  Speaker 3: I advise you not to speak of it, either to
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  Speaker 3: Judge Brack or to anyone else.
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  Speaker 4: But how could you do anything so unheard of? What
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  Speaker 4: put it into your hand? What possessed you?
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  Speaker 1: Answer me that, eh, heada, suppressing an almost imperceptible smile.
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  Speaker 3: I did it for your sake, George, for my sake
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  Speaker 3: this morning when you told me about what he had read.
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  Speaker 4: To you, Yes, yes, what.
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  Speaker 3: Then you acknowledged that you envied him his work.
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  Speaker 4: Of course I didn't mean that, literally.
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  Speaker 1: No matter.
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  Speaker 3: I could not bear the idea that anyone should throw
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  Speaker 3: you into the shade.
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  Speaker 1: Tessmon, in an outburst of mingled doubt and joy.
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  Speaker 4: Heddah, Oh is this true? But but I never knew
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  Speaker 4: you show your love like that before? Fancy that?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I may as well tell you that just at.
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  Speaker 1: This time, impatiently breaking off.
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  Speaker 3: No, no, you can ask Aunt Julia. She will tell
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  Speaker 3: you fast enough.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, I almost think I understand you.
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  Speaker 1: Headah clasps his hands together.
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  Speaker 4: Good heaven, do you really mean it?
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  Speaker 3: Eh? Don't shout so the servant might hear.
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  Speaker 1: Tessmond, laughing and irrepressible glee.
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  Speaker 4: Ha ha, the servant. Why how absurd you are? Heada? It
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  Speaker 4: told me by old Berta. No, why I'll tell Berta myself.
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  Speaker 1: Heada clenching her hands together in desperation.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, it is killing me, It is killing me.
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  Speaker 1: All this what is Heada, eh, Heada coldly controlling herself.
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  Speaker 3: All this absurdity, George, absurdity?
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  Speaker 4: Do you see anything absurd in my being overjoyed at
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  Speaker 4: the news. But after all, perhaps I had better not
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  Speaker 4: say anything to Berter.
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  Speaker 3: Oh why not that too?
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  Speaker 4: No, No, not yet, but I must certainly tell Aunt
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  Speaker 4: Julia and then that you've forgot to call me George too.
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  Speaker 4: Fancy that. Oh, and Julia will be so happy, so happy.
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  Speaker 3: When she hears that I have burnt Elert Loveborg's manuscript
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  Speaker 3: for your sake.
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  Speaker 4: No, by the bye, the affair of the manuscript, of course,
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  Speaker 4: nobody must know about that, but that you love me
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  Speaker 4: so much hettah, and Julia must really share my joy
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  Speaker 4: in that. I wonder now whether this sort of thing
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  Speaker 4: is usual in young wives.
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  Speaker 6: Eh.
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  Speaker 3: I think you had better ask Aunt Julia that question too.
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  Speaker 4: I will, indeed, sometime or other.
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  Speaker 1: Looks uneasy and downcast again.
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  Speaker 4: And yet the manuscript, the manuscript, Good God, it's terrible
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  Speaker 4: to think what will become of poor Elert.
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  Speaker 1: Now missus Elfstitt, dressed as in the first act, with
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  Speaker 1: head and cloak, enterest by the hall door. Missus Elfstitt
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  Speaker 1: greets them hurriedly and says, in evident agitation, Oh.
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  Speaker 6: Dear Hedda, forgive my coming again.
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  Speaker 3: What is the matter with you? Taya?
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  Speaker 4: Something about Islert Loveborg again? Eh?
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  Speaker 6: Yes, I'm dres I'd fully afraid some misfortune has happened
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  Speaker 6: to him.
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  Speaker 1: Hedda seized her arm.
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  Speaker 4: Ah, do you think so, Why, good Lord, what makes
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  Speaker 4: you think that? Missus Elves said.
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  Speaker 6: I heard them talking of him at my boarding house
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  Speaker 6: just as I came in. But the most incredible rumors
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  Speaker 6: are afloat about him to day.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, fancy, so I heard too, and I can bear
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  Speaker 4: witness that he went straight home to bed last night.
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  Speaker 4: Fancy that? Well?
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  Speaker 3: What did they say of the boarding house?
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  Speaker 6: Oh? I couldn't make out anything clearly. Either they knew
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  Speaker 6: nothing definite, or else they stopped talking when they saw me,
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  Speaker 6: and I did not dare to.
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  Speaker 1: Ask tessman moving about uneasily.
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  Speaker 4: We must hope, we must hope that you misunderstood that.
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  Speaker 4: Missus Elves said.
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  Speaker 6: No, No, I am sure it was of him. They
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  Speaker 6: were talking, and I heard something about the hospital.
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  Speaker 4: Or the hospital.
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  Speaker 3: No, surely that cannot be.
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  Speaker 6: Oh. I was in such mortal terror. I went to
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  Speaker 6: his lodgings and asked for him there.
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  Speaker 3: You could make up your mind to that, Teya.
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  Speaker 6: What else could I do? I really could bear the
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  Speaker 6: suspense no longer.
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  Speaker 4: But you didn't find him either, eh.
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  Speaker 6: No, And the people do nothing about him. He hasn't
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  Speaker 6: been home since yesterday afternoon, they.
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  Speaker 4: Said, yesterday. Fancy? How could they say that.
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  Speaker 6: Oh, I am sure something terrible must have happened to him.
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  Speaker 4: Ahead a, dear, how would it be if I were
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  Speaker 4: to go and make inquiries?
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  Speaker 3: No, no, don't you mix yourself up in this affair.
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  Speaker 1: Judge Bratt, with his head in his hand, enters by
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  Speaker 1: the hall door, which Berta opens and closes behind him.
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  Speaker 1: He looks grave and bows in silence.
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  Speaker 4: Oh is that you, my dear judge? Eh?
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  Speaker 5: Yes, it was imperative I should see you this evening.
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  Speaker 4: I can see you've heard the news about ant Rena.
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  Speaker 5: Yes that, among other things.
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  Speaker 4: Isn't it sad? Eh?
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  Speaker 5: Well, my dear Testament. That depends on how you look
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  Speaker 5: at it.
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  Speaker 1: Looks doubtfully at him.
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  Speaker 4: Has anything else happened?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, Heada in suspense, anything sad?
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  Speaker 5: Judge Brack, That too depends on how you look at it,
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  Speaker 5: Missus Tesman.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead, unable to restrain her anxiety.
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  Speaker 6: It is something about ileert loveborg.
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  Speaker 1: Brac, with a glance at her.
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  Speaker 5: What makes you think that, madam? Perhaps you have already
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  Speaker 5: heard something, Missus Elfstead in confusion.
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  Speaker 6: No, nothing at all, but oh.
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  Speaker 1: For Heaven's sake, tell Us Brac, shrugging his shoulders, well,
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  Speaker 1: I regret to say, Ilert Loveborg has been taken to
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  Speaker 1: the hospital.
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  Speaker 5: He is lying at the point of death.
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  Speaker 1: Missus Elfstead shrieks, oh God, oh God, to the hospital
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  Speaker 1: and at the point of death. Heada involuntarily so soon then,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead wailing.
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  Speaker 6: And we parted in anger.
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  Speaker 1: Header Heada whispers, tya, tya, be careful, Missus Elvestead, not
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  Speaker 1: heeding her.
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  Speaker 6: I must go to him. I must see him alive.
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  Speaker 5: It is useless, madam. No one will be admitted.
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  Speaker 6: Oh, at least tell me what has happened to him?
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  Speaker 6: What is it?
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  Speaker 4: You don't mean to say that he has himself?
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  Speaker 3: Eh?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I am sure he has, Brac keeping his eyes
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  Speaker 1: fixed upon her.
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  Speaker 5: Unfortunately, you have guessed quite correctly, Missus Tessman.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, how horrible himself?
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  Speaker 3: Then fancy that shot himself?
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  Speaker 5: Rightly guessed again, Missus.
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  Speaker 1: Tessman, Missus Elpstead, with an effort at self control.
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  Speaker 6: When did it happen, mister Brack.
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  Speaker 5: This afternoon between three and four?
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  Speaker 4: But good Lord, where did he do it?
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  Speaker 1: Eh, Brac with some hesitation?
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  Speaker 5: Where well, I suppose that is lodgings.
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  Speaker 6: No, that cannot be, for I was there between six
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  Speaker 6: and seven.
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  Speaker 5: Well, then somewhere else. I don't know exactly. I only
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: know that he was found. He had shot himself in
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: the breast.
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  Speaker 6: Oh, how terrible that he should die like that.
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  Speaker 1: Heada to brac.
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  Speaker 3: Was it in the breast?
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  Speaker 5: Yes, as I told you, not in the temple, in
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  Speaker 5: the breast, missus Tesman.
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  Speaker 3: Well, well, the breast is a good place too.
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  Speaker 1: How do you mean, missus Tessman, heada evasively?
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  Speaker 3: Oh nothing, nothing.
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  Speaker 4: And the wound is dangerous, you say.
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  Speaker 5: Eh, absolutely mortal. The end has probably come by this time.
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  Speaker 6: Yes, yes, I feel it, the end, the end, oh, Heada,
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: But tell me.
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  Speaker 4: How have you learnt all this?
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  Speaker 5: Brac curtly through one of the police. A man, I
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: had some business with.
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  Speaker 1: Hedda in a clear voice, at last a deed worth doing, Tessman, terrified.
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  Speaker 4: Good heavens Hedda. What do you say?
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: I say? There is beauty in this hum missus Tessman, Oh, Heada,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: how can you talk of beauty in such an act?
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Islert Ludborg has himself made up his account with life.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: He has had the courage to do the one right thing.
• 15:28
  Speaker 6: No, you must never think that was how it happened.
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  Speaker 6: It must have been in delirium that he did it,
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: in despair.
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  Speaker 3: That he did not. I am certain of that.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: Yes, yes, in delirium, just as when he tore up
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: our manuscript.
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Freck starting the manuscript. Has he torn that up?
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, last night, Tessman whispers softly.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Oh, head, we shall never get over this.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: Hm.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Very extraordinary Tessman moving about the room.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: To think of Eilert going out of the world in
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: this way and not leaving behind him the book that
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: would have immortalized his name.
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  Speaker 6: Oh, if only it could be put together again.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, if it only could. I don't know what I
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: would not give.
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  Speaker 6: Perhaps it can, mister Tesmond, what.
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  Speaker 1: Do you mean, missus Elfstead searches in the pocket of
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: her dress.
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: Look here, I have kept all the loose notes he
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: used to dictate.
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  Speaker 1: From HEADA a step forward.
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  Speaker 4: Ah, you have kept them, missus Elvestead.
• 16:31
  Speaker 6: Eh, yes, I have them here. I put them in
• 16:34
  Speaker 6: my pocket when I left home. Here they still are.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Oh, do let me see them, missus Elfstead, hence him
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: a bundle of papers.
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  Speaker 6: But they are in such disorder, all mixed up.
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  Speaker 4: Fancy if we could make something out of them, after all, Perhaps,
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  Speaker 4: if we put our heads together.
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  Speaker 6: Oh, yes, at least let us try.
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  Speaker 4: We will manage it. We must. I will dedicate my
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  Speaker 4: life to this task.
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  Speaker 3: You george your life, yes.
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  Speaker 4: Or rather all the time I can spare. My own
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: collections must wait in the meantime, Heada, do you understand eh?
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: I owe this the Eyelert's memory. Perhaps, and so, my
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: dear missus elvestaid, we will give our whole minds to it.
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: There is no use in brooding over what can't be undone.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Eh.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: We must try to control our grief as much as possible.
• 17:26
  Speaker 6: And yes, yes, mister tesman, I will do the best
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: I can.
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Well, then, come here, I can't rest until we have
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: looked through the notes. Where shall we sit here? No?
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: In there in the back room. Excuse me, my dear judge,
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: Come with me, Missus Elves said, Oh, if only it
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: were possible.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Tessman and Missus Elvestead go into the back room. She
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: takes off her hat and cloak. They both sit at
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: a table under the hanging lamp and are soon deep
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: in an eager examination of the papers. Head A crosses
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to the stove and sits in the armchair. Presently, Brac
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: goes up to her. Heda in a low voice.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, what a sense of freedom it gives one, this
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: act of Ilert Loveborg's.
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: Freedom, missus HEADA, Well, of course it is a release
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: for him.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: I mean for me, it gives me a sense of
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: freedom to know that a deed of deliberate courage is
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: still possible in this world, a deed of spontaneous beauty,
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Prac smiling.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: Hm, My dear missus.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: Heada, Oh, I know what you are going to say,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: For you are a kind of specialist too, Like you know, Prac.
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: Looking hard at her, Ilert Loveborg was more to you
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: than perhaps you are willing to admit to yourself. Am
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: I wrong?
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: I don't answer such questions. I only know that Ilert
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: Loveborg has had the courage to live his life after
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: his own fashion, and then the last great act with
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: its beauty, ah, that he should have the bill and
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: the strength to turn away from the banquet of life
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: so early.
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: I am sorry, missus HEADA, but I fear I must
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: dispel an amiable illusion, illusion which could not have lasted
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: long in any case.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: What do you mean, I Leert.
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: Luveborg did not shoot himself voluntarily.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Not voluntarily.
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: No, the thing did not happen exactly as I told.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: It, Hetta, in suspense, have you concealed something?
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: What is it?
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: For poor missus Elfstead's sake? I idealize the facts a little.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: What are the facts?
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: First that he is already dead at the hospital, Yes,
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: without regaining consciousness.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: What more have you concealed this?
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: The event did not happen at his lodgings.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: Oh that can make no difference.
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: Perhaps it may, for I must tell you I learnt
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: love Borg was found shot in in Mademoiselle Diana's boudoir.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: Hetta makes emotion as if to rise, but sinks back again.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: That is impossible, judge Brack. He cannot have been there
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: again today.
• 20:15
  Speaker 5: He was there this afternoon. He went there, he said,
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: to demand the return of something which they had taken
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: from him. Talked wildly about a lost child.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: Ah, so that is why.
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: I thought, Probably he meant his manuscript. But now I
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: hear he destroyed that himself. So I suppose it must
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: have been his pocket book.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Yes, no doubt. And there there he was found.
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: Yes, there with a pistol in his breast pocket discharged.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: The ball had lodged in a vital part in the breast. Yes, no,
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: in the bowels.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Hetta looks up at him with an expression of loathing.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: That too, Oh, what curse is it? That makes everything
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: I touched her? Ludicrous?
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: And mean?
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: There is one point more, Missus Heada, another disagreeable feature
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: in the affair. And what is that the pistol he carried?
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Heada breathless?
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: Well, what of it?
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: He must have stolen it?
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Heada leaps up.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: Stolen it? That is not true. He did not steal it.
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: No other explanation is possible. He must have stolen it.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Hush. Tessman and Missus Elstead have risen from the table
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: in the back room and come into the drawing room. Tessman,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: with the papers in both his hands.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: Headed here. It is almost impossible to see under that lamp.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Think of that?
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: Yes, I am thinking.
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: Would you mind our sitting at your writing table?
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Eh?
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: If you like?
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Quickly?
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: No, wait, let me clear it first.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: Oh, you needn't trouble Hea. There's plenty of room.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: No, no, let me clear it, I say, I will
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: take these things in and put them on the piano.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: There she has drawn out an object covered with sheet
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: music from under the bookcase, places several other pieces of
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: music upon it, and carries the hole into the inner
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: room to the left. Tessmond lays the scraps of paper
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: on the writing table and moves the lamp there from
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: the corner table. He and Missus Elvesteed sit down and
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: proceed with their work. Heada returns Heada behind Missus Elvestead's chair,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: gently ruffling her hair.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: Well, my sweet Haya, how goes it with Eilert Luveborg's monument?
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead looks dispiritedly up at her.
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: Oh, it will be terribly hard to put in order.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: We must manage it. I am determined, and arranging other
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: people's papers is just the work for me.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Heada goes over to the stove and seats herself on
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: one of the footstools. Brac stands over her, leaning on
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the arm chair. Hida whispers, what did you say about
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the pistol?
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: Brac softly that he must have stolen it?
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: Why stolen it?
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: Because every other explanation ought to be impossible, Missus Heada.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Indeed, franc glances at her.
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: Of course Eilert Louveborg was here this morning, was he not?
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Yes? Were you alone with him part of the time?
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: Did you not leave the room whilst he was here, No,
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: try to recollect. Were you not out of the room
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: a moment?
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: Yes, perhaps just a moment out in the hall.
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: And where was your pistol case during that time?
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I had it locked up?
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: Well, missus, Heada.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: The case stood there on the writing table.
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: Have you looked since to see whether both pistols are there? No? Well,
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: you need not. I saw the pistol found in Luveborg's pocket,
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: and I knew it at once as the one I
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: had seen yesterday and before too.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: Have you it with you? No?
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: The police have it.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: What will the police do with it?
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: Search till they find the owner?
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: Do you think they will succeed?
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Brec bends over her and whispers no.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: Said a gobbler, Not as long as I say nothing.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Heada looks frightened at him.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: And if you do not say nothing, what then?
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Brac shrugs his shoulders.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: There is always the possibility that the pistol was stolen.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Heada firmly death rather than that, Brac smiling.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: People say such things, but they don't.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Do them, Heada without replying.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: And supposing the pistol was not stolen, and the owner
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: is discovered, what.
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: Then, well, head then comes the scandal scandal. Yes, the
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: scandal of which you are so mortally afraid. You will
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: of course be brought before the court, both you and
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: Mademoiselle Diana. She will have to explain how the thing happened,
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: whether it was an accidental shot or murder. Did the
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: pistol go off as he was trying to take it
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: out of his pocket to threaten her with? Or did
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: she tear the pistol out of his hand, shoot him
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: and push it back into his pocket. That would be
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: quite like her, for she is an able bodied young person,
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: this same Mademoiselle Diana.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: But I have nothing to do with all this repulsive business.
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: No, but you will have to answer the question why
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: did you give Eilert the pistol? And what conclusions will
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: people draw from the fact that you did give it
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: to him?
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Heada, let's her head sink.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: That is true. I did not think of that.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: Well, fortunately, there is no danger so long as I
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: say nothing.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Heada looks up at him.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: So I am in your power, Judge Brack, you have
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: me at your back and call from this time forward.
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: Brac whispers softly, dearest Headah, believe me, I shall not
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: abuse my advantage.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: I am in your power, none the less, subject to
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: your will and your demands. A slave.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: A slave then rises impetuously.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: No, I cannot endure the thought of that.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Never, Brac looks half mockingly at her.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: People generally get used to the inevitable.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: Heada returns his look. Yes, perhaps, She crosses to the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: writing table. Suppressing an involuntary smile. She imitates Tessmond's intonations.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Well are you getting on, George? Eh?
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: Heaven knows, dear. In any case, it will be the
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: work of months.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Heada as before fancy that passes her hands softly through
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: missus Elvestead's hair.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: Doesn't it seem strange to you, teya? Here you are
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: sitting with Tessaman, just as you used to sit with
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: either Loveborg.
• 27:13
  Speaker 6: If only I could inspire your husband in the same way.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Oh, that will come too, in time.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Yes, do you know, Hedda? I really think I begin
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: to feel something of the sort. But won't you go
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: and sit with Brack again?
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: Is there nothing I can do to help you too?
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: No? Nothing in the world.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Channing his head, I trust.
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: To you to keep Heada company, my dear.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Black Brack with a glance at Heada.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: With the very greatest of pleasure.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: Thanks, but I am tired this evening. I will go
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: in and lie down a little on the.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Sofa, Yes, dude, dear eh Heada goes into the back
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: room and draws the curtains a short pause. Suddenly she's
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: heard playing a wild dance on the piano. Missus elfstead
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: from her chair.
• 28:01
  Speaker 6: Oh what is that?
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Tessaman runs to the doorway.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Why, my dearest Hedda, don't play dance music, delight, Just
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: think of Aunt Rita and of Elert too.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Hetta puts her head out between the curtains.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: And of Aunt Julia and of all the rest of them.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: After this, I will be quiet.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Closes the curtains again. Tessman at the writing table.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: It's not good for her to see us at this
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: distressing work. I'll tell you what missus alf said. You
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: shall take the empty room and Aunt Julia's, and then
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: I will come over in the evenings and we can
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: sit and work there, eh.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Hetta in the inner room.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: I hear what you are saying, Tessaman. But how am
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: I to get through the evenings out here?
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Tessman, turning over the papers.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, I dare say, Judge Brack will be so kind
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: as to look in now and then, even though I'm out.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Brack in the armchair calls out gaily.
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: Every blessed evening with all the pleasure in life. Missus Tesman,
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: we shall get on capitally together, we.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Two heada speaking loud and clear.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: Yes, don't you flatter yourself. We will judge Brack now
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: that you are the one cock in the basket.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: A shot is heard with him. Tessman, Missus Elstead and
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Brack leaped to their feet.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: Oh now she's playing with those pistols again.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: He throws back the curtains and runs in, followed by
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Missus Elpstead. Head lies stretched on the sofa, lifeless confusion
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: and cries better enters in alarm from the right. Tessaman
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: shrieks to Brack.
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: Shot herself, shot herself in the temple.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Fancy that Brack half fainting in the armchair.
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: Good God, people don't do such things.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: The end end of act for and of Hedda Gabler
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: by Hendrik Gibson, translated by Edmund Goussie and William Archer,