Latest / Little Lord Fauntleroy / Hedda Gabler-Henrik Ibsen
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Act one of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, translated by
- 0:07Speaker 1: Edmund Gussie and William Archer. This is a LibriVox recording.
- 0:12Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
- 0:16Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Heda
- 0:22Speaker 1: Gobler play in four acts.
- 0:25Speaker 2: Characters George Tesman read by M. B.
- 0:30Speaker 3: Hed A Gobbler read by ri L.
- 0:33Speaker 4: Lipshaw, Miss Juliana Tessaman read by.
- 0:36Speaker 5: Colanda Missus Elpsted read by Elizabeth Kleatt.
- 0:41Speaker 6: Judge Brack read by Japaman.
- 0:44Speaker 7: Ilert Loveborg read by Bob Sherman.
- 0:46Speaker 8: Berta read by the Anna Moilinger, narrated by Avaye.
- 0:53Speaker 1: The scene of the action is Tessman's villa in the
- 0:56Speaker 1: west end of Christiania. Act first, a spacious, handsome and
- 1:02Speaker 1: tastefully furnished drawing room decorated in dark colors. In the back,
- 1:08Speaker 1: a wide doorway with curtains drawn back, leading into a
- 1:12Speaker 1: smaller room decorated in the same style as the drawing room.
- 1:16Speaker 1: In the right hand wall of the front room, a
- 1:18Speaker 1: folding door leading out to the hall. In the opposite wall.
- 1:22Speaker 1: On the left, a glass door, also with curtains drawn
- 1:26Speaker 1: back through the panes can be seen part of a
- 1:29Speaker 1: verandah outside, and trees covered with autumn foliage. An oval
- 1:34Speaker 1: table with a cover on it and surrounded by chairs
- 1:37Speaker 1: stands well forward in front by the wall. On the right,
- 1:42Speaker 1: a white stove of dark porcelain, a high backed arm chair,
- 1:46Speaker 1: a cushioned footrest, and two footstools. A setee with a
- 1:51Speaker 1: small round table in front of it fills the upper
- 1:54Speaker 1: right hand corner in front. On the left, a little
- 1:57Speaker 1: way from the wall, a sofa further back than the
- 2:01Speaker 1: glass door, a piano on either side of the doorway.
- 2:05Speaker 1: At the back, a what not with terra cotta and
- 2:08Speaker 1: majolica ornaments. Against the back wall of the inner room,
- 2:12Speaker 1: a sofa with a table and one or two chairs.
- 2:16Speaker 1: Over the sofa hangs the portrait of a handsome elderly
- 2:19Speaker 1: man in a general's uniform. Over the table, a hanging
- 2:24Speaker 1: lamp with an opal glass shade. A number of bouquets
- 2:28Speaker 1: are arranged about the drawing room in vases and glasses.
- 2:32Speaker 1: Others lie upon the tables. The floors in both rooms
- 2:36Speaker 1: are covered with thick carpets. Morning light the sun shines
- 2:41Speaker 1: in through the glass door. Miss Juliana Tessman, with her
- 2:45Speaker 1: bonnet on and carrying a parasol, comes in from the hall,
- 2:48Speaker 1: followed by Berta, who carries a bouquet wrapped in paper.
- 2:52Speaker 1: Miss Tessman is a comely and pleasant looking lady of
- 2:55Speaker 1: about sixty five. She is nicely but simply dressed in
- 3:00Speaker 1: a gray walking costume. Berta is a middle aged woman
- 3:03Speaker 1: of plain and rather countryfied appearance. Miss Tsmond stops close
- 3:08Speaker 1: to the door, listens, and says, softly, upon.
- 3:12Speaker 4: My word, I don't believe they're stirring yet.
- 3:15Speaker 1: Berta also softly, I told you so. Miss.
- 3:20Speaker 8: Remember how late the steamboat got in last night, and
- 3:23Speaker 8: then when they got home, Good lord, what a lot
- 3:26Speaker 8: the young mistress had to unpack before she could get
- 3:28Speaker 8: to bed.
- 3:29Speaker 4: Well, well, let them have their sleep out, but let
- 3:32Speaker 4: us see that they get a good breath of the
- 3:34Speaker 4: fresh morning air.
- 3:35Speaker 1: When they do appear, she goes to the glass door
- 3:38Speaker 1: and throws it open. Berta beside the table, at a
- 3:42Speaker 1: loss what to do with a bouquet in her hand.
- 3:45Speaker 8: I declare, there isn't a bit of room left. I
- 3:47Speaker 8: think i'll put it down here.
- 3:48Speaker 5: Miss.
- 3:49Speaker 1: She places it on the piano.
- 3:52Speaker 4: So you've got a new mistress now, my dear Berta.
- 3:55Speaker 4: Heaven knows, it was a wrench to me to part with.
- 3:57Speaker 1: You Beta on the point of weeping.
- 4:00Speaker 8: And do you think it wasn't hard for me too, Miss,
- 4:03Speaker 8: after all the blessed years I've been with you and
- 4:06Speaker 8: Miss Rena.
- 4:07Speaker 4: We must make the best of it, Berta, there was
- 4:09Speaker 4: nothing else to be done. George can't do without you,
- 4:12Speaker 4: you see, he absolutely can't. He has had you to
- 4:15Speaker 4: look after him ever since he was a little boy.
- 4:17Speaker 8: Oh but Miss Julia, I can't help thinking of Miss
- 4:21Speaker 8: Reena lying help us at home there, poor thing. And
- 4:24Speaker 8: with only that new girl too, she'll never learn to
- 4:27Speaker 8: take proper care of an invalid.
- 4:29Speaker 5: Oh.
- 4:29Speaker 4: I shall manage to train her, and of course you
- 4:32Speaker 4: know I shall take most of it upon myself. You
- 4:35Speaker 4: needn't be uneasy about my poor sister, my dear Berta.
- 4:38Speaker 8: Well, but there's another thing, Miss, I'm so mortally afraid
- 4:42Speaker 8: I sha'n't be able to suit the young mistress.
- 4:44Speaker 4: Oh well, just at first there may be one or
- 4:47Speaker 4: two things.
- 4:48Speaker 8: Most like she will be terrible grand in her ways.
- 4:51Speaker 4: Well, you can't wonder at that general Gabler's daughter, think
- 4:55Speaker 4: of the sort of life she was accustomed to in
- 4:57Speaker 4: her father's time. Don't you remember how we used to say,
- 5:00Speaker 4: I see her riding down the road along with the General,
- 5:02Speaker 4: in that long black habit, and with feathers in her hat.
- 5:06Speaker 8: Yes, indeed, I remember well enough. But good Lord, I
- 5:10Speaker 8: should never have dreamt in those days that she and
- 5:13Speaker 8: Master George would make a match of it.
- 5:15Speaker 1: Nor I.
- 5:17Speaker 4: But by the bye, Berda, while I think of it
- 5:20Speaker 4: in future, you mustn't say Master George, You must say
- 5:23Speaker 4: doctor Tessman.
- 5:24Speaker 8: Yes, the young mistress spoke of that too last night,
- 5:28Speaker 8: the moment they set foot in the house. Is it true, down.
- 5:31Speaker 4: Miss, Yes, indeed it is only think Berda. Some foreign
- 5:36Speaker 4: university has made him a doctor while he has been abroad.
- 5:39Speaker 4: You understand, I hadn't heard a word about it until
- 5:42Speaker 4: he told me himself upon the pier.
- 5:44Speaker 8: Well, well, he's clever enough for anything, he is, But
- 5:47Speaker 8: I didn't think he'd have gone in for doctoring people.
- 5:51Speaker 4: No, non, it's not that sort of doctor. He is
- 5:54Speaker 4: not significantly, But let me tell you we may have
- 5:57Speaker 4: to call him something still grander before long.
- 6:00Speaker 8: You don't say, so, what can that be?
- 6:03Speaker 1: Miss Miss Tesmond, smiling, HM, wouldn't you like to know
- 6:09Speaker 1: with emotion?
- 6:10Speaker 4: Ah, dear dear, if my poor brother could only look
- 6:13Speaker 4: up from his grave now and see what his little
- 6:15Speaker 4: boy has grown into.
- 6:17Speaker 1: Looks around, But bless.
- 6:19Speaker 4: Me, Bertha, why have you done this? Taking the chintz
- 6:22Speaker 4: covers off all of the furniture.
- 6:24Speaker 8: The mistress told me to. She can't abide covers on
- 6:27Speaker 8: the chairs.
- 6:28Speaker 4: She says, Are they going to make this their every
- 6:30Speaker 4: day sitting room?
- 6:31Speaker 7: Then?
- 6:31Speaker 8: Yes, that's what I understood from the mistress. Master George
- 6:35Speaker 8: the doctor, he said nothing.
- 6:38Speaker 1: George Tessman comes from the right into the inner room,
- 6:41Speaker 1: humming to himself and carrying an unstrapped empty portmanteau. He
- 6:46Speaker 1: is a middle sized, the young looking man of thirty three,
- 6:49Speaker 1: rather stout, with a round, open, cheerful face, fair hair
- 6:54Speaker 1: and beard. He wears spectacles and is somewhat carelessly dressed
- 6:58Speaker 1: in comfortable indoor clothes.
- 7:00Speaker 4: Yes, good morning, Good morning.
- 7:01Speaker 1: George Tessman. In the doorway between the rooms.
- 7:06Speaker 2: And Julia, dear, heead.
- 7:08Speaker 1: Julia goes up to her and shakes hands warmly.
- 7:12Speaker 2: Couple this way so early? Eh?
- 7:15Speaker 4: Why of course I had to come and see how
- 7:17Speaker 4: you were getting on in.
- 7:18Speaker 2: Spite of your having had no proper night to rest.
- 7:22Speaker 4: Oh, that makes no difference to me.
- 7:24Speaker 2: Well I suppose you got home all right from the pier.
- 7:27Speaker 4: Eh, yes, quite safely. Thank goodness, Judge Brack was good
- 7:31Speaker 4: enough to see me right to my door.
- 7:33Speaker 2: We were so sorry we couldn't give you a seat
- 7:35Speaker 2: in the carriage. But you saw what a pile of
- 7:38Speaker 2: boxes had I had to bring with her.
- 7:40Speaker 4: Yes, she certainly had plenty of boxes.
- 7:43Speaker 8: Better to Tessman, Shall I go in and see if
- 7:46Speaker 8: there's anything I can do for the mistress?
- 7:49Speaker 2: No, thank you, better you need she said, you would
- 7:51Speaker 2: ring if she wanted anything better.
- 7:54Speaker 1: Going towards the right.
- 7:56Speaker 2: Very well, but look here, take this portmanteau with you.
- 7:59Speaker 1: Better taking it?
- 8:01Speaker 8: I'll put it in the attic.
- 8:03Speaker 1: She goes out by the hall door.
- 8:06Speaker 2: Fancy, Andy, I had that whole portmanteau chalk full of
- 8:09Speaker 2: copies of the documents. You wouldn't believe how much I
- 8:12Speaker 2: have picked up from all the archives I've been examining,
- 8:15Speaker 2: curious old details that no one had any idea of.
- 8:19Speaker 4: Yes, you don't seem to have wasted your time on
- 8:22Speaker 4: your wedding trip.
- 8:23Speaker 2: George, No that I haven't, But do take off your bonnet, handy.
- 8:27Speaker 2: Look here, let me untie the strings.
- 8:29Speaker 1: Eh, Miss Tessman, while he does.
- 8:31Speaker 4: So well, Well, this is just as if you were
- 8:34Speaker 4: still at home with us.
- 8:36Speaker 1: Tessman, with the bonnet in his hand, looks at it
- 8:39Speaker 1: from all sides.
- 8:41Speaker 2: Why what a gorgeous bonnet you've been investing in.
- 8:44Speaker 4: I bought it on Head's account, on Header's account, Eh, yes,
- 8:49Speaker 4: so that head needn be ashamed of me if we
- 8:51Speaker 4: happen to.
- 8:51Speaker 1: Go out together, Tessman, petting her cheek.
- 8:55Speaker 2: You always think of everything at Julia.
- 8:57Speaker 1: Lays the bonnet on a chair beside the table.
- 9:00Speaker 2: And now look here. Suppose we sit comfortably on the
- 9:04Speaker 2: sofa and have a little chat till Heady comes.
- 9:07Speaker 1: They seat themselves. She places her parasol in the corner
- 9:10Speaker 1: of the sofa. Miss Tessman takes both his hands and
- 9:14Speaker 1: looks at him.
- 9:15Speaker 4: What a delight it is to have you again, as
- 9:17Speaker 4: large as life before my very eyes. George, my George,
- 9:21Speaker 4: my poor brother's own boy.
- 9:23Speaker 2: And it's a delight for me too to see you again,
- 9:25Speaker 2: Aunt Julia, you who been father and mother in one
- 9:29Speaker 2: to me.
- 9:30Speaker 4: Oh yes, I know you will always keep a place
- 9:33Speaker 4: in your heart for your old aunt's.
- 9:35Speaker 2: And what about aunt Rena? No improvement?
- 9:37Speaker 4: Eh, oh no, we can scarcely look for any improvement
- 9:41Speaker 4: in her case. Poor thing. There she lies helpless as
- 9:45Speaker 4: she is lain for all these years. But Heaven grant
- 9:48Speaker 4: I may not lose her yet, Awhile, for if I did,
- 9:51Speaker 4: I don't know what I should make of my life, George,
- 9:54Speaker 4: especially now that I haven't you to look after any more.
- 9:57Speaker 1: Tessman petting her back there there there, Miss Tessmon, suddenly
- 10:03Speaker 1: changing her tone.
- 10:05Speaker 4: And to think that here you are a married man, George,
- 10:08Speaker 4: and that you should be the one to carry off
- 10:09Speaker 4: had a gabbler, the beautiful head a gabbler. Only think
- 10:13Speaker 4: of it, she that was so beset with admirers.
- 10:16Speaker 1: Tessmon hums a little and smiles complacently.
- 10:19Speaker 2: Yes, I fancy I've several good friends about town who
- 10:22Speaker 2: had like to stand in my shoes. Eh.
- 10:24Speaker 4: And then this fine long wedding tour you have had
- 10:27Speaker 4: more than five nearly six months.
- 10:30Speaker 2: Well, for me it has been sort of a tour
- 10:32Speaker 2: of research as well. I've had to do so much
- 10:35Speaker 2: grubbing among all the records, and to read no end
- 10:38Speaker 2: of books too, Auntie.
- 10:40Speaker 1: Oh, yes, I suppose so, more confidentially, and lowering her
- 10:44Speaker 1: voice a little.
- 10:45Speaker 4: But listen now, George, have you nothing nothing special to
- 10:50Speaker 4: tell me.
- 10:51Speaker 2: As to our journey? Yes? No, I don't know of
- 10:54Speaker 2: anything except what I have told you my letters. I
- 10:57Speaker 2: had a doctor's degree conferred on me, but I told
- 11:00Speaker 2: you yesterday.
- 11:02Speaker 4: Yes, yes you did. But what I mean is, haven't
- 11:05Speaker 4: you any any expectations expectations? Why you know, George, I'm
- 11:12Speaker 4: your old auntie.
- 11:14Speaker 2: Why of course I have expectations. Ah, I have every
- 11:19Speaker 2: expectation of being a professor one of these days.
- 11:22Speaker 4: Oh, yes, a professor.
- 11:24Speaker 2: Indeed, I may say I'm certain of it. But my
- 11:27Speaker 2: dear Auntie, you know all about that already.
- 11:30Speaker 1: Miss Tesman, laughing.
- 11:32Speaker 4: To herself, Yes, of course I do. You were quite right.
- 11:35Speaker 1: There, changing the subject.
- 11:38Speaker 4: But we were talking about your journey. It must have
- 11:40Speaker 4: cost a great deal of money, George.
- 11:42Speaker 2: Well, you see, my handsome traveling scholarship went a good way.
- 11:46Speaker 4: But I can't understand how you kind have made it
- 11:48Speaker 4: go far enough for two.
- 11:50Speaker 2: No, that's not easy to understand, eh.
- 11:52Speaker 4: And especially traveling with a lady. They tell me that
- 11:55Speaker 4: makes it ever so much more expensive.
- 11:57Speaker 2: Yes, of course it makes it a little more expensive.
- 12:00Speaker 2: But had had to have this trip, Auntie, she really
- 12:03Speaker 2: had to. Nothing else would have done.
- 12:06Speaker 4: No, no, I suppose not. A wedding tour seems to
- 12:09Speaker 4: be quite indispensable nowadays. But tell me now, have you
- 12:13Speaker 4: gone thoroughly over the house yet?
- 12:14Speaker 2: Yes, you may be sure I have. I have been
- 12:16Speaker 2: afoot ever since daylight.
- 12:18Speaker 4: And what do you think of it all?
- 12:20Speaker 2: I'm delighted, quite delighted. Only I can't think what we
- 12:25Speaker 2: were to do with the two empty rooms between this
- 12:27Speaker 2: inner parlor and Heada's bedroom.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Miss Tessman laughing.
- 12:32Speaker 4: Oh, my dear George, I dare say you may find
- 12:34Speaker 4: some use for them in the course of time. O.
- 12:36Speaker 2: Why, of course you are quite right, Aunt Julia. You
- 12:39Speaker 2: mean as my library increases.
- 12:41Speaker 4: Say yes, quite so, my dear boy. It was your
- 12:44Speaker 4: library I was thinking of.
- 12:46Speaker 2: I am specially pleased on Heada's account. Often and often
- 12:51Speaker 2: before we were engaged, she said that you would never
- 12:54Speaker 2: get to live anywhere but in Secretary of Folkesvilla.
- 12:57Speaker 4: Yes, it was lucky that this very house should come
- 13:00Speaker 4: into the market just after you had started.
- 13:02Speaker 2: Yes, Aunt Julia, the luck was on our side, wasn't
- 13:04Speaker 2: it eh?
- 13:05Speaker 4: But the expense, my dear George, you will find it
- 13:08Speaker 4: very expensive all of this.
- 13:10Speaker 1: Tessman looks at her a little cast down.
- 13:14Speaker 2: Yes, I suppose I shall.
- 13:15Speaker 4: Aunt, oh frightfully?
- 13:18Speaker 2: How much do you think in round numbers? Eh?
- 13:22Speaker 4: Oh, I can't even guess until all the accounts come in.
- 13:25Speaker 2: Well, fortunately, Judge Brack has secured the most favorable terms
- 13:29Speaker 2: for me, so he said in a letter to Heada.
- 13:31Speaker 4: Yes, don't be uneasy, my dear boy. Besides, I have
- 13:35Speaker 4: given security for the furniture and all the carpets.
- 13:38Speaker 2: Security you, my dear aunt Julia, what sort of security
- 13:42Speaker 2: could you give?
- 13:44Speaker 4: I have given a mortgage on our annuity?
- 13:46Speaker 1: Tessman jumps up, What.
- 13:48Speaker 2: On your and Aunt Rena's annuity?
- 13:52Speaker 1: Yes?
- 13:52Speaker 4: I knew of no other plan.
- 13:54Speaker 1: You see, Tessman placing himself before her.
- 13:57Speaker 2: Have you gone out of your senses? Eddie? You are annuity.
- 14:00Speaker 2: It's all that you and Aundrena have to live upon.
- 14:03Speaker 4: Wow, well, don't get so excited about it. It's only
- 14:06Speaker 4: a matter of form, you know. Judge Brack assured me
- 14:09Speaker 4: of that. It was he that was kind enough to
- 14:11Speaker 4: arrange the whole affair. For me, a mere matter of form.
- 14:14Speaker 2: He said, Yes, that may be all very well, but nevertheless.
- 14:18Speaker 4: You will have your own salary to depend on now,
- 14:20Speaker 4: and good heavens, even if we did have to pay
- 14:23Speaker 4: up a little to eke things out a bit at
- 14:25Speaker 4: the start, why it would be nothing but a pleasure
- 14:28Speaker 4: to us.
- 14:29Speaker 2: Oh Anty, will you never be tired of making sacrifices
- 14:33Speaker 2: for me?
- 14:33Speaker 1: Miss Tessman rises and lays her hand on his shoulders.
- 14:38Speaker 4: Have I any other happiness in this world except to
- 14:40Speaker 4: smooth your way for you, my dear boy, you who
- 14:43Speaker 4: have had neither father nor mother to depend on. And
- 14:46Speaker 4: now we have reached the goal. George, things have looked
- 14:49Speaker 4: black enough for us sometimes, but thank Heaven, now you
- 14:52Speaker 4: have nothing to fear.
- 14:54Speaker 2: Yes, it really is marvelous how everything is turned out
- 14:57Speaker 2: for the best.
- 14:58Speaker 4: And the people who opposed you, who wanted to bar
- 15:00Speaker 4: the way for you, now you have them at your feet.
- 15:03Speaker 4: They have fallen, George, your most dangerous rival. His fall
- 15:07Speaker 4: was the worst, and now he has to lie on
- 15:10Speaker 4: the bed he has made for himself, poor misguided creature.
- 15:14Speaker 2: Have you heard anything of Eilert since I went away?
- 15:17Speaker 4: I mean only that he is said to have published
- 15:19Speaker 4: a new.
- 15:19Speaker 2: Book what I learn Loveborg recently?
- 15:23Speaker 4: Eh, yes, so they say. Heaven knows whether it can
- 15:27Speaker 4: be worth anything.
- 15:28Speaker 3: Ah.
- 15:29Speaker 4: When your new book appears, that will be another story, George.
- 15:32Speaker 4: What is it to be about?
- 15:34Speaker 2: It will deal with the domestic industries of Brabant during
- 15:37Speaker 2: the Middle Ages.
- 15:39Speaker 4: Fancy to be able to write on such a subject
- 15:42Speaker 4: as that.
- 15:43Speaker 2: However, it may be some time before the book is ready.
- 15:46Speaker 2: I have all these collections to arrange first, you see.
- 15:49Speaker 4: Yes, collecting and arranging. No one can beat you at that.
- 15:52Speaker 4: There you are, my poor brother's own son.
- 15:55Speaker 2: I am looking forward eagerly to setting to work at it,
- 15:58Speaker 2: especially now that I have my own delightful home to work.
- 16:01Speaker 4: In, and most of all, now that you have got
- 16:03Speaker 4: the wife of your heart, My dear.
- 16:05Speaker 1: George Tesman embracing her.
- 16:08Speaker 2: Oh, yes, yes, Aunt Julia Hannah. She is the best
- 16:12Speaker 2: part of it all. I believe I hear her coming.
- 16:15Speaker 7: Eh.
- 16:16Speaker 1: Hedda enters from the left through the inner room. Her
- 16:19Speaker 1: face and figures show refinement and distinction. Her complexion is
- 16:23Speaker 1: pale and a park her steel gray eyes expressed a cold,
- 16:27Speaker 1: unruffled repose. Her hair is of an agreeable brown, but
- 16:31Speaker 1: not particularly abundant. She is dressed in a tasteful, somewhat
- 16:36Speaker 1: loose fitting mourning gown. Miss Tesman going to meet Heddah.
- 16:41Speaker 4: Good morning, my dear HEADA good morning and a hearty welcome.
- 16:45Speaker 1: Hedda holds out her hand.
- 16:47Speaker 3: Good morning, dear, Miss Tessman, so early a call. That
- 16:51Speaker 3: is kind of you.
- 16:52Speaker 1: Miss tessmon with some embarrassment.
- 16:55Speaker 4: Well, has the bride slept well in her new home?
- 16:59Speaker 7: Oh?
- 16:59Speaker 3: Yes, thanks passibly.
- 17:01Speaker 1: Tessaman, laughing passively.
- 17:05Speaker 2: God, that's good, Heada. You were sleeping like a stone
- 17:07Speaker 2: when I got up.
- 17:09Speaker 3: Fortunately, of course, one has always to accustom one's self
- 17:14Speaker 3: to new surroundings, Miss Tessaman, little by little.
- 17:18Speaker 1: Looking towards the left.
- 17:20Speaker 3: Oh, there, the servant has gone and opened the veranda
- 17:22Speaker 3: door and let in a whole flood of sunshine.
- 17:25Speaker 1: Miss Tessman, going towards the door.
- 17:28Speaker 4: Well then we will shut it.
- 17:30Speaker 3: No, no, not that, Tessman. Please draw the curtains that
- 17:33Speaker 3: will give a softer light.
- 17:35Speaker 1: Tessaman at the door.
- 17:37Speaker 2: All right, All right there now, Hetta, you have both
- 17:40Speaker 2: shade and fresh air.
- 17:42Speaker 3: Yes, fresh air we certainly must have with all these
- 17:45Speaker 3: stacks of flowers. But won't you sit down miss Tessaman.
- 17:49Speaker 4: No, thank you. Now that I have seen that everything
- 17:53Speaker 4: is all right here, Thank Heaven, I must be getting
- 17:55Speaker 4: home again. My sister is lying longing for me, poor thing.
- 17:59Speaker 2: Give you are my very best love, Auntie, and say
- 18:02Speaker 2: that I shall look in and see her later in
- 18:03Speaker 2: the day.
- 18:04Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I'll be sure to tell her.
- 18:06Speaker 1: But by the bye, George, feeling in her dress pocket.
- 18:09Speaker 4: I had almost forgotten. I have something for you.
- 18:11Speaker 1: Here?
- 18:12Speaker 2: What is it, Auntie?
- 18:13Speaker 3: Eh?
- 18:14Speaker 1: Miss Tesman produces a flat parcel wrapped in newspaper and
- 18:18Speaker 1: hands it to him. Look here, my dear boy, Tessmon,
- 18:23Speaker 1: opening the parcel.
- 18:24Speaker 2: Well, I declare, have you really saved them for me?
- 18:28Speaker 2: Aunt Julia? Hedda? Isn't this touching?
- 18:32Speaker 7: Eh?
- 18:33Speaker 1: Heada beside the what not on the right, Well, what
- 18:36Speaker 1: is it?
- 18:37Speaker 2: My old morning shoes? My slippers?
- 18:41Speaker 3: Indeed, I remember you often spoke of them while we
- 18:44Speaker 3: were abroad.
- 18:45Speaker 2: Yes, I missed them terribly.
- 18:48Speaker 1: Goes up to her.
- 18:50Speaker 2: Now you shall see them, Hedda.
- 18:51Speaker 1: Heada going towards the stove.
- 18:54Speaker 3: Thanks, I really don't care about it.
- 18:56Speaker 1: Tessmon, following her, only think ill as she was Andrena
- 19:01Speaker 1: embroidered these for me.
- 19:03Speaker 2: Oh, you can't think how many associations cling to.
- 19:06Speaker 4: Them Heada at the table, scarcely for me, of course,
- 19:10Speaker 4: not for Hedda.
- 19:11Speaker 1: George.
- 19:12Speaker 2: Well, but now that she belongs to the family, I thought.
- 19:15Speaker 3: Hedda, interrupting, we shall never get on with this servant Tessaman,
- 19:20Speaker 3: not get on with Berta.
- 19:21Speaker 2: Why dear, what puts that in your head?
- 19:23Speaker 1: Eche Heada, pointing.
- 19:26Speaker 3: Look there she has left her old bonnet lying about
- 19:29Speaker 3: on a chair.
- 19:30Speaker 1: Tessaman, in consternation, drops the slippers on the floor.
- 19:35Speaker 3: Why Hedda, just fancy if anyone should come in and
- 19:38Speaker 3: see it?
- 19:39Speaker 2: But Hedda, that's Aunt Julia's bonnet, is.
- 19:42Speaker 1: It, Miss Tessman taking up the bonnet?
- 19:45Speaker 4: Yes, indeed it's mine. And what's more, it's not old,
- 19:49Speaker 4: Madam Hedda.
- 19:50Speaker 3: I really did not look closely at it, miss.
- 19:52Speaker 1: Tessaman, Miss Tessman trying on the bonnet.
- 19:56Speaker 4: Let me tell you it's the first time I have
- 19:57Speaker 4: worn it, the very first time.
- 19:59Speaker 2: And very nice bonnet. It is too, quite a beauty.
- 20:03Speaker 4: Oh it's no such great, thanks.
- 20:05Speaker 1: George looks around her. My parasol ah here takes it
- 20:11Speaker 1: for this is mine too, mutters not burtas.
- 20:16Speaker 2: A new bonnet and a new parasol.
- 20:18Speaker 4: Only think heada very handsome.
- 20:20Speaker 2: Indeed, yes, isn't it?
- 20:22Speaker 5: Eh?
- 20:23Speaker 2: But Auntie, take a good look at Hedda before you go.
- 20:27Speaker 2: See how handsome she is.
- 20:29Speaker 4: Oh, my dear boy, there's nothing new in that Headah
- 20:32Speaker 4: was always lovely.
- 20:34Speaker 1: She nods and goes toward direct tessmon following.
- 20:38Speaker 2: Yes, but have you noticed what splendid condition she's in?
- 20:42Speaker 2: How she's filled out?
- 20:43Speaker 1: On the journey HEADA crossing the room. Oh, do be quiet,
- 20:49Speaker 1: miss Tessman, who has stopped and turned filled out.
- 20:53Speaker 2: Of course you don't notice it so much now that
- 20:55Speaker 2: she has that dress on. But I who can.
- 20:58Speaker 1: See heada at the last door? Impatiently, Oh, you can't
- 21:02Speaker 1: see anything.
- 21:04Speaker 2: It must be the mountain air in the turial.
- 21:07Speaker 1: Hedda curtly interrupting.
- 21:10Speaker 3: I am exactly as I was when I started.
- 21:13Speaker 2: So you insist, But I'm quite certain you're not. Don't
- 21:17Speaker 2: you agree with me? Addie?
- 21:19Speaker 1: Miss Tessman, who has been gazing at her with folded hands.
- 21:23Speaker 4: Hedda is lovely, lovely lovely, goes.
- 21:27Speaker 1: Up to her, takes her head between both hands, draws
- 21:30Speaker 1: it downwards, and kisses her hair.
- 21:32Speaker 4: God bless and preserve heada testamen for George's.
- 21:36Speaker 1: Sake, Heada, gently freeing herself. Oh, let me go, Miss Tessmon,
- 21:42Speaker 1: in quiet emotion.
- 21:44Speaker 4: I shall not let a day pass without coming to
- 21:46Speaker 4: see you.
- 21:47Speaker 2: No you won't, will you, addie nay?
- 21:50Speaker 4: Goodbye, goodbye.
- 21:52Speaker 1: She goes out by the hall door. Tessmon accompanies her.
- 21:57Speaker 1: The door remains half open, can be heard repeating his
- 22:01Speaker 1: message to Auntrena and his thanks for the slippers. In
- 22:05Speaker 1: the meantime, Heada walks about the room, raising her arms
- 22:09Speaker 1: and clenching her hands, as if in desperation. Then she
- 22:12Speaker 1: flings back the curtains from the glass door and stands
- 22:15Speaker 1: there looking out. Presently, Tessman returns and closes the door
- 22:19Speaker 1: behind him. Tessman picks up the slippers from the floor.
- 22:24Speaker 2: What are you looking at.
- 22:25Speaker 1: Head Heada, once more calm and mistress of herself.
- 22:30Speaker 3: I am only looking at the leaves. They are so yellow,
- 22:33Speaker 3: so withered.
- 22:34Speaker 1: Tessman wraps up the slippers and lays them on the table.
- 22:38Speaker 2: Well, you see, we are well into September.
- 22:40Speaker 1: Now, Heada again restless.
- 22:43Speaker 3: Yes, to think of it, already in September.
- 22:48Speaker 2: Don't you think Aunt Julia's manner was strange, dear, almost solemn?
- 22:54Speaker 2: Can you imagine what was the matter with her?
- 22:56Speaker 5: Eh?
- 22:57Speaker 3: I scarcely know her, you see. Is she not off
- 23:00Speaker 3: like that?
- 23:01Speaker 5: No?
- 23:01Speaker 1: Not as she was today, Hedda leaving the glass door.
- 23:05Speaker 3: Do you think she was annoyed about the bonnet?
- 23:08Speaker 2: Oh, scarcely at all. Perhaps a little just at the moment.
- 23:12Speaker 3: But what an idea to pitch her bonnet about in
- 23:14Speaker 3: the drawing room. No one does that sort of thing.
- 23:17Speaker 2: Well, you may be sure Aunt Julia won't do it again.
- 23:20Speaker 3: In any case, I shall manage to make my peace
- 23:22Speaker 3: with her.
- 23:22Speaker 2: Yes, my dear good Hedda, if you only would.
- 23:26Speaker 3: When you call this afternoon, you might invite her to
- 23:28Speaker 3: spend the evening here.
- 23:30Speaker 2: Yes, that I will. And there's one more thing you
- 23:33Speaker 2: could do that would delight her heart. What is it?
- 23:36Speaker 2: If you could only prevail on yourself to say do
- 23:38Speaker 2: to her for my sake?
- 23:40Speaker 3: Ca A, No, No, Tessaman, you really mustn't ask that
- 23:44Speaker 3: of me. I have told you so already. I shall
- 23:46Speaker 3: try to call her aunt, and you must be satisfied
- 23:49Speaker 3: with that.
- 23:50Speaker 2: Well, well, only I think now that you belong to
- 23:53Speaker 2: the family you humph.
- 23:54Speaker 3: I can't in the least see why.
- 23:56Speaker 1: She goes up towards the middle doorway, Tessman, after a pause.
- 24:01Speaker 2: Is there anything the matter with you, Hedda?
- 24:03Speaker 3: Eh, I'm only looking at my old piano. It doesn't
- 24:07Speaker 3: go at all well with all the other things.
- 24:09Speaker 2: The first time I draw my salary, we'll see about
- 24:12Speaker 2: exchanging it.
- 24:13Speaker 3: No, no, no exchanging. I don't want to part with it.
- 24:17Speaker 3: Suppose we put it there in the inner room and
- 24:19Speaker 3: then get another here in its place when it's convenient,
- 24:22Speaker 3: I mean.
- 24:23Speaker 1: Tessman, a little taken aback, Yes, of course we could
- 24:28Speaker 1: do that. Hedda takes up the bouquet from the piano.
- 24:32Speaker 3: These flowers were not here last night when we.
- 24:34Speaker 2: Arrived, and Julia must have brought them for you.
- 24:37Speaker 1: Heada examining the bouquet, a visiting card, takes it out
- 24:42Speaker 1: and reads, shall.
- 24:43Speaker 3: Return later in the day. Can you guess whose card
- 24:47Speaker 3: it is?
- 24:47Speaker 2: No, who'se eh?
- 24:49Speaker 3: The name is missus Elvestead.
- 24:52Speaker 2: Is it really Sheriff Elvested's wife, Miss Rising.
- 24:57Speaker 3: That was exactly the girl with the irritating hair that
- 25:01Speaker 3: she was always showing off. An old flame of yours,
- 25:04Speaker 3: I've been.
- 25:04Speaker 1: Told, Tessaman, laughing.
- 25:07Speaker 2: Oh that didn't last long, and it was before I
- 25:11Speaker 2: met you, Hedda. But fancy her being in town.
- 25:14Speaker 3: It's odd that she should call upon us. I have
- 25:17Speaker 3: scarcely seen her since we left school.
- 25:19Speaker 2: I haven't seen her either, for heaven knows how long.
- 25:23Speaker 2: I wonder how she can endure to live in such
- 25:25Speaker 2: an out of the way hole.
- 25:26Speaker 1: Eh Heada, after a moment's thought, says, suddenly, tell.
- 25:32Speaker 3: Me, Tessaman, isn't it somewhere near there that he that
- 25:36Speaker 3: alert Loveborg is living.
- 25:38Speaker 2: Yes, he is somewhere in that part of the country.
- 25:40Speaker 1: Better enters by the hall door.
- 25:43Speaker 8: That lady, ma'am that brought some flowers a little while ago,
- 25:45Speaker 8: is here again, pointing the flowers you have in your hand, ma'am.
- 25:50Speaker 3: Ah, is she well? Please show her in.
- 25:53Speaker 1: Beta opens the door for missus Elfstead and goes out
- 25:56Speaker 1: to herself. Missus Elfstead is a woman of fragile figure
- 25:59Speaker 1: with pretty soft features. Her eyes are light blue, large, round,
- 26:04Speaker 1: and somewhat prominent, with a startled inquiring expression. Her hair
- 26:09Speaker 1: is remarkably light, almost flexen, and unusually abundant and wavy.
- 26:15Speaker 1: She is a couple of years younger than Heather. She
- 26:17Speaker 1: wears a dark visiting dress, tasteful but not quite in
- 26:20Speaker 1: the latest fashion. Heada receives her warmly.
- 26:25Speaker 3: How do you do, my dear missus Elfstead. It's delightful
- 26:28Speaker 3: to see you again.
- 26:30Speaker 1: Missus Elfstad nervously struggling for self control.
- 26:35Speaker 5: Yes, it's a very long time since we met.
- 26:38Speaker 1: Tessman gives her his hand and we too.
- 26:42Speaker 3: Eh, thanks for your lovely flowers.
- 26:45Speaker 5: Oh, not at all. I would have come straight here
- 26:48Speaker 5: yesterday afternoon, but I heard that you were away.
- 26:51Speaker 2: Have you just come to town?
- 26:52Speaker 5: Eh? I arrived yesterday about midday. How I was quite
- 26:57Speaker 5: in despair when I heard that you were not at
- 26:58Speaker 5: home in Bear.
- 27:01Speaker 2: How so why my dear missus rising, I mean missus Elmstead.
- 27:07Speaker 3: I hope that you are not in any trouble.
- 27:10Speaker 5: Yes I am, and I don't know another living creature
- 27:13Speaker 5: here that I can turn.
- 27:14Speaker 1: To heada laying the bouquet on the table.
- 27:18Speaker 3: Come let us sit here on the sofa.
- 27:21Speaker 5: Oh I am too restless to sit down.
- 27:23Speaker 3: Oh no, you're not come here.
- 27:25Speaker 1: She draws missus Elfstead down upon the sofa and sits
- 27:29Speaker 1: at her side.
- 27:31Speaker 2: Well what is it, missus Elvstad.
- 27:34Speaker 3: Has anything particular happened to you at home?
- 27:37Speaker 1: Yes?
- 27:38Speaker 5: And no, Oh I am so anxious that you should
- 27:41Speaker 5: not misunderstand me.
- 27:44Speaker 3: Then your best plan is to tell us the whole story,
- 27:46Speaker 3: missus Elvestead.
- 27:47Speaker 2: I suppose that's what you've come for.
- 27:49Speaker 5: Eh, Yes, yes, of course it is. Well, then I
- 27:54Speaker 5: must tell you if you don't already know that Elert
- 27:58Speaker 5: Luveborg is in town too, Loveborg.
- 28:02Speaker 2: What has I learned? Loveborg? Come back? Fancy that Heddah?
- 28:07Speaker 3: Well, well, I hear it.
- 28:08Speaker 5: He has been here a week already. Just fancy a
- 28:11Speaker 5: whole week in this terrible town alone, with so many
- 28:15Speaker 5: temptations on all sides.
- 28:18Speaker 3: But my dear missus Elfstaid, how does he concern you
- 28:21Speaker 3: so much?
- 28:22Speaker 1: Missus Elfstaid looks at her with a startled air and
- 28:25Speaker 1: says rapidly.
- 28:27Speaker 5: He was the children's tutor, your children's, my husband's, I
- 28:32Speaker 5: have none your stepchildren's.
- 28:35Speaker 1: Then, yes, Tessmond somewhat hesitatingly.
- 28:40Speaker 2: Then was he I don't know how to express it.
- 28:44Speaker 2: Was he regular enough in his habits to be fit
- 28:46Speaker 2: for the post? Eh?
- 28:48Speaker 5: For the last two years his conduct has been irreproachable.
- 28:52Speaker 2: Has it? Indeed? Fancy that Heddah?
- 28:55Speaker 5: I hear it, perfectly irreproachable, I assure you, in every respect,
- 29:00Speaker 5: but all the same Now that I know he is
- 29:03Speaker 5: here in this great town, and with a large sum
- 29:05Speaker 5: of money in his hands, I can't help being in
- 29:08Speaker 5: mortal fear for him.
- 29:09Speaker 2: Why did he not remain where he was with you
- 29:12Speaker 2: and your husband? Eh?
- 29:14Speaker 5: After his book was published? He was too restless and
- 29:16Speaker 5: unsettled to remain with us.
- 29:18Speaker 2: Yes, by the bye, Aunt Julia told me he had
- 29:21Speaker 2: published a new book.
- 29:22Speaker 5: Yes, a big book dealing with the march of civilization
- 29:26Speaker 5: in broad outline as it were. It came out about
- 29:29Speaker 5: a fortnight ago. And since it has sold so well
- 29:32Speaker 5: and been so much read and made such a sensation.
- 29:35Speaker 2: Has it? Indeed, it must be something he has had
- 29:38Speaker 2: lying by since his better days long ago.
- 29:41Speaker 5: You mean? Yes, No, he has written at all since
- 29:45Speaker 5: he has been with us within the last year.
- 29:48Speaker 2: Isn't that good news? HEADA think of that?
- 29:52Speaker 5: Ah, Yes, if only it would last.
- 29:54Speaker 3: Have you seen him here in town?
- 29:57Speaker 5: No, not yet. I have had the greatest different dificulty
- 30:00Speaker 5: in finding out his address. But this morning I discovered
- 30:03Speaker 5: it at last.
- 30:04Speaker 1: HEADA look searchingly at her.
- 30:07Speaker 3: Do you know it seems to me a little odd
- 30:10Speaker 3: of your husband?
- 30:11Speaker 1: Hmm, missus elfstet starting nervously of my husband.
- 30:17Speaker 3: What that he should send you to town on such
- 30:19Speaker 3: an errand that he does not come himself and look
- 30:22Speaker 3: after his friend.
- 30:23Speaker 5: Oh no, no, my husband has no time. And besides
- 30:27Speaker 5: I I had some shopping to do.
- 30:30Speaker 1: Heada with a slight smile.
- 30:33Speaker 4: Ah, that is a different matter.
- 30:35Speaker 1: Missus elfstead rising quickly and uneasily.
- 30:39Speaker 5: And now I beg and implore you, mister tesman, receive
- 30:43Speaker 5: I lott love more kindly if he comes to you,
- 30:45Speaker 5: and that he is sure to do.
- 30:47Speaker 7: You.
- 30:47Speaker 5: See, you were such great friends in the old days,
- 30:50Speaker 5: and then you are interested in the same studies, the
- 30:53Speaker 5: same branch of science, so far as I can understand,
- 30:56Speaker 5: we used to be at any rate. That is why
- 30:59Speaker 5: I beg you so earnestly that you you too, will
- 31:02Speaker 5: keep a sharp eye upon him. Oh you will promise
- 31:06Speaker 5: me that, mister Tesman, won't you.
- 31:08Speaker 2: With the greatest of pleasure, Missus rising Elvestead, I assure
- 31:13Speaker 2: you I shall do all I possibly can for islet
- 31:16Speaker 2: you may rely upon me.
- 31:18Speaker 1: Oh, how very very kind of you, presses his hands.
- 31:22Speaker 5: Thanks, thanks, thanks, frightened you see, my husband is so
- 31:27Speaker 5: very fond of him.
- 31:29Speaker 3: Heada Rising, you ought to write to him, Tessaman. Perhaps
- 31:34Speaker 3: he may not care to come to you of his
- 31:35Speaker 3: own accord.
- 31:36Speaker 2: Well, perhaps it would be the right thing to do.
- 31:38Speaker 3: Headah, And the sooner the better. Why not at once.
- 31:43Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead imploringly, Oh, if only you would, I'll write
- 31:49Speaker 1: this moment, have you his address?
- 31:51Speaker 2: Missus missus Elvestead.
- 31:54Speaker 1: Yes, takes a slip of paper from her pocket and
- 31:57Speaker 1: hands it to him. Here it is good, good, Then
- 32:01Speaker 1: I'll go in, looks about him.
- 32:03Speaker 2: By the bibe my slippers. Oh.
- 32:06Speaker 1: Here, takes the packet and is about to go.
- 32:09Speaker 3: Be sure you write him a cordial, friendly letter and
- 32:12Speaker 3: a good long one too.
- 32:15Speaker 5: Yes, I will, but please please don't say a word
- 32:18Speaker 5: to show that I have suggested it.
- 32:20Speaker 2: No, how could you think I would?
- 32:22Speaker 5: Eh?
- 32:23Speaker 1: He goes out to the right through the inner room.
- 32:26Speaker 1: Heada goes up to missus Elfsteat, smiles and says, in
- 32:29Speaker 1: a low voice, there we.
- 32:31Speaker 4: Have killed two birds with one stone.
- 32:34Speaker 5: What do you mean?
- 32:35Speaker 3: Could you not see that I wanted him to.
- 32:37Speaker 5: Go, yes, to write the letter.
- 32:39Speaker 3: And that I might speak to you alone.
- 32:42Speaker 1: Missus Elfstadt confused.
- 32:45Speaker 5: About the same thing.
- 32:47Speaker 1: Precisely, Missus Elfstadt apprehensively.
- 32:51Speaker 5: But there is nothing more, Missus Tesmond absolutely nothing.
- 32:55Speaker 3: Oh, yes, but there is. There is a great deal more.
- 32:58Speaker 3: I can see that. Sit here and we'll have a cozy,
- 33:01Speaker 3: confidential chat.
- 33:03Speaker 1: She forces Missus Elvestead to sit in the easy chair
- 33:06Speaker 1: beside the stove and seats herself on one of the footstalts.
- 33:10Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead anxiously looking at her watch.
- 33:14Speaker 5: But my dear, Missus Tesmond, I was really on the
- 33:17Speaker 5: point of going.
- 33:18Speaker 3: Oh, you can't be in such a hurry. Well, now
- 33:21Speaker 3: tell me something about your life at home.
- 33:24Speaker 5: Oh, that is just what I care least to speak about.
- 33:27Speaker 3: But to me, dear, why weren't we schoolfellows?
- 33:31Speaker 5: Yes, but you were in the class above me. Oh,
- 33:34Speaker 5: how dreadfully afraid of you? I was then afraid of me, Yes, dreadfully,
- 33:41Speaker 5: For when we met on the stairs you always used
- 33:43Speaker 5: to pull my hair, did I really, yes? And once
- 33:48Speaker 5: you said you would burn it off my head.
- 33:50Speaker 3: Oh that was all nonsense, of course.
- 33:53Speaker 5: Yes, But I was so silly in those days, And
- 33:56Speaker 5: since then too, we have drifted so far far apart
- 34:01Speaker 5: from each other, Our circles have been so entirely different.
- 34:05Speaker 3: Well, then we must try to drift together again. Now, listen,
- 34:09Speaker 3: at school we said do to each other, and we
- 34:12Speaker 3: called each other by our Christian names.
- 34:14Speaker 5: No, I am sure you must be mistaken.
- 34:17Speaker 3: No, not at all, I can remember quite distinctly. So
- 34:20Speaker 3: now we are going to renew our old friendship.
- 34:23Speaker 1: Draws the footstool closer to missus Elfstead there now kisses
- 34:27Speaker 1: her cheek.
- 34:28Speaker 3: You must say do to me and call me Heda.
- 34:31Speaker 1: Missus Elfstead presses and pets her hands.
- 34:35Speaker 5: Oh, how good and kind you are. I am not
- 34:37Speaker 5: used to such kindness.
- 34:39Speaker 3: There there there, and I shall say do to you
- 34:42Speaker 3: as in the old days, and call you my dear Torah.
- 34:45Speaker 5: My name is Taya.
- 34:47Speaker 3: Why, of course I meant Taya.
- 34:49Speaker 1: Looks at her compassionately.
- 34:51Speaker 3: So you are not accustomed to goodness and kindness, Taya,
- 34:55Speaker 3: not in your own home?
- 34:57Speaker 5: If only I had a home, But I haven't any
- 35:00Speaker 5: I have never had a home.
- 35:02Speaker 1: Hedda looks at her. For a moment.
- 35:05Speaker 3: I almost suspected as much.
- 35:07Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead gazing helplessly before her.
- 35:11Speaker 5: Yes, yes, yes.
- 35:14Speaker 3: I don't quite remember. Was it not as housekeeper that
- 35:18Speaker 3: you first went to mister Elvestead's I.
- 35:20Speaker 5: Really went as a governess. But his wife, his late
- 35:24Speaker 5: wife was an invalid and rarely left her room, so
- 35:27Speaker 5: I had to look after the housekeeping as well.
- 35:30Speaker 3: And then at last you became mistress of the house.
- 35:34Speaker 1: Missus Elfstead sadly, yes, I did.
- 35:38Speaker 3: Let me see about how long ago.
- 35:41Speaker 5: Was that my marriage? Yes, five years ago, to be sure,
- 35:47Speaker 5: it must be that, Oh, those five years for at
- 35:52Speaker 5: all events, the last two or three of them. Oh,
- 35:54Speaker 5: if you could only imagine.
- 35:56Speaker 1: Heada giving her a little slap on the hand.
- 36:00Speaker 3: Day phie teya.
- 36:02Speaker 5: Yes, yes, I will try well, if you could only
- 36:06Speaker 5: imagine and understand.
- 36:08Speaker 3: Hidda lightly I learn Loveborg has been in your neighborhood
- 36:12Speaker 3: about three years, hasn't he.
- 36:15Speaker 1: Missus Elfstadt looks at her doubtfully.
- 36:18Speaker 5: I let Loveborg.
- 36:20Speaker 3: Yes he has had you known him before in town.
- 36:24Speaker 5: Here scarcely at all? I mean I knew him by name,
- 36:27Speaker 5: of course, But.
- 36:29Speaker 3: You saw a good deal of him in the country.
- 36:31Speaker 5: Yes, he came to us every day. You see. He
- 36:34Speaker 5: gave the children lessons for in the long run. I
- 36:37Speaker 5: couldn't manage it all myself.
- 36:39Speaker 3: No, that's clear. And your husband, I suppose he is
- 36:43Speaker 3: often away from home.
- 36:44Speaker 5: Yes, Being sheriff, you know he has to travel about
- 36:47Speaker 5: a good deal in his district.
- 36:50Speaker 1: Hidda, leaning against the arm of the chair.
- 36:53Speaker 3: Teya, my poor sweet teya. Now you must tell me
- 36:57Speaker 3: everything exactly as it stands.
- 37:00Speaker 5: Well, then you must question me.
- 37:03Speaker 3: What sort of a man is your husband?
- 37:04Speaker 1: Taeya?
- 37:05Speaker 3: I mean, you know, in every day life? Is he
- 37:08Speaker 3: kind to you?
- 37:10Speaker 1: Missus Elfstet evasively?
- 37:13Speaker 5: I am sure he means well in everything.
- 37:15Speaker 3: I should think he must be altogether too old for you.
- 37:18Speaker 3: There is at least twenty years difference between you, is
- 37:21Speaker 3: there not.
- 37:22Speaker 1: Missus elfstat irritably.
- 37:24Speaker 5: Yes, that is true too. Everything about him is repellent
- 37:29Speaker 5: to me. We have not a thought in common. We
- 37:31Speaker 5: have no single point of sympathy he and I.
- 37:34Speaker 3: But is he not fond of you? All the same
- 37:37Speaker 3: in his own way?
- 37:38Speaker 5: No, I really don't know. I think he regards me
- 37:41Speaker 5: simply as a useful property, and then it doesn't cost
- 37:44Speaker 5: much to keep me. I am not expensive.
- 37:48Speaker 1: That is stupid of you, missus Elfstett shakes her head.
- 37:52Speaker 5: It cannot be otherwise. Not with him. I don't think
- 37:55Speaker 5: he really cares for any one but himself, and perhaps
- 37:58Speaker 5: a little for the children and for.
- 38:00Speaker 3: Ilert loveborg Dea, missus Elfstadt looking at her.
- 38:05Speaker 5: For ilet loveborg. What put that into your head?
- 38:09Speaker 3: Well, my dear, I should say, when he sends you
- 38:11Speaker 3: after him all the way to.
- 38:12Speaker 1: Town, smiling almost imperceptibly.
- 38:16Speaker 3: And besides, you said so yourself to Tasman.
- 38:19Speaker 1: Missus Elfstadt, with a little nervous twitch.
- 38:22Speaker 5: Did I? Yes, I suppose I.
- 38:25Speaker 1: Did, vehemently, but not loudly.
- 38:29Speaker 5: No, I may just as well make a clean breast
- 38:32Speaker 5: of it at once, for it must all come out
- 38:34Speaker 5: in any case, what, my dear teya, Well, to make
- 38:38Speaker 5: a long story short, my husband did not know that
- 38:41Speaker 5: I was coming.
- 38:42Speaker 3: What your husband didn't know it?
- 38:44Speaker 5: No, of course, not for that matter. He was away
- 38:47Speaker 5: from home himself. He was traveling. Oh, I could bear
- 38:50Speaker 5: it no longer, heada. I couldn't, indeed so utterly alone
- 38:54Speaker 5: as I should have been in future. Well, and then
- 38:58Speaker 5: so I put together some of my things what I
- 39:00Speaker 5: needed most, as quietly as possible, And then I left
- 39:04Speaker 5: the house without a word, yes, and took the train
- 39:08Speaker 5: to town.
- 39:09Speaker 3: Why, my dear, good taya to think of you daring
- 39:13Speaker 3: to do it.
- 39:14Speaker 1: Missus Elfstitt rises and moves about the room.
- 39:17Speaker 5: What else could I possibly do?
- 39:20Speaker 3: But what do you think your husband will say when
- 39:22Speaker 3: you go home again.
- 39:23Speaker 1: Missus elvestat at the table, looks at.
- 39:26Speaker 5: Her back to him. Of course I shall never go
- 39:31Speaker 5: back to him again.
- 39:32Speaker 1: Heada rising and going towards her.
- 39:36Speaker 3: Then you have left your home for good and all.
- 39:39Speaker 5: Yes, there was nothing else to be done.
- 39:42Speaker 3: But then to take flight so openly.
- 39:44Speaker 5: Oh, it's impossible to keep things of that sort secret.
- 39:47Speaker 3: But what do you think people will say of you, Taya?
- 39:50Speaker 5: They may say what they like for aught, I care.
- 39:53Speaker 1: Seats herself wearily and sadly on the sofa.
- 39:57Speaker 5: I have done nothing but what I had to do.
- 40:00Speaker 1: Heada, after a short silence.
- 40:03Speaker 3: And what are your plans?
- 40:04Speaker 4: Now?
- 40:04Speaker 3: What do you think of doing?
- 40:06Speaker 5: I don't know yet. I only know this that I
- 40:10Speaker 5: must live here where islet Luveborg is if I am
- 40:13Speaker 5: to live at all?
- 40:15Speaker 1: Heada takes a chair from the table, seats herself beside her,
- 40:19Speaker 1: and strokes her hands.
- 40:21Speaker 3: My dear teya, how did this, this friendship between you
- 40:27Speaker 3: and Islert Loveborg come about?
- 40:29Speaker 7: Oh?
- 40:30Speaker 5: It grew up gradually. I gained a sort of influence
- 40:34Speaker 5: over him. Indeed, he gave up his old habits, not
- 40:38Speaker 5: because I asked him to, for I never dared to
- 40:40Speaker 5: do that. But of course, he saw how repulsive they
- 40:43Speaker 5: were to me, and so he dropped them.
- 40:46Speaker 1: Heada concealing an involuntary smile of scorn.
- 40:50Speaker 3: Then you have reclaimed him, as the saying goes my
- 40:54Speaker 3: little teya.
- 40:55Speaker 5: So he says himself at any rate, and he, on
- 40:58Speaker 5: his side, has made a real human being of me.
- 41:01Speaker 5: Taught me to think and to understand so many things.
- 41:05Speaker 3: Did he give you lessons too?
- 41:06Speaker 1: Then?
- 41:07Speaker 5: No, not exactly lessons, But he talked to me, talked
- 41:12Speaker 5: about such an infinity of things. And then came the
- 41:15Speaker 5: lovely happy time when I began to share in his work,
- 41:18Speaker 5: when he allowed me to help him.
- 41:20Speaker 3: Oh he did, did he?
- 41:21Speaker 5: Yes? He never wrote anything without my assistance.
- 41:24Speaker 3: You were too good comrades in fact, missus Elfstad, eagerly comrades.
- 41:31Speaker 5: Yes, fancy headed, that is the very word he used.
- 41:35Speaker 5: I ought to feel perfectly happy, and yet I cannot,
- 41:38Speaker 5: for I don't know how long it will last?
- 41:40Speaker 3: Are you no surer of him than that?
- 41:42Speaker 1: Missus Elfstead Gloomily.
- 41:45Speaker 5: A woman's shadow stands between ilet Loveborg and me.
- 41:48Speaker 1: Hedda looks at her anxiously.
- 41:51Speaker 3: Who can that be?
- 41:52Speaker 5: I don't know? Someone he knew in his in his past,
- 41:57Speaker 5: someone he has never been able wholly to forget.
- 41:59Speaker 3: What has he told you about this?
- 42:02Speaker 5: He has only once, quite vaguely alluded to it.
- 42:06Speaker 3: Well, and what did he say?
- 42:08Speaker 5: He said that when they parted, she threatened to shoot
- 42:12Speaker 5: him with a pistol.
- 42:13Speaker 1: Heada, with cold composure.
- 42:15Speaker 3: Oh nonsense, No one does that sort of thing here.
- 42:19Speaker 5: No, And that is why I think it must have
- 42:21Speaker 5: been that red haired singing woman whom he wants. Yes,
- 42:24Speaker 5: very likely, For I remember they used to say of
- 42:26Speaker 5: her that she carried loaded firearms.
- 42:29Speaker 3: Oh, then, of course it must have been she.
- 42:31Speaker 1: Missus Elfstead wringing her hands.
- 42:34Speaker 5: And now, just fancy heada. I hear that this singing
- 42:37Speaker 5: woman that she is in town again. I don't know
- 42:40Speaker 5: what to do.
- 42:42Speaker 1: Heada, glancing towards the inner room. Hush, Here comes Tessaman
- 42:46Speaker 1: rises and whispers.
- 42:48Speaker 3: Teya all this must remain between you.
- 42:51Speaker 1: And me, missus Elfstead springing up, Oh yes, yes, for
- 42:55Speaker 1: heaven's sake, George Tessaman, with a letter in his hand,
- 42:59Speaker 1: comes from the through the inner room.
- 43:02Speaker 2: There. Now the epistle is finished, that's right.
- 43:06Speaker 3: And now missus Elfstead is just going Wait a moment,
- 43:09Speaker 3: I'll go with you to the garden gate.
- 43:11Speaker 2: Do you think berter could post the letter?
- 43:13Speaker 1: HEADA dear Heada takes it. I will tell her to
- 43:17Speaker 1: Beta enters from the hall.
- 43:19Speaker 8: Judge Brack wishes to know if missus Tessmon will receive him.
- 43:23Speaker 3: Yes, ask Judge Brack to come in and look here,
- 43:26Speaker 3: put this letter in.
- 43:26Speaker 1: The post better taking the letter, Yes, ma'am. She opens
- 43:32Speaker 1: the door for Judge Brack and goes out herself. Brack
- 43:35Speaker 1: is a man of forty five, thick set, but well
- 43:38Speaker 1: built and elastic in his movements. His face is roundish
- 43:43Speaker 1: with an aristocratic profile. His hair is short, still almost black,
- 43:48Speaker 1: and carefully dressed. His eyebrows thick. His mustaches are also thick,
- 43:53Speaker 1: with short cut ends. He wears a well cut walking
- 43:57Speaker 1: suit a little too youthful for his age. He uses
- 44:01Speaker 1: an eyeglass, which he now and then let's drop. Judge
- 44:05Speaker 1: Breck with his hat in his hand, bowing.
- 44:08Speaker 6: May one venture to call so early in the day,
- 44:11Speaker 6: of course one may?
- 44:13Speaker 1: Tessman presses his hand.
- 44:15Speaker 2: You're welcome at any time, introducing him, Judge Brack. Miss
- 44:21Speaker 2: rising Oh Breck bowing ah.
- 44:25Speaker 1: Delighted Heada looks at him and laughs, it's nice to
- 44:30Speaker 1: have a look at you by daylight, judge, so.
- 44:33Speaker 6: You find me altered a little younger? I think, thank
- 44:38Speaker 6: you so much?
- 44:39Speaker 2: But what do you think of Headah? Hey, doesn't she
- 44:42Speaker 2: look flourishing? She's actually?
- 44:44Speaker 3: Oh, do leave me alone. You haven't thanked Judge Brack
- 44:47Speaker 3: for all the trouble he has taken.
- 44:50Speaker 6: Oh nonsense, it was a pleasure to me.
- 44:53Speaker 3: Yes, you are a friend. Indeed, but here stands Teya
- 44:56Speaker 3: all impatience to be off, so au revoir, judge, I
- 44:59Speaker 3: shall be back in and presently mutual salutations.
- 45:03Speaker 1: Missus elfstead and Heada go out by the hall door.
- 45:06Speaker 6: Well, is your wife tolerably satisfied?
- 45:10Speaker 2: Yes, we can't thank you sufficiently? Of course. She talked
- 45:14Speaker 2: of a little rearrangement here and there, and one or
- 45:17Speaker 2: two things are still wanting. We shall have to buy
- 45:20Speaker 2: some additional trifles. Indeed, but we won't trouble you about
- 45:24Speaker 2: these things, Hetta says she herself will look after what
- 45:28Speaker 2: is wanting. Sha'n't we sit down?
- 45:30Speaker 1: Eh, thanks for a moment, seats himself beside the table.
- 45:35Speaker 6: There is something I wanted to speak to you about,
- 45:37Speaker 6: my dear tessament.
- 45:38Speaker 2: Indeed, Ah, I understand seating himself. I suppose it's the
- 45:43Speaker 2: serious part of the frolic that is coming now.
- 45:45Speaker 1: Eh.
- 45:46Speaker 6: Oh, the money question is not so very pressing though.
- 45:50Speaker 6: For that matter, I wish we had gone a little
- 45:52Speaker 6: more economically to work.
- 45:54Speaker 2: But that would never have done, you know. Think of Heada,
- 45:57Speaker 2: my dear fellow, you who know are so well. I
- 46:00Speaker 2: could possibly ask her to put up with a shabby
- 46:02Speaker 2: style of living.
- 46:04Speaker 6: No, no, that is just the difficulty.
- 46:07Speaker 2: And then, fortunately it can't be long before I receive
- 46:10Speaker 2: my appointment.
- 46:11Speaker 6: Well, you see, such things are often apt to hang
- 46:15Speaker 6: fire for a long time.
- 46:17Speaker 2: Have you heard anything definite?
- 46:19Speaker 6: Eh, nothing exactly definite?
- 46:23Speaker 1: Interrupting himself, But by the.
- 46:25Speaker 6: Bye, I have one piece of news for you. Well,
- 46:29Speaker 6: your old friend I Lert Loveborg has returned to town.
- 46:33Speaker 2: I know that already.
- 46:34Speaker 6: Indeed, how did you learn it from.
- 46:37Speaker 2: That lady who went out with Heda?
- 46:39Speaker 6: Really? What was her name?
- 46:41Speaker 2: I didn't quite catch it, missus Elvestead.
- 46:45Speaker 6: Uh huh, Sheriff Elsted's wife. Of course, he has been
- 46:50Speaker 6: living up in their regions.
- 46:52Speaker 2: And fancy, I'm delighted here that he is quite a.
- 46:56Speaker 6: Reformed character, so they say.
- 46:59Speaker 2: And then he he's published a new book Eh.
- 47:02Speaker 6: Yes, indeed he has.
- 47:04Speaker 2: And I hear it has made some sensation.
- 47:07Speaker 6: Quite an unusual sensation.
- 47:10Speaker 2: Fancy isn't that good news? A man of such extraordinary talents.
- 47:14Speaker 2: I felt so grieved to think he had gone irretrievably
- 47:18Speaker 2: to ruin.
- 47:19Speaker 6: That was what everybody thought.
- 47:22Speaker 2: But I cannot imagine what he will take to now,
- 47:25Speaker 2: How in the world will he be able to make
- 47:26Speaker 2: his living?
- 47:27Speaker 4: Eh?
- 47:28Speaker 1: During the last words, Hetta has entered by the hall door,
- 47:31Speaker 1: Heada to Breck, laughing with a touch of scorn.
- 47:35Speaker 3: Tessaman is forever worrying about how people are to make
- 47:38Speaker 3: their living.
- 47:39Speaker 2: Well, you see, dear, we were talking about poor islet loveborg.
- 47:43Speaker 1: Heada glancing at him rapidly. Oh, indeed, seats herself in
- 47:48Speaker 1: the armchair beside the stove and asks indifferently, what.
- 47:52Speaker 3: Is the matter with him?
- 47:53Speaker 2: Well, no doubt, he has run through all his property
- 47:56Speaker 2: long ago, and he can scarcely write a new book
- 47:58Speaker 2: every year. So I really can't see what is to
- 48:01Speaker 2: become of him.
- 48:02Speaker 6: Perhaps I can give you some information on that point. Indeed,
- 48:07Speaker 6: you must remember that his relations have a good deal
- 48:11Speaker 6: of influence.
- 48:13Speaker 2: Oh, his relations, unfortunately, have entirely washed their hands of him.
- 48:17Speaker 6: At one time they called him the hope of the family.
- 48:20Speaker 2: At one time. Yes, but he has put an end
- 48:23Speaker 2: to all that.
- 48:24Speaker 3: Who knows. With a slight smile, I hear they have
- 48:27Speaker 3: reclaimed him up at Sheriff Elsteed's.
- 48:30Speaker 6: And then this book that he has published.
- 48:33Speaker 2: Well, well, I hope to goodness they may find something
- 48:35Speaker 2: for him to do. I have just written to him.
- 48:38Speaker 2: I asked him to come and see us this evening.
- 48:40Speaker 6: Headed dear, but my dear fellow, you are booked for
- 48:43Speaker 6: my bachelor's party this evening. You promised on the pier
- 48:46Speaker 6: last night.
- 48:47Speaker 3: Had you forgotten, Tessaman, Yes, I had utterly forgotten.
- 48:51Speaker 6: But it doesn't matter, for you may be sure he
- 48:53Speaker 6: won't come.
- 48:55Speaker 1: What makes you think that, eh Brack, with a little hesitation,
- 48:59Speaker 1: rise and resting his hands on the back of his.
- 49:02Speaker 6: Chair, My dear Tessaman, and you too, missus tessmon, I
- 49:08Speaker 6: think I ought not to keep you in the dark
- 49:10Speaker 6: about something that that concerns Eilert, both you and him.
- 49:18Speaker 2: Well, my dear judge out with it.
- 49:20Speaker 6: You must be prepared to find your appointment deferred longer
- 49:23Speaker 6: than you desired or expected.
- 49:26Speaker 1: Tessaman, jumping up uneasily.
- 49:29Speaker 2: Is there some hitch about it?
- 49:30Speaker 8: Eh?
- 49:31Speaker 6: The nomination may perhaps be made conditional on the result
- 49:35Speaker 6: of a competition.
- 49:37Speaker 2: Competition, think of that heada.
- 49:40Speaker 1: Heada leans further back into a chair.
- 49:43Speaker 2: Ah ah, but who can my competitor be surely not, yes, precisely,
- 49:51Speaker 2: Eilert loveborg.
- 49:53Speaker 1: Tessman clasping his hands.
- 49:55Speaker 2: No, no, it's quite impossible.
- 49:58Speaker 6: Eh hmm, that is what it may come to all
- 50:02Speaker 6: the same.
- 50:03Speaker 2: Well, but judge Brack, it would show the most incredible
- 50:07Speaker 2: lack of consideration for me.
- 50:09Speaker 1: Jessic collates with his arms for just.
- 50:13Speaker 2: Think, I'm a married man. We have married on the
- 50:16Speaker 2: strength of these prospects, heddah and I and run deep
- 50:20Speaker 2: into debt and borrowed money from Aunt Julia. Too good
- 50:24Speaker 2: heavens then as good as promised me the appointment.
- 50:28Speaker 6: Hey, well, well, well, no doubt you will get it
- 50:33Speaker 6: in the end, only after a contest.
- 50:36Speaker 1: Heada immovable in her armchair.
- 50:39Speaker 3: Fancy testament. There will be a sort of sporting interest
- 50:41Speaker 3: in that.
- 50:42Speaker 2: Why, my dearest Hennah, how can you be so indifferent
- 50:45Speaker 2: about it?
- 50:46Speaker 1: Heada?
- 50:47Speaker 4: As before, I am not at all indifferent.
- 50:49Speaker 3: I am most eager to see who wins.
- 50:52Speaker 6: In any case, missus testament, it is best that you
- 50:55Speaker 6: should know how matters stand. I mean, before you set
- 50:59Speaker 6: about the purchases. I hear you are threatening.
- 51:02Speaker 3: This can make no difference.
- 51:04Speaker 6: Indeed, then I have no more to say to Tessaman. Goodbye.
- 51:09Speaker 6: I shall look in on my way back from my
- 51:11Speaker 6: afternoon walk and take you home with me.
- 51:13Speaker 2: Oh yes, yes, your news has quite upset me.
- 51:20Speaker 1: Heada, reclining, holds out her hand.
- 51:24Speaker 3: Goodbye, Judge, and be sure you call in the afternoon.
- 51:27Speaker 6: Many thanks, goodbye, goodbye.
- 51:30Speaker 1: Tessaman, accompanying him to the door.
- 51:34Speaker 2: Goodbye, my dear judge. You really must excuse.
- 51:36Speaker 1: Me, Judge. Brack goes out by the hall door. Tessman
- 51:40Speaker 1: crosses the room.
- 51:42Speaker 2: Oh, Heada, one should never rush into adventures.
- 51:45Speaker 1: Eh, Heada looks at him, smiling.
- 51:49Speaker 4: Do you do that?
- 51:50Speaker 2: Yes, dear, there is no denying it was adventurous to
- 51:54Speaker 2: go and marry and set up house upon mere expectations.
- 51:58Speaker 3: Perhaps you are right there.
- 52:00Speaker 2: Well. At all events, we have our delightful home. Heada,
- 52:04Speaker 2: fancy the home we both dreamed of, the home we
- 52:07Speaker 2: were in love with. I may almost say.
- 52:09Speaker 1: Eh, Heada, rising slowly and wearily.
- 52:14Speaker 3: It was part of our compact that we were to
- 52:16Speaker 3: go into society to keep open house.
- 52:19Speaker 2: Yes, if you only knew how I had been looking
- 52:22Speaker 2: forward to it. Fancy to see you as hostess in
- 52:26Speaker 2: a select circle. Eh well, well, well, for the present
- 52:30Speaker 2: we shall have to get on without society. Heada, not
- 52:33Speaker 2: only to invite Aunt Julia now and then, Oh I
- 52:37Speaker 2: intended you to lead such an utterly different life.
- 52:39Speaker 3: Dear, of course, I cannot have my man in livery
- 52:42Speaker 3: just yet.
- 52:43Speaker 2: Oh no, unfortunately, I think would be out of the
- 52:46Speaker 2: question for us to keep a footman, you know, and.
- 52:48Speaker 3: The saddle horse I was to have had.
- 52:50Speaker 1: Tessman aghast the saddle horse.
- 52:54Speaker 3: I suppose I must not think of that now.
- 52:57Speaker 2: Good heavens though, that's as clear as daylight.
- 53:00Speaker 1: Heda goes up the room.
- 53:02Speaker 3: Well, I shall have one thing at least to kill
- 53:05Speaker 3: time with.
- 53:05Speaker 1: In the meanwhile, Tessaman beaming.
- 53:09Speaker 2: Oh, thank heaven for that? What is it? Heada?
- 53:12Speaker 1: Eh, Heada in the middle doorway looks at him with
- 53:15Speaker 1: covered scorn, my pistols, George, Tessaman, in alarm your pistols, Hedda, with.
- 53:22Speaker 3: Cold eyes General Gobbler's pistols.
- 53:26Speaker 1: She goes out through the inner room to the left.
- 53:29Speaker 1: Tessaman rushes up to the middle doorway and calls after.
- 53:33Speaker 2: Her, no, for Heaven's sake, Ketta Darling, don't touch those
- 53:37Speaker 2: dangerous things for my sake, ketty eh.
- 53:42Speaker 1: End of Act one, Act three of Hedda Gabler by
- 53:58Speaker 1: Henrik Ibsen, translates by Edmund Gussie and William Archer. This
- 54:03Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
- 54:07Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
- 54:12Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Act third, the room at attessments. The
- 54:18Speaker 1: curtains are drawn over the middle doorway and also over
- 54:21Speaker 1: the glass door. The lamp half turned down and with
- 54:25Speaker 1: a shade over it is burning on the table in
- 54:28Speaker 1: the stove, the door of which stands open. There has
- 54:32Speaker 1: been a fire which is now nearly burnt out. Missus Elvestead,
- 54:36Speaker 1: wrapped in a large shawl and with her feet upon
- 54:39Speaker 1: a foot dressed, sits close to the stove, sunk back
- 54:42Speaker 1: in the armchair. Heada fully dressed lies sleeping upon the sofa,
- 54:47Speaker 1: with the sofa blanket over her. Missus Elvestead, after a pause,
- 54:53Speaker 1: suddenly sits up in her chair and listens eagerly. Then
- 54:57Speaker 1: she sings back again, wearily moaning to her.
- 55:01Speaker 5: Not yet, Oh God, oh God, not yet.
- 55:06Speaker 1: Better slips cautiously in by the hall door. She has
- 55:10Speaker 1: a letter in her hand. Missus Elfstead turns and whispers.
- 55:14Speaker 5: Eagerly, well, has anyone come better?
- 55:18Speaker 1: Softly?
- 55:19Speaker 8: Yes, a girl had just brought this letter.
- 55:22Speaker 1: Missus Elfstead, quickly holding out her hand.
- 55:26Speaker 5: A letter, Give it to me.
- 55:28Speaker 8: No, it's for doctor Tessman, ma'am. Oh, indeed it was
- 55:32Speaker 8: Miss Tessmon's servant that brought it. I'll lay it here
- 55:35Speaker 8: on the table.
- 55:36Speaker 1: Yes, do better. Laying down the letter.
- 55:40Speaker 8: I think I had better put out the lamp. It's smoking, Yes,
- 55:44Speaker 8: put it out. It must soon be daylight.
- 55:46Speaker 1: Now, better putting out the lamp.
- 55:49Speaker 8: It is daylight already, ma'am.
- 55:51Speaker 5: Yes, broad day, and no one come back yet.
- 55:55Speaker 8: Lord bless you, ma'am. I guessed how it would be.
- 55:59Speaker 8: You guessed, yes, when I saw that a certain person
- 56:02Speaker 8: had come back to town, and that he went off
- 56:04Speaker 8: with them. For we've heard enough about that gentleman before.
- 56:08Speaker 5: Now, don't speak so loud you will waken missus Tesman.
- 56:11Speaker 1: Betta looks towards the sofa and sighs, no.
- 56:15Speaker 8: No, let her sleep, poor thing. Shann't I put some
- 56:18Speaker 8: wood on the fire?
- 56:19Speaker 5: Thanks not for me?
- 56:21Speaker 1: Oh very well? She goes softly out by the hall door.
- 56:25Speaker 1: Hedda is wakened by the shutting of the door and
- 56:28Speaker 1: looks up.
- 56:29Speaker 3: What's that?
- 56:30Speaker 1: It was only the servant, Hedda looking about her.
- 56:33Speaker 3: Oh we're here, Yes, now I remember.
- 56:36Speaker 1: Sitzyrect upon the sofa, stretches herself and rubs her eyes.
- 56:41Speaker 3: Ah, what o'clock is it? Tya?
- 56:43Speaker 1: Missus Elfstead looks at her watch.
- 56:46Speaker 5: It's past seven?
- 56:47Speaker 3: When did Tessmon come home?
- 56:49Speaker 5: He has not come, not come home.
- 56:51Speaker 1: Yet, missus Elfstead rising, No one has come.
- 56:56Speaker 3: Think of our watching and waiting here till four in
- 56:58Speaker 3: the morning.
- 56:59Speaker 1: Missus elphis that wringing her hands, and.
- 57:02Speaker 5: How I watched and waited for him?
- 57:05Speaker 1: Hedda yawns and says, with her hand before her mouth, Ah.
- 57:09Speaker 3: Whoa, well we might have spared ourselves the trouble.
- 57:12Speaker 5: Did you get a little sleep?
- 57:14Speaker 3: Oh? Yes, I believe I have slept pretty well, have
- 57:16Speaker 3: you not?
- 57:17Speaker 5: Not for a moment I couldn't heada not to save
- 57:20Speaker 5: my life.
- 57:21Speaker 1: Heada rises and goes towards her.
- 57:24Speaker 3: There there, there, there's nothing to be so alarmed about.
- 57:28Speaker 3: I understand quite well what has happened?
- 57:31Speaker 5: Well, what do you think? Won't you tell me?
- 57:34Speaker 7: Why?
- 57:34Speaker 3: Of course it has been a very late affair at
- 57:36Speaker 3: Judge Brack's.
- 57:37Speaker 5: Yes, yes, that is clear enough, but all the same.
- 57:41Speaker 3: And then you see Tessman hasn't cared to come home
- 57:43Speaker 3: and bring us up in the middle of the night laughing.
- 57:47Speaker 3: Perhaps he wasn't inclined to show himself either immediately after
- 57:51Speaker 3: a jollification.
- 57:52Speaker 5: But in that case, where can he have gone?
- 57:54Speaker 3: Of course he has gone to his aunt's and slept there.
- 57:57Speaker 3: They have his old room ready for him.
- 57:59Speaker 5: No, he can't be with them, for a letter is
- 58:01Speaker 5: just come for him from miss Tesman. There it lies.
- 58:04Speaker 1: Indeed, looks at the address.
- 58:06Speaker 3: Why, yes, it's addressed in Aunt Julia's hand. Well, then
- 58:09Speaker 3: he has remained at Judge Brack's. And as for alert Loveborg,
- 58:13Speaker 3: he is sitting with vine leaves in his hair, reading
- 58:16Speaker 3: his manuscript.
- 58:18Speaker 5: Oh, Hedda, you are just saying things you don't believe
- 58:20Speaker 5: a bit.
- 58:21Speaker 3: You really are a little blockhead teya.
- 58:24Speaker 5: Oh yes, I suppose I am.
- 58:26Speaker 3: And how mortally tired you look?
- 58:28Speaker 5: Yes, I am mortally tired.
- 58:31Speaker 3: Well, then you must do as I tell you. You must
- 58:34Speaker 3: go into my room and lie down for a little while.
- 58:36Speaker 5: Oh no, no, I shouldn't be able to sleep.
- 58:39Speaker 3: I am sure you would well.
- 58:40Speaker 5: But your husband is certain to come soon now, and
- 58:43Speaker 5: then I want to know at once.
- 58:44Speaker 3: I shall take care to let you know when he comes.
- 58:47Speaker 5: Do you promise me, Hedda?
- 58:49Speaker 3: Yes, rely upon me. Just you go in and have
- 58:51Speaker 3: a sleep in the meantime.
- 58:53Speaker 5: Thanks, then I'll try.
- 58:55Speaker 1: She goes off to the inner room. Hedda goes up
- 58:58Speaker 1: to the glass door and draws beeck to curtains. The
- 59:01Speaker 1: broad daylight streams into the room. Then she takes a
- 59:04Speaker 1: little hand glass from the writing table, looks at herself
- 59:07Speaker 1: in it, and arranges her hair. Next, she goes to
- 59:10Speaker 1: the hall door and presses the bell button. Berta presently
- 59:13Speaker 1: appears at the hall door.
- 59:15Speaker 8: Did you want anything, ma'am?
- 59:17Speaker 3: Yes, you must put some more wood in the stove.
- 59:19Speaker 8: I am shivering, bless me. I'll make up the fire
- 59:22Speaker 8: at once.
- 59:23Speaker 1: She rakes the embers together and lays a piece of
- 59:25Speaker 1: wood upon them, then stops and listens.
- 59:28Speaker 8: That was a ring at the front door, ma'am.
- 59:30Speaker 3: Then go to the door. I will look after the fire.
- 59:34Speaker 8: It will soon burn up.
- 59:35Speaker 1: She goes out by the hall door. Hedda kneels on
- 59:38Speaker 1: the foot wrist and lays some more pieces of wood
- 59:40Speaker 1: in the stove. After a short pause, George Tesman enters
- 59:44Speaker 1: from the hall. He steals on tiptoe towards the middle
- 59:47Speaker 1: doorway and is about to slip through the curtains. Hedda
- 59:50Speaker 1: at the stove without looking up. Good morning, Tessman turns Hedda,
- 59:56Speaker 1: approaching her.
- 59:57Speaker 2: Good heavens, are you up so early?
- 1:00:00Speaker 8: Eh?
- 1:00:01Speaker 3: Yes, I am up very early this morning.
- 1:00:03Speaker 2: And I never doubted you are still sound asleep. Fancy that, Hannah.
- 1:00:08Speaker 3: Don't speak so loud. Missus Elvestead is resting in my room.
- 1:00:11Speaker 2: Has Missus Elvestead been here all night?
- 1:00:14Speaker 3: Yes, since no one came to fetch her.
- 1:00:16Speaker 1: Ah to be sure, Heada closes the door of the
- 1:00:20Speaker 1: stove and rises.
- 1:00:21Speaker 3: Well, did you enjoy yourselves at Judge Brack's Have.
- 1:00:25Speaker 2: You been anxious about me? Eh?
- 1:00:26Speaker 3: No, I should never think of being anxious, But I
- 1:00:29Speaker 3: asked if you had enjoyed yourself?
- 1:00:30Speaker 2: Oh, yes, for once in a way, especially the beginning
- 1:00:35Speaker 2: of the evening. For then read me part of his book.
- 1:00:38Speaker 2: We arrived more than an hour too early? Fancy that
- 1:00:42Speaker 2: and brac had all sorts of arrangements to make so
- 1:00:45Speaker 2: Ilert read to.
- 1:00:46Speaker 1: Me, Heada seating herself by the table on the right.
- 1:00:50Speaker 3: Well, tell me.
- 1:00:51Speaker 1: Then, Tessman sitting on a footstool near the stove.
- 1:00:55Speaker 2: Oh, hennah, you can't conceive what a book that is
- 1:00:57Speaker 2: going to be. I believe it is one of the
- 1:00:59Speaker 2: most remarkable things that have ever been written.
- 1:01:02Speaker 3: Fancy that, Yes, yes, I don't care about that.
- 1:01:05Speaker 2: I must make a confession to you, Hedda. When he
- 1:01:08Speaker 2: had finished your reading, a horrid.
- 1:01:11Speaker 3: Feeling came over me, A horrid feeling.
- 1:01:14Speaker 2: I felt jealous of Violet for having had it in
- 1:01:17Speaker 2: him to write such a book.
- 1:01:18Speaker 3: Only think, Hedda, Yes, yes, I am thinking.
- 1:01:22Speaker 2: And then how pitiful to think that he, with all
- 1:01:26Speaker 2: his gifts, should be irreclaimable.
- 1:01:29Speaker 3: After all, I suppose you mean that he has more
- 1:01:31Speaker 3: courage than the rest.
- 1:01:33Speaker 2: No, not at all. I mean that he is incapable
- 1:01:36Speaker 2: of taking his pleasure in moderation.
- 1:01:39Speaker 3: And what came it all in the end?
- 1:01:41Speaker 2: Well, to tell the truth, I think it might best
- 1:01:43Speaker 2: be described as an orgy.
- 1:01:45Speaker 3: Heada had he vine leaves in his hair?
- 1:01:48Speaker 2: Vine leaves? No, I saw nothing of the sort. But
- 1:01:52Speaker 2: he made a long rambling speech in honor of the
- 1:01:55Speaker 2: woman who had inspired him in his work, And that
- 1:01:58Speaker 2: was the phrase he used.
- 1:01:59Speaker 3: Did he name her?
- 1:02:01Speaker 2: No he didn't, but I can't help thinking that he
- 1:02:05Speaker 2: meant missus Elvestead. You may be sure he did.
- 1:02:08Speaker 3: Well? Where did you part from him?
- 1:02:10Speaker 2: On the way to town we broke up the last
- 1:02:13Speaker 2: of us at any rate, altogether, and Brac came with
- 1:02:16Speaker 2: us to get a breath of fresh air. And then,
- 1:02:19Speaker 2: you see, we agreed to take Eilert home, for he
- 1:02:22Speaker 2: had had far more than was good for him. I
- 1:02:25Speaker 2: dare say, But now comes the strange part of it, Heada,
- 1:02:29Speaker 2: Or I should rather say the melancholy part of it.
- 1:02:32Speaker 2: I declare I am most ashamed on Eilert's account to
- 1:02:37Speaker 2: tell you. Oh, go on, well, as we were getting
- 1:02:40Speaker 2: near town, you see, I happened to drop a little
- 1:02:43Speaker 2: behind the others, only for a minute or two.
- 1:02:46Speaker 3: Fancy that, yes, yes, yes?
- 1:02:48Speaker 2: But and then as I hurried after them, what do
- 1:02:51Speaker 2: you think I found by the wayside?
- 1:02:53Speaker 5: Eh? Oh?
- 1:02:53Speaker 3: How should I know?
- 1:02:55Speaker 2: You mustn't speak of it to a soul? HEADA, do
- 1:02:57Speaker 2: you hear? Promise me for Eylert's sake?
- 1:03:00Speaker 1: Draws a parcel wrapped in paper from his coat pocket.
- 1:03:03Speaker 2: Fancy, dear, I found.
- 1:03:05Speaker 3: This is not that the parcel he had with him yesterday.
- 1:03:09Speaker 2: Yes, it is the whole of his precious, irreplaceable manuscript.
- 1:03:14Speaker 2: And he had gone and lost it and knew nothing
- 1:03:17Speaker 2: about it. Only fancy heddah so deplorably.
- 1:03:21Speaker 3: But why did you not give him back the parcel
- 1:03:23Speaker 3: at once?
- 1:03:24Speaker 2: I didn't dare to in this state he was then
- 1:03:27Speaker 2: in Did.
- 1:03:27Speaker 3: You not tell any of the others that you had
- 1:03:29Speaker 3: found it?
- 1:03:30Speaker 5: Oh?
- 1:03:30Speaker 2: Far from it. You can surely understand that, for Ilert's sake,
- 1:03:35Speaker 2: I wouldn't do that.
- 1:03:36Speaker 3: So no one knows that Ilert Loveborg's manuscript is in
- 1:03:39Speaker 3: your possession.
- 1:03:40Speaker 2: No, and no one must know it.
- 1:03:43Speaker 3: Then what did you say to him afterwards?
- 1:03:45Speaker 2: I didn't talk to him again at all, for when
- 1:03:48Speaker 2: we got in among the streets, he and two or
- 1:03:50Speaker 2: three of the others gave us the slip and disappeared.
- 1:03:53Speaker 2: Fancy that.
- 1:03:54Speaker 3: Indeed they must have taken him home.
- 1:03:56Speaker 2: Then, yes, so it would appear, and Brack too left us.
- 1:04:01Speaker 3: And what have you been doing with yourself since?
- 1:04:04Speaker 2: Well? I and some of the others went home with
- 1:04:06Speaker 2: one of the party and jolly fellow and took our
- 1:04:09Speaker 2: morning coffee with him. Or perhaps I should rather call
- 1:04:13Speaker 2: it our night coffee. Eh. But now, when I've rested
- 1:04:17Speaker 2: a little and give an elert poorfellow time to have
- 1:04:19Speaker 2: his sleep out, I must take this back to him.
- 1:04:23Speaker 1: Heada holds out her hand for the pecket.
- 1:04:25Speaker 3: No, don't give it to him, not in such a hurry.
- 1:04:28Speaker 3: I mean, let me read it first.
- 1:04:31Speaker 2: No, my dearest Henna, I mustn't. I really mustn't. You
- 1:04:34Speaker 2: must not, no, for you can imagine what a state
- 1:04:37Speaker 2: of despair he will be in when he wakens and
- 1:04:40Speaker 2: misses the manuscript. He has no coffee of it. You
- 1:04:42Speaker 2: must know, he told me.
- 1:04:44Speaker 1: So, Heada, looking searchingly at him.
- 1:04:47Speaker 4: Can such a.
- 1:04:48Speaker 3: Thing not be reproduced written over again?
- 1:04:51Speaker 7: No?
- 1:04:52Speaker 2: I don't think that would be possible for the inspiration
- 1:04:55Speaker 2: you see.
- 1:04:56Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I suppose it depends on that lightly. But
- 1:05:01Speaker 3: by the bye, here's a letter for you.
- 1:05:03Speaker 1: Fancy Heada handing it to him.
- 1:05:06Speaker 3: It came early this morning.
- 1:05:07Speaker 2: It's from Aunt Julia. What can it be?
- 1:05:10Speaker 1: He lays the packet on the other footstool, opens the letter,
- 1:05:14Speaker 1: runs his eye through it, and jumps up.
- 1:05:16Speaker 2: Oh, Heada, She says that poor aunt Rena is dying.
- 1:05:19Speaker 4: Well, we were prepared for that.
- 1:05:22Speaker 2: And that if I want to see her again, I
- 1:05:23Speaker 2: must make haste. I'll run into them at once.
- 1:05:27Speaker 1: Heada suppressing a smile.
- 1:05:29Speaker 2: Will you run, Oh, my dearest Hetta, if you could
- 1:05:32Speaker 2: only make your mind up to come with me, just think.
- 1:05:35Speaker 1: Heada rises and says wearily repelling the idea.
- 1:05:39Speaker 3: No, no, don't ask me. I will not look upon
- 1:05:43Speaker 3: sickness and death. I loathe all sorts of ugliness.
- 1:05:46Speaker 2: Well, well, then, bustling around my hat, my overcoat, Oh,
- 1:05:53Speaker 2: in the hall, I do hope I mayn't come too late.
- 1:05:56Speaker 3: Headah, ey, oh, if you run appears at the hall door.
- 1:06:01Speaker 8: Judge Brack is at the door and wishes to know
- 1:06:03Speaker 8: if he may come in.
- 1:06:05Speaker 2: At this time. No, I can't possibly see him.
- 1:06:08Speaker 3: But I can to Beta ask Judge Brack to come in.
- 1:06:12Speaker 1: Perta goes out head quickly, whispering the parcel testament. She
- 1:06:17Speaker 1: snatches it up from the stool.
- 1:06:19Speaker 2: Yes, give it to me.
- 1:06:20Speaker 3: No, no, I will keep it till you come back.
- 1:06:23Speaker 1: She goes to the writing table and places it in
- 1:06:25Speaker 1: the bookcase. Tessmon stands in a flurry of haste, and
- 1:06:29Speaker 1: cannot get his gloves on. Judge Brack enters from the hall, head,
- 1:06:34Speaker 1: nodding to him.
- 1:06:35Speaker 3: You are an early bird, I must say, yes.
- 1:06:37Speaker 6: Don't you think so? To Tessamon, are you on the
- 1:06:41Speaker 6: move too.
- 1:06:42Speaker 2: Yes, I must rush off to my hands. Fancy the
- 1:06:46Speaker 2: invalid one is lying at death's door, poor.
- 1:06:48Speaker 6: Creature, dear me? Is she indeed?
- 1:06:52Speaker 7: Then?
- 1:06:52Speaker 6: On no account? Let me detain you. That's such a
- 1:06:55Speaker 6: critical moment.
- 1:06:56Speaker 2: Yes, I must really rush goodbye, goodbye.
- 1:07:00Speaker 1: He hastens out by the hall door, hada, approaching.
- 1:07:04Speaker 3: You seem to have made a particularly lively night of
- 1:07:07Speaker 3: it at your room's, Judge Brack.
- 1:07:09Speaker 6: I assure you I have not had my clothes off,
- 1:07:12Speaker 6: missus heada not you either, No, as you may see.
- 1:07:16Speaker 6: But what has Tessman been telling you of the Knight's adventures?
- 1:07:20Speaker 3: Oh, some tiresome story, only that they went and had
- 1:07:23Speaker 3: coffee somewhere or other.
- 1:07:25Speaker 6: I had heard about that coffee party already, I lert
- 1:07:28Speaker 6: Loveborg was not with them, my fancy.
- 1:07:31Speaker 3: No, they had taken him home before that.
- 1:07:33Speaker 6: Tessaman too.
- 1:07:34Speaker 1: No, but some of the others, he said Breck, smiling.
- 1:07:38Speaker 6: George, Tessaman is really an ingenuous creature, missus.
- 1:07:41Speaker 3: Heada, Yes, Heaven knows he is. Then is there something
- 1:07:45Speaker 3: behind all this?
- 1:07:46Speaker 6: Yes, perhaps there may be.
- 1:07:49Speaker 3: Well, then sit down, my dear judge, and tell your
- 1:07:51Speaker 3: story and comfort.
- 1:07:53Speaker 1: She seats herself to the lift of the table. Breck
- 1:07:56Speaker 1: sits near her at the long side of the table.
- 1:07:59Speaker 6: Now, then I had special reasons for keeping track of
- 1:08:03Speaker 6: my guests last night.
- 1:08:05Speaker 3: Of Eilert Loveborg among the rest, perhaps, frankly, yes, Now
- 1:08:10Speaker 3: you make me really curious.
- 1:08:12Speaker 6: Do you know where he and one or two of
- 1:08:14Speaker 6: the others finished the night, missus heada, if.
- 1:08:16Speaker 3: It is not quite unmentionable, tell me, Oh.
- 1:08:19Speaker 6: No, it's not at all unmentionable. Well, they put in
- 1:08:24Speaker 6: an appearance at a particularly animated soiree of the lively
- 1:08:29Speaker 6: kind of the very liveliest.
- 1:08:32Speaker 3: Tell me more of this, judge, brack.
- 1:08:34Speaker 6: Loveborg, as well as the others, had been invited in advance.
- 1:08:39Speaker 6: I knew all about it, but he had declined the
- 1:08:42Speaker 6: invitation for now, as you know, he has become a new.
- 1:08:46Speaker 3: Man up at the Elvesteads. Yes, but he went after all.
- 1:08:49Speaker 6: Then, well, you see, missus Heada, unhappily the spirit moved
- 1:08:54Speaker 6: him at my rooms last evening.
- 1:08:56Speaker 3: Yes, I hear he found inspiration.
- 1:08:59Speaker 6: Pretty violent inspiration. Well, I fancy that altered his purpose,
- 1:09:04Speaker 6: For we men folk are unfortunately not always so firm
- 1:09:08Speaker 6: in our principles as we ought to be.
- 1:09:11Speaker 3: Oh, I am sure you are an exception, Judge Brack.
- 1:09:14Speaker 6: But as to Loveborg, to make a long story short,
- 1:09:18Speaker 6: he landed at last in Mademoiselle Diana's rooms.
- 1:09:22Speaker 3: Mademoiselle Diana's It.
- 1:09:23Speaker 6: Was Mademoiselle Diana that was giving the soiree to a
- 1:09:27Speaker 6: select circle of her admirers and her lady friends.
- 1:09:30Speaker 4: Is she a red haired woman?
- 1:09:32Speaker 6: Precisely a sort of a singer? Oh yes, in her
- 1:09:37Speaker 6: leisure moments, and moreover a mighty huntress of men? Missus Heada,
- 1:09:43Speaker 6: you have no doubt heard of her. Eilert Loveborg was
- 1:09:47Speaker 6: one of her most enthusiastic protectors in the days of
- 1:09:52Speaker 6: his glory.
- 1:09:53Speaker 3: And how did all this end?
- 1:09:55Speaker 6: Far from amicably? It appears after a most tender meeting
- 1:09:59Speaker 6: they he seemed to have come to blows Loveborg, and she, yes,
- 1:10:04Speaker 6: he accused her or her friends of having robbed him.
- 1:10:08Speaker 6: He declared that his pocket book had disappeared, and other
- 1:10:12Speaker 6: things as well. In short, he seems to have made
- 1:10:16Speaker 6: a furious disturbance, and.
- 1:10:18Speaker 3: What came of it all?
- 1:10:19Speaker 6: It came to a general scrimmage in which the ladies
- 1:10:23Speaker 6: as well as the gentlemen took part. Fortunately the police
- 1:10:27Speaker 6: at last appeared on the scene.
- 1:10:28Speaker 3: The police too.
- 1:10:30Speaker 6: Yes, I fancy it will prove a costly frolic for
- 1:10:34Speaker 6: Islert Loveborg, crazy being that he is. How So he
- 1:10:38Speaker 6: seems to have made a violent resistance, to have hit
- 1:10:42Speaker 6: one of the constables on the head and torn the
- 1:10:45Speaker 6: coat off his back, so they had to march him
- 1:10:47Speaker 6: off to the police station.
- 1:10:48Speaker 7: With the rest.
- 1:10:49Speaker 3: How have you learnt all this.
- 1:10:51Speaker 6: From the police themselves?
- 1:10:53Speaker 1: Heada gazing straight before her, So that is what happened.
- 1:10:57Speaker 3: Then he had no vine leaves in his hair.
- 1:11:00Speaker 6: Vine leaves, missus heada.
- 1:11:02Speaker 1: Heada changing her tone.
- 1:11:04Speaker 3: But tell me, now, judge, what is your real reason
- 1:11:07Speaker 3: for tracking out Eilert Loborg's movements so carefully.
- 1:11:10Speaker 6: In the first place? It could not be entirely indifferent
- 1:11:14Speaker 6: to me. If it should appear in the police court
- 1:11:17Speaker 6: that he came straight from my.
- 1:11:18Speaker 3: House, will the matter come into court?
- 1:11:20Speaker 7: Then?
- 1:11:21Speaker 6: Of course? However, I should scarcely have troubled so much
- 1:11:25Speaker 6: about that. But I thought that as a friend of
- 1:11:29Speaker 6: the family, it was my duty to supply you and
- 1:11:32Speaker 6: Tessaman with a full account of his nocturnal exploits.
- 1:11:35Speaker 3: Why so, judge Brack.
- 1:11:37Speaker 6: Why because I have a shrewd suspicion that he intends
- 1:11:40Speaker 6: to use you as a sort of.
- 1:11:43Speaker 3: Blind Oh, how can you think such a thing?
- 1:11:46Speaker 2: Good?
- 1:11:46Speaker 6: Heavens, missus Heada, we have eyes in her head, mark
- 1:11:50Speaker 6: my words, This missus Elvestead will be in no hurry
- 1:11:54Speaker 6: to leave town again.
- 1:11:55Speaker 3: Well, even if there should be anything between them, I
- 1:11:58Speaker 3: suppose there are plenty of other places where they could meet.
- 1:12:01Speaker 6: Not a single home. Henceforward, as before, every respectable house
- 1:12:07Speaker 6: will be closed against Eilert love work.
- 1:12:09Speaker 3: And so ought mine to be.
- 1:12:11Speaker 6: You mean, yes, I confess it would be more than
- 1:12:14Speaker 6: painful to me if this personage were to be made
- 1:12:17Speaker 6: free of your house. How superfluous, how intrusive he would be,
- 1:12:23Speaker 6: if he were to force his way.
- 1:12:24Speaker 3: Into into the triangle.
- 1:12:26Speaker 6: Precisely, it would simply mean that I should find myself homeless.
- 1:12:32Speaker 1: Heada looks at him with a smile.
- 1:12:34Speaker 3: So you want to be the one cock in the basket?
- 1:12:38Speaker 3: That is your aim?
- 1:12:40Speaker 1: Rack not slowly and lows his voice yes, that is
- 1:12:45Speaker 1: my aim, and for that I will fight with every
- 1:12:50Speaker 1: weapon I can command. Heada a smile, vanishing.
- 1:12:54Speaker 3: I see you are a dangerous person when it comes
- 1:12:57Speaker 3: to the point, do you think so? I am beginning
- 1:13:00Speaker 3: to think so, and I am exceedingly glad to think
- 1:13:04Speaker 3: that you have no sort of hold over me.
- 1:13:07Speaker 1: Brack laughing at KIVOCOLI.
- 1:13:11Speaker 6: Well, well, missus Heada, perhaps you are right there. If
- 1:13:17Speaker 6: I had who knows what I might be capable of.
- 1:13:20Speaker 4: Come, come now, judge Brack.
- 1:13:21Speaker 3: That sounds almost like a.
- 1:13:22Speaker 1: Threat, Brack rising, Oh, not at all.
- 1:13:27Speaker 6: The triangle you know, ought if possible to be spontaneously.
- 1:13:32Speaker 3: Constructed there, I agree with you.
- 1:13:35Speaker 6: Well, now I have said all I had to say,
- 1:13:39Speaker 6: and i'd better be getting back to town. Goodbye, missus Heada.
- 1:13:42Speaker 1: He goes towards the glass door, Heada rising, Are you.
- 1:13:47Speaker 4: Going through the garden?
- 1:13:48Speaker 6: Yes, it is a shortcut for me, and then.
- 1:13:51Speaker 3: It is a back way too.
- 1:13:53Speaker 6: Quite so, I have no objection to back ways. They
- 1:13:57Speaker 6: may be piquant enough at times.
- 1:14:00Speaker 3: There is the ball practice going on, you mean, Brack.
- 1:14:03Speaker 6: In the doorway, laughing to her, Oh, people don't shoot
- 1:14:09Speaker 6: their tame poultry.
- 1:14:10Speaker 3: I fancy Hedda also laughing, Oh no, when there is
- 1:14:13Speaker 3: only one cock in the basket.
- 1:14:15Speaker 1: They exchange laughing nots of farewell. He goes. She closes
- 1:14:20Speaker 1: the door behind him. Hedda, who has become quite serious,
- 1:14:23Speaker 1: stands for a moment, looking out. Presently, she goes and
- 1:14:27Speaker 1: peeps through the curtain over the middle doorway. Then she
- 1:14:30Speaker 1: goes to the writing table, takes Louborg's packet out of
- 1:14:33Speaker 1: the bookcase, and is on the point of looking through
- 1:14:36Speaker 1: its contents. Betta is heard speaking loudly in the hall.
- 1:14:40Speaker 1: Hedda turns and listens. Then she hastily locks up the
- 1:14:43Speaker 1: packet in the door and lays the key on the inkstand.
- 1:14:47Speaker 1: I let Lovebork, with his great coat on and his
- 1:14:50Speaker 1: hat in his hand, tears open the hall door. He
- 1:14:53Speaker 1: looks somewhat confused and irritated, Loveborg looking towards the.
- 1:14:57Speaker 7: Hall, and I tell you I must and will come
- 1:15:00Speaker 7: in there.
- 1:15:02Speaker 1: He closes the door, turns, sees Hedda at once regains
- 1:15:06Speaker 1: his self control and bowers heada at the writing table.
- 1:15:10Speaker 3: Well, mister Loveborg, this is a rather late hour to
- 1:15:13Speaker 3: call for.
- 1:15:14Speaker 7: Teya, you mean, rather an early hour to call on you.
- 1:15:18Speaker 3: Pray, pardon me, how do you know that she is
- 1:15:20Speaker 3: still here?
- 1:15:21Speaker 7: They told me at her lodgings that she had been
- 1:15:23Speaker 7: out all.
- 1:15:23Speaker 1: Night Heada going to the oval table.
- 1:15:27Speaker 3: Did you notice anything about the people of the house
- 1:15:29Speaker 3: when they said that?
- 1:15:30Speaker 1: Lofborg looks inquiringly at.
- 1:15:32Speaker 7: Her, notice anything about them?
- 1:15:35Speaker 3: I mean, did they seem to think it odd?
- 1:15:37Speaker 1: Loafborg suddenly understanding.
- 1:15:40Speaker 7: Oh, yes, of course I am dragging her down with me. However,
- 1:15:46Speaker 7: I didn't notice anything. I suppose Tessamon is not up yet.
- 1:15:50Speaker 3: No, I think not.
- 1:15:51Speaker 7: When did he come home very late? Did he tell
- 1:15:54Speaker 7: you anything?
- 1:15:55Speaker 3: Yes? I gathered that you had had an exceedingly jolly
- 1:15:58Speaker 3: evening at Judge Brack. Nothing more, I don't think so. However,
- 1:16:03Speaker 3: I was so dreadfully sleepy.
- 1:16:05Speaker 1: Missus Elvested enters through the curtains of the middle doorway,
- 1:16:09Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead going towards him.
- 1:16:11Speaker 5: Ah, Loveborg at last, Yes, at last?
- 1:16:16Speaker 7: And too late?
- 1:16:18Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead looks anxiously at him.
- 1:16:21Speaker 5: What is too late?
- 1:16:23Speaker 7: Everything is too late? Now it is all over with me?
- 1:16:27Speaker 5: Oh no, no, don't say that.
- 1:16:29Speaker 7: You will say the same when you hear.
- 1:16:31Speaker 5: I won't hear anything.
- 1:16:33Speaker 3: Perhaps you would prefer to talk to her alone. If so,
- 1:16:35Speaker 3: I will leave you.
- 1:16:36Speaker 7: No stay you two, I beg you to.
- 1:16:39Speaker 5: Stay, Yes, but I won't hear anything I tell you.
- 1:16:42Speaker 7: It is not last night's adventures that I want to
- 1:16:45Speaker 7: talk about.
- 1:16:46Speaker 5: What is it? Then?
- 1:16:47Speaker 7: I want to say that now our ways must part.
- 1:16:53Speaker 1: Part heada involuntarily. I knew it.
- 1:16:57Speaker 7: You can be of no more service to me, Taya.
- 1:17:01Speaker 5: How can you stand there and say that no more
- 1:17:05Speaker 5: service to you? Am I not to help you now?
- 1:17:08Speaker 5: As before? Are we not to go on working together?
- 1:17:11Speaker 7: Henceforward? I shall do no work.
- 1:17:14Speaker 1: Missus Elvestead despairingly.
- 1:17:17Speaker 5: Then what am I to do with my life?
- 1:17:19Speaker 7: You must try to live your life as if you
- 1:17:21Speaker 7: had never known me.
- 1:17:23Speaker 5: But you know I cannot do that.
- 1:17:25Speaker 7: Try If you cannot, Taya, you must go home again.
- 1:17:29Speaker 1: Missus Elstead in vehement protest.
- 1:17:32Speaker 5: Never in this world where you are there will I
- 1:17:35Speaker 5: be also. I will not let myself be driven away
- 1:17:39Speaker 5: like this. I will remain here. I will be with you.
- 1:17:41Speaker 5: When the book.
- 1:17:41Speaker 1: Appears, heada half aloud in suspense, Ah, yes, the book,
- 1:17:47Speaker 1: Loefborg looks at her my.
- 1:17:49Speaker 7: Book and Taya's for that is what it is.
- 1:17:53Speaker 5: Yes, I feel that it is, and that is why
- 1:17:56Speaker 5: I have a right to be with you. When it appears,
- 1:17:58Speaker 5: I will see with my own eye is how respect
- 1:18:00Speaker 5: and honor pour in upon you afresh? And the happiness,
- 1:18:05Speaker 5: the happiness, Oh, I must share it with you.
- 1:18:08Speaker 7: Tea. Our book will never appear, ah, never appear, can
- 1:18:15Speaker 7: never appear.
- 1:18:16Speaker 1: Missus Elstead an agonized, foreboding.
- 1:18:19Speaker 5: Loveborg, what have you done with the manuscript?
- 1:18:22Speaker 1: Heda looks anxiously.
- 1:18:24Speaker 3: At him, Yes, the manuscript.
- 1:18:26Speaker 5: Where is it?
- 1:18:27Speaker 7: The manuscript? Well, then I have torn the manuscript into
- 1:18:31Speaker 7: a thousand pieces.
- 1:18:33Speaker 1: Missus Elpstead shrieks.
- 1:18:36Speaker 5: Oh no, no.
- 1:18:38Speaker 1: Heada involuntarily. But that's not Loveborg looks at her.
- 1:18:44Speaker 7: Not true, you think.
- 1:18:45Speaker 1: Heada collecting herself.
- 1:18:47Speaker 3: Oh well, of course, since you say so. But it
- 1:18:51Speaker 3: sounded so improbable.
- 1:18:53Speaker 7: It is true all the same.
- 1:18:55Speaker 1: Missus Elpstead wringing her hands.
- 1:18:58Speaker 5: Oh God, oh God, God, Heada torn his own work
- 1:19:01Speaker 5: to pieces.
- 1:19:03Speaker 7: I have torn my own life to pieces. So why
- 1:19:06Speaker 7: should I not tear my life work too?
- 1:19:09Speaker 5: And you did this last night.
- 1:19:11Speaker 7: Yes, I tell you, tore it into a thousand pieces
- 1:19:14Speaker 7: and scattered them on the fiord far out there there
- 1:19:18Speaker 7: is school seawater. At any rate, let them drift upon it,
- 1:19:23Speaker 7: drift with the current and the wind, and then presently
- 1:19:27Speaker 7: they will sink deeper and deeper as I shall Tella.
- 1:19:34Speaker 5: Do you know, Loveborg, that what you have done with
- 1:19:36Speaker 5: the book? I shall think of it to my dying
- 1:19:40Speaker 5: day as though you had killed a little child.
- 1:19:43Speaker 7: Yes, you are right, it is a sort of child murder.
- 1:19:50Speaker 5: How could you? Then? Did not the child belong to
- 1:19:53Speaker 5: me too?
- 1:19:55Speaker 1: Heada? Almost inaudibly, Ah, the child, missus elfstaid, breathing heavily.
- 1:20:01Speaker 5: It is all over? Then? Well, well now I will
- 1:20:05Speaker 5: go Heada, But.
- 1:20:07Speaker 3: You are not going away from town.
- 1:20:09Speaker 5: Oh, I don't know what I shall do. I see
- 1:20:12Speaker 5: nothing but darkness before me.
- 1:20:14Speaker 1: She goes out by the hall door. Hedda stands waiting
- 1:20:18Speaker 1: for a moment.
- 1:20:19Speaker 3: So you are not going to see her home, mister Loveborg?
- 1:20:23Speaker 7: I through the streets? Would you have people see her
- 1:20:27Speaker 7: walking with me?
- 1:20:28Speaker 3: Of course? I don't know what else may have happened
- 1:20:30Speaker 3: last night? But is it so utterly irretrievable?
- 1:20:34Speaker 7: It will not end with last night? I know that
- 1:20:37Speaker 7: perfectly well. And the thing is that now I have
- 1:20:40Speaker 7: no taste for that sort of life either. I won't
- 1:20:43Speaker 7: begin it anew. She has broken, my courage and my
- 1:20:47Speaker 7: power of braving life out.
- 1:20:49Speaker 1: Hedda looking straight before her, So that.
- 1:20:52Speaker 3: Pretty little fool has had her fingers in a man's destiny,
- 1:20:56Speaker 3: looks at him. But all the same, how could you
- 1:20:59Speaker 3: treat her so heartly?
- 1:21:00Speaker 7: Oh, don't say that I was heartless to go.
- 1:21:03Speaker 3: And destroy what has filled her whole soul for months
- 1:21:06Speaker 3: and years. You do not call that heartless to you.
- 1:21:10Speaker 7: I can tell the truth, Heada, the truth. First, Promise
- 1:21:13Speaker 7: me give me your word that what I now confide
- 1:21:16Speaker 7: in you, Tea, shall never know.
- 1:21:19Speaker 3: I give you my word.
- 1:21:21Speaker 7: Good. Then let me tell you that what I said
- 1:21:25Speaker 7: just now was.
- 1:21:27Speaker 3: Untrue about the manuscript.
- 1:21:30Speaker 7: Yes, I have not torn it to pieces, nor thrown
- 1:21:33Speaker 7: it into the fiord.
- 1:21:34Speaker 3: No. No, but where is it?
- 1:21:37Speaker 1: Then?
- 1:21:38Speaker 7: I have destroyed it, none the less, utterly destroyed it, Heda.
- 1:21:41Speaker 3: I don't understand.
- 1:21:43Speaker 7: Tea said that what I had done seemed to her
- 1:21:47Speaker 7: like a child murder.
- 1:21:48Speaker 3: Yes, so she said, But to.
- 1:21:51Speaker 7: Kill his child that is not the worst thing a
- 1:21:53Speaker 7: father can do to it, not the worst. Suppose now, Heada,
- 1:21:58Speaker 7: that a man the small hours of the morning came
- 1:22:02Speaker 7: home to his child's mother after a night of riot
- 1:22:05Speaker 7: and debauchery, and said, listen, I have been here and
- 1:22:09Speaker 7: there and in this place and in that, and I
- 1:22:12Speaker 7: have taken our child with to this place and to that,
- 1:22:16Speaker 7: and I have lost the child, utterly lost it. The
- 1:22:19Speaker 7: devil knows into what hands it may have fallen, who
- 1:22:22Speaker 7: may have had their clutches on it.
- 1:22:24Speaker 3: Well, But when all is said and done, you know
- 1:22:26Speaker 3: this was only a book.
- 1:22:28Speaker 7: Teya's pure soul was in that book.
- 1:22:31Speaker 3: Yes, so I understand, and you.
- 1:22:33Speaker 7: Can understand too that for her and me together, no
- 1:22:38Speaker 7: future is possible.
- 1:22:40Speaker 3: What path do you mean to take, then, none.
- 1:22:43Speaker 7: I will only try to make an end of it.
- 1:22:44Speaker 1: All the sooner the better heada a step nearer him.
- 1:22:49Speaker 3: Islert Loveborg listened to me. Will you not try to
- 1:22:53Speaker 3: do it.
- 1:22:54Speaker 7: Beautifully, beautifully smiling with vine leaves in my hair, as
- 1:23:00Speaker 7: you used to dream in the old days.
- 1:23:02Speaker 3: No, no, I have lost my faith in the vine leaves,
- 1:23:06Speaker 3: but beautifully nevertheless, for once in a way. Goodbye. You
- 1:23:11Speaker 3: must go now and do not come here any more.
- 1:23:14Speaker 7: Goodbye missus Tessman, and give George Tessman my love.
- 1:23:19Speaker 1: He is on the point of going.
- 1:23:21Speaker 3: No, wait, I must give you a memento to take
- 1:23:24Speaker 3: with you.
- 1:23:25Speaker 1: She goes to the writing table and opens the drawer
- 1:23:27Speaker 1: and a pistol case, then returns to Lofborg with one
- 1:23:31Speaker 1: of the pistols. Lofborg looks at.
- 1:23:33Speaker 7: Her, this is this the memento.
- 1:23:37Speaker 1: Heada, nodding slowly.
- 1:23:39Speaker 3: Do you recognize it? It was aimed at you once?
- 1:23:43Speaker 7: You should have used it?
- 1:23:44Speaker 3: Then take it and do you use it now?
- 1:23:48Speaker 1: Lovborg puts the pistol in his breast pocket.
- 1:23:51Speaker 3: Thanks and beautifully, I Lert Loveborg, promise me.
- 1:23:55Speaker 7: That goodbye heada gobbler.
- 1:23:59Speaker 1: He goes out the hall door. Hedda listens for a
- 1:24:02Speaker 1: moment at the door. Then she goes up to the
- 1:24:04Speaker 1: writing table, takes out the packet of manuscript peeps under
- 1:24:08Speaker 1: the cover, draws a few of the sheets half out
- 1:24:11Speaker 1: and looks at them. Next, she goes over and seats
- 1:24:13Speaker 1: herself in the armchair besides the stove, with the packet
- 1:24:17Speaker 1: in her lap. Presently she opens the stove door and
- 1:24:20Speaker 1: then the packet. Hedda throws one of the choirs into
- 1:24:24Speaker 1: the fire and whispers to herself.
- 1:24:26Speaker 3: Now I am burning your child, teya burning it curly locks.
- 1:24:31Speaker 1: Throwing one or two more choirs into the stove.
- 1:24:34Speaker 3: Your child, and alert Loveborgs throws the rest in I
- 1:24:39Speaker 3: am burning, I am burning your child.
- 1:24:45Speaker 1: End of Act three