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The Master Builder Act I · The Henrik Ibsen Library

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Act first of The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen, translated
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: by William Archer and Edmund Gosse. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Dramatis
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Persone Halvard Solnis read by Bruce Piri, Alina Solnis read
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: by R. L.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Lipshaw, Doctor her Dahl read by and Dementa.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Knut Bruvic read by Losch Rolando.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Ragnar Bruvic read by M. B. Caaya Fausley read by A.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Bay.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Hilda Vangel read by Elisabeth Klett.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Narrator read by Guero. Act first. A plainly furnished workroom
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: in the house of Halvard Solness. Folding doors on the
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: left lead out to the hall. On the right is
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the door leading to the inner rooms of the house.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: At the back is an open door into the draftsman's office.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: In front on the left a desk with books, papers
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and writing materials. Further back than the folding door, a
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: stove in the right hand corner, a sofa, a table
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: and one or two chairs. On the table, a water
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: bottle and glass, A smaller table with a rocking chair
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: and armchair in front on the right, lighted lamps with
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: shades on the table in the draftman's office, on the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: table in the corner, and on the desk in the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: draftsmen's office sit Knute Bruvik and his son Ragna, occupied
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: with plans and calculations. At the desk in the outer
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: office stands kaya Fosely, riding in the ledger. Knut Brovic
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: is a spare old man with white hair and beard.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: He wears a rather threadbare but well brushed black coat
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: with spectacles and a somewhat discolored white neckcloth. Ragnarbruvic is
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: a well dressed, light haired man in his thirties with
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: a slight stoop. Kaya Fhosely is a slightly built girl
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: a little over twenty, carefully dressed and delicate looking. She
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: has a green shade over her eyes. All three go
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: on working for some time in silence. Knut Bruvik rises suddenly,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: as if in distress, from the table, breathes heavily and
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: laboriously as he comes forward into the doorway.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Oh no, I can't bear it much longer, Kaya, going
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: up to him.
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: You're feeling very ill. This evening, Are you not, uncle?
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: Oh? I seem to get worse every day.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Ragnar has risen and advances.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: You ought to go home, father, try to get a
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: little sleep.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Go to bed. I suppose would you have me stifled
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: out right?
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: Then take a little walk?
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: Do, I'll come with you.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: I will not go till he comes. I am determined
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: to have it out this evening with with him with
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: the chief.
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: Oh, no, Uncle, to wait about before doing that?
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: Yes? Better wait, father.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, I haven't much time for waiting.
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: Hush, I hear him on the stairs.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: All three go back to their work. A short silence.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Halbard's Soolness comes in through the hall door. He is
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: a man no longer young, but healthy and vigorous, with
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: close cut, curly hair, dark mustache, and dark thick eyebrows.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: He wears a grayish green button jacket with an upstanding
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: collar and broad lapels on his head. He wears a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: soft gray felt hat, and he has one or two
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: light portfolios under his arm. Solness near the door, points
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: towards the draftsman's office and asks in a whisper, are
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: they gone?
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: No?
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: She takes the shade off her eyes. Soulness crosses the room,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: throws his hat on a chair, places the portfolios on
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the table by the sofa, and approaches the desk again.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Kaya goes on writing without intermission, but seems nervous and uneasy.
• 4:58
  Speaker 7: What is it that you are entering? Miss?
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: Oh? It is only something that let me look at it.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Miss Fossley bends over her, pretends to be looking into
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  Speaker 1: the ledger and whispers.
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: KaiA, Well, why do you always take that shade off
• 5:14
  Speaker 7: when I come?
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: I look so ugly with it on. Then you don't
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: like to look ugly, KaiA, Not for all the world,
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: not in your eyes.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Soulness strokes her hair gently.
• 5:26
  Speaker 7: Poor poor little Kia.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: Hush, they can hear you.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Soulness strolls across the room to the right, turns and
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: pauses at the door of the draftsman's office.
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: Has anyone been here for me?
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  Speaker 5: Yes, the young couple who want a villa built.
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  Speaker 7: Oh, those two they must wait. I am not quite
• 5:49
  Speaker 7: clear about the plans yet.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: They we're very anxious to have the drawings at once.
• 5:54
  Speaker 7: Yes, of course, so they all are.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: They say they are a long soul to go into
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: a house of their own.
• 6:02
  Speaker 7: Yes, yes, we know all that, and so they are
• 6:05
  Speaker 7: content to take whatever is offered them. They get a
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: roof over their heads and address, but nothing to call
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: a home. No thank you in that case, let them
• 6:15
  Speaker 7: apply to somebody else. Tell them that the next time
• 6:18
  Speaker 7: they call.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: To somebody else. Are you prepared to give up the commission?
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: Yes? Yes, yes, devil take it if that is to
• 6:26
  Speaker 7: be the way of it, Rather that than build away
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: at random. Besides, I know very little about these people
• 6:33
  Speaker 7: as yet.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: The people are safe enough. Ragna knows them, he's a
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: friend of the family.
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: Oh, safe, safe enough. That is not at all what
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: I mean, Good Lawrence. Don't you understand me either. I
• 6:46
  Speaker 7: won't have anything to do with these strangers. They may
• 6:49
  Speaker 7: apply to whom they please, as far as I am concerned.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Do you really mean that?
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: Yes? I do, for once in a way.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Bruvick exchanges a glance with Ragnar, who makes a warning gesture.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Then Bruvic comes into the front room.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: May I have a few words with you? Certainly just
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: going there for a moment. Kaya. Oh, but uncle, do
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: as I say, child, and shut the door after you.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Kaya goes reluctantly into the draftsman's office, glances anxiously and
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: imploringly at Solness and shuts the door.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: I don't want the poor children to know how I am.
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: Yes, you have been looking very poorly of late.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: It will soon be all over with me. My strength
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: is ebbing from day to day.
• 7:40
  Speaker 7: Won't you sit down?
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: Thanks?
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: May I Solness placing the arm chair more conveniently?
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: Here take this chair and now?
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Oh well, you see it's about Rangner. That is what
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: weighs most upon me. What is to become of him?
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: Of course you, your son, will stay with me as
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: long as ever he likes.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: But that is just what he does not like. He
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: feels that he cannot stay here any longer.
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: Why I should say he was very well off here,
• 8:12
  Speaker 7: But if he wants more money, I should not mind.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: No, no, it's not that. But sooner or later, he
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: too must have a chance of doing something on his
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: own account.
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: Do you think that Rangnar has quite enough talent to
• 8:27
  Speaker 7: stand alone?
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: No, that is just a heart breaking part of it.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: I have begun to have my doubts about the boy,
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: for you have never said so much as as one
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: encouraging word about him, and yet I cannot but think
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: there must be something in him. He can't be without talent.
• 8:47
  Speaker 7: Well, but he has learnt nothing, nothing thoroughly, I mean,
• 8:51
  Speaker 7: except of course, to draw.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: You had learnt little enough of the business when you
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: were in my employment, But that did not prevent you
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: from getting to work and pushing your way up and
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: taking the wind out of my sails, mine and so
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: many other people's.
• 9:11
  Speaker 7: Yes, you see, circumstances favored me.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: You are right there, Everything favored you. But then, how
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: can you have the heart to let me go to
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: my grave without having seen what Rangna is fit for?
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: And of course I'm anxious to see them married to
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: before I go.
• 9:32
  Speaker 7: Is it she who wishes it?
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Not Kiah so much as Rangner. He talks about it
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: every day. You must help him to get some independent work. Now,
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: I must see something that the lad has done. Do
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: you hear?
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  Speaker 7: Hang it?
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: Man?
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  Speaker 7: You can't expect me to draw commissions down from the
• 9:54
  Speaker 7: moon for him.
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  Speaker 3: He has the chance of a capital commission at this
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: very moment, a big bit of work, has he if
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: you would give your consent.
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  Speaker 7: What sort of work do you mean?
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: He can have the building of that bill out at low.
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: Strand that why I'm going to build that myself.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Oh, you don't much care about doing it?
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: Don't care who dares to say that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: You said so yourself.
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: Just now, Oh, never mind what I say. Would they
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: give Rangnar the building of that villa?
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: Yes, you see he knows the family. And then just
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: for the fun of the thing, he has made drawings
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: and estimates and so forth.
• 10:41
  Speaker 7: Are they pleased with the drawings the people who will
• 10:44
  Speaker 7: have to live in the house.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: Yes, if you would only look through them and approve of.
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: Them, then they would let Rangnar build their home for them.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: They were immensely pleased with this idea. They thought it
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: exceedingly original.
• 10:58
  Speaker 7: They said, oh, original, not the old fashioned stuff that
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: I am in the habit of turning out.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: It seemed to them different.
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: So it was to see Rangnar that they came here
• 11:10
  Speaker 7: whilst I was out.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: They came to call upon you, and the same time
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: to ask whether you would mind retiring retire I in
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: case you thought that Ranger's drawings.
• 11:23
  Speaker 7: I retire in favor of your son.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Retire from the agreement.
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: They meant, Oh, it comes to the same thing. Ha,
• 11:32
  Speaker 7: So that is it? Is it? Harvard's solness is to
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: see about retiring now to make room for younger men,
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: for the very youngest. Perhaps he must make room room room.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: Why, good heavens, there's surely room for more than one
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: single man.
• 11:50
  Speaker 7: Oh, there's not so very much room to spare either,
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: But read that as it may. I will never retire.
• 11:56
  Speaker 7: I will never give way to anybody, never of my
• 11:59
  Speaker 7: own free will. Well, never in this world will I
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: do that.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Bruvic rises with difficulty.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Oh, then I'm to pass out of life without any certainty,
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: without a gleam of happiness, without any faith or trust
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: in Runner, without having seen a single piece of work
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: of his doing? Is that the way to be of it?
• 12:27
  Speaker 7: Don't ask more? Just now, I must.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Have an answer to this one question. Am I to
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: pass out of life in such utter poverty?
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: You must pass out of life as best you can?
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: Then be it?
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: So he goes up the room, Solness following him half
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: in desperation.
• 12:50
  Speaker 7: Don't you understand that I cannot help it? I am
• 12:53
  Speaker 7: what I am, and I cannot change my nature.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: No, I suppose that you can't. Oh, may I have
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: a glass of water?
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: By all means, fills a glass and hands it to him. Oh, thanks,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Soulness goes up and opens the door of the draftsman's office.
• 13:17
  Speaker 7: Rang, Now you must come and take your father home.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Ragnar rises quickly. He and Kaya come into the workroom.
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: What's the matter? Father?
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Give me your arm now let us go very well.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: You had better put your things on too.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: Ka.
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: Miss Fostley must stay just for a moment. There is
• 13:36
  Speaker 7: a letter I want written.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: Good night, sleep well if.
• 13:40
  Speaker 7: You can, good night.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Pruvik and Ragnar go out by the hall door. Kaya
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: goes to the desk. Soulness stands with bent head to
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the right by the armchair.
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: Is there any letter?
• 13:56
  Speaker 7: No, of course not, Kaya. Yes, I'm here at once, Yes, nearer.
• 14:04
  Speaker 5: What do you want with me?
• 14:05
  Speaker 7: Is it you I have to thank for all this?
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: No? No, don't think that.
• 14:11
  Speaker 7: But confess now you want to get married.
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: Ragna and I have been engaged for four or five.
• 14:18
  Speaker 7: Years and so and so you think it time there
• 14:21
  Speaker 7: were an end of it? Is not that?
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: So, Ragna and uncle say I must so, I suppose
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: I shall have to give in Okaya.
• 14:30
  Speaker 7: Don't you really care a little bit for Rangnar too?
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: I cared very much for Ragna once before I came
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: here to you.
• 14:39
  Speaker 7: But you don't now, not in the least.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: Oh, you know very well there's only one person I
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: care for now. I shall never care for anyone else.
• 14:50
  Speaker 7: Yes, you say that, and yet you go away from me,
• 14:54
  Speaker 7: leave me alone here with everything on my hands.
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: But could I not stay with you even if Ragnar?
• 15:01
  Speaker 7: No, no, that is quite impossible. If Rangnar leaves me
• 15:05
  Speaker 7: and starts work on his own account, then of course
• 15:07
  Speaker 7: he will need you himself.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: Oh, I feel as if I could not be separated
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: from you. It's quite quite impossible.
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: Then be sure you get those foolish notions out of
• 15:19
  Speaker 7: Rangnar's head. Marry him as much as you please. I mean,
• 15:24
  Speaker 7: don't let him throw up his good situation with me,
• 15:28
  Speaker 7: for then I can keep you too, my dear Kaya.
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: Oh yes, how lovely that would be, if it could
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: only be managed.
• 15:37
  Speaker 7: For I cannot get on without you, you see, I
• 15:41
  Speaker 7: must have you with me every single day.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: My gods, my gods.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Saulness kisses her hair. KaiA kaiya Kaya sinks down before him.
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: Oh, how good you are to me, How unspeakably good
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: you are.
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: Get up, for goodness sake, Get up, I think I
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: hear some one.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: He helps her to rise. She staggers over to the desk.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Missus Solness enters by the door on the right. She
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: looks thin and wasted. With grief, but shows traces of
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: bygone beauty, blonde ringlets, dressed with good taste, wholly and black.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: Speaks somewhat slowly and in a plaintive voice.
• 16:27
  Speaker 7: Halbard, Oh, are you there, my dear.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: I'm afraid I am disturbing you, not in the least.
• 16:33
  Speaker 7: Miss Fossley has only a short letter to write.
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: Yes, so I see what do you want with me, Elina?
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: I merely wanted to tell you that doctor Herdell is
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: in the drawing room. Won't you come and see him? Halvard?
• 16:45
  Speaker 7: Hm, is the doctor so very anxious to see me?
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: Well, not exactly anxious. He really came to see me,
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: but he would like to say how do you do
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: to you?
• 16:54
  Speaker 7: At the same time, yes, I dare say, well, you
• 16:58
  Speaker 7: must ask.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: Him to wait a little and you will come in presently.
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: Perhaps I will presently presently, dear, in a little while.
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: Well, now, don't forget.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Halvard withdraws and closes the door behind her.
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: Oh, dear, oh dear, I am sure missus Solness thinks
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: ill of me in some way.
• 17:17
  Speaker 7: Oh, not in the least, not more than usual at
• 17:20
  Speaker 7: any rate. But all the same, you had.
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: Better go now, Caia, Yes, yes, now I must go and.
• 17:27
  Speaker 7: Mind you get that matter settled for me? Do you hear? Oh?
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: If it only depended on me.
• 17:34
  Speaker 7: I will have it settled, I say, and tomorrow too,
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: not a day later.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: If there's nothing else for it, I'm quite willing to
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: break off the engagement.
• 17:43
  Speaker 7: Break it off? Are you mad? Would you think of
• 17:46
  Speaker 7: breaking it off?
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: Yes? If necessary? For I must. I must stay here
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: with you. I can't leave you. That is utterly, utterly impossible.
• 17:58
  Speaker 7: But deuce take it? How about rang now? Then it's
• 18:01
  Speaker 7: rangnivit I is it.
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: Chiefly under Ragna's account that that you?
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: No? No, of course not. You don't understand me either,
• 18:11
  Speaker 7: of course it is you. I want to keep you
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: above everything, Kyah. But for that very reason, you must
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: prevent Ragnar too from throwing up his situation. They are there,
• 18:23
  Speaker 7: now go.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: Home, yes, yes, good night?
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: Then good night? Oh stop a moment. Are Rangno's drawings
• 18:32
  Speaker 7: in there?
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: I did not see him take them with him?
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: Then just go and find them for me. I might
• 18:38
  Speaker 7: perhaps glance over them after all.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes, please.
• 18:41
  Speaker 7: Do for your sake, Kaya, dear, now let me have
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: them at once, please.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Kaya hurries into the draftsman's office. Searches anxiously, and the
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: table drawer finds a portfolio and brings it with her.
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: Here are all the drawings, good put them down there
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: on the table.
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: Good night then, and please please think you kindly of me, oh.
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: That I always do. Good Night, my dear little kaya.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Go go now, missus Solness, and doctor harred All enter
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: by the door on the right. He is a stoutish
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: elderly man with a round, good humored face, clean shaven,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: with thin light hair, and gold spectacles.
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: Halvard, I cannot keep the doctor any longer.
• 19:29
  Speaker 7: Well, then, come in here.
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: Have you finished the letter already, Miss Foesley?
• 19:33
  Speaker 7: The letter, yes, it was quite a short one.
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: It must have been very short.
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: You may go now, miss Fossley, and please come in
• 19:41
  Speaker 7: good time tomorrow morning.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: I will be sure to Good night, mister Soulness.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: She goes out by the hall door.
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: Are you in a hurry, doctor, No, not at all.
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: May I have a little chat with you.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: With the greatest of pleasure.
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: Then let us sit down.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: He motions the doctor to take the rocking chair and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: sits down himself in the armchair.
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: Tell me, did you notice anything odd about Elena?
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Do you mean just now when she was here, Yes.
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: In her manner to me, did you notice anything?
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Well, one couldn't well avoid noticing that your wife, that
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: your wife is not particularly fond of this Miss Fustly.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: Is that all I have noticed that myself, And I.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Must say I am scarcely surprised at it. At what
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: that she should not exactly approve of your seeing so
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: much of another woman all day and every day.
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: No, no, I suppose you are right there, and Elena too,
• 20:41
  Speaker 7: But it's impossible to make any change. Could you not
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: engage a Clark the first man that came to hand? No,
• 20:49
  Speaker 7: thank you, that would never do for me.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: But now if your wife suppose, with her delicate health,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: all this tries her too much.
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: Even then I might all must say, it can make
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: no difference. I must keep Kyah Farsley. No one else
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: could fill her place.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: No one else, no, no one. Now listen to me,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: my dear mister soulness, May I ask you a question
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: quite between ourselves?
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: By all means, women.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: You see in certain matters they have a deucedly keen
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: intuition they have.
• 21:25
  Speaker 7: Indeed, there is not the least out of that.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: But well, tell me now, if your wife can't endure this,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Kia Farsley, Well, what then, may she not have just
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: just the least little bit of reason for this instinctive dislike?
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Oh now, don't be offended. But hasn't she No no
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: reason of any sort.
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: No other than her own suspicious nature.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: I know you have known a good many women in
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: your time. Yes, I have, and I been a good
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: deal taken with some of them too.
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: Oh yes, I don't deny it.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: But as regards miss Fossley, then there is nothing of
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: that sort in this case. No, nothing at all on
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: my side, but on her side.
• 22:16
  Speaker 7: I don't think you have any right to ask that question. Doctor.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Well, you know we were discussing your wife's intuition, So.
• 22:25
  Speaker 7: We were, and for that matter, Helena's intuition, as you
• 22:29
  Speaker 7: call it, in a certain sense, it has not been
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: so far astray.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Ah. There we have it, doctor Hairdall.
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: I am going to tell you a strange story if
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: you care to listen to it.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: I like listening to strange stories very well.
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: Then I dare say you recollect that I took Knute
• 22:47
  Speaker 7: Brovik and his son into my employment after the old
• 22:51
  Speaker 7: man's business had gone to the dogs.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, so I have understood you see.
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: They really are clever fellows, those two. Each of them
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: has talent in his way. But then the sun took
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: it into his head to get engaged. And the next thing,
• 23:05
  Speaker 7: of course, was that he wanted to get married and
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: begin to build on his own account. That is the
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: way with all these young people.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Well, yes, they have a bad habit of wanting to
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: marry just so.
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: But of course that did not suit my plans, for
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: I needed Rangnar myself, and the old man too. He
• 23:24
  Speaker 7: is exceedingly good at calculating bearing strains and cubic contents
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: and all that sort of devilry you know.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes, no doubt, that's indispensable.
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: Yes it is. But Rangnar was absolutely bent on setting
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: to work for himself. He would hear of nothing else.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: But he has stayed with you all the same.
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: Yes, I'll tell you how that came about. One day,
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: this girl, Kiah Fossley, came to see them on some
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: errand or other. She had never been here before, and
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: when I saw how utterly infatuated they were with each other,
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: the thought occurred to me, if I could only get
• 24:01
  Speaker 7: her into the office here, then perhaps Rangnar too would
• 24:05
  Speaker 7: stay where he is.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: That was not at all a bad idea.
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: Yes, But at the time I did not breathe a
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: word of what was in my mind. I merely stood
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: and looked at her, and kept on wishing intently that
• 24:20
  Speaker 7: I could have her here. Then I talked to her
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: a little in a friendly way about one thing and another,
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: and then she went away. Well well, then next day,
• 24:31
  Speaker 7: pretty late in the evening, when old Brovic and Ragnar
• 24:34
  Speaker 7: had gone home, she came here again and behaved as
• 24:38
  Speaker 7: if I had made an arrangement with her.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: An arrangement what about.
• 24:43
  Speaker 7: About the very thing my mind had been fixed on,
• 24:47
  Speaker 7: But I hadn't said one single word about it.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: That was most extraordinary, yes, was it not?
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: And now she wanted to know what she was to
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: do here, whether she could begin the very next mon
• 25:00
  Speaker 7: morning and so forth.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Don't you think she did it in order to be
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: with her sweetheart?
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: That was what occurred to me at first. But no,
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: that was not it. She seemed to drift quite away
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: from him when once she had come here to me.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: She drifted over to you.
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: Then, yes, entirely. If I happen to look at her
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: when her back is turned, I can tell that she
• 25:22
  Speaker 7: feels it. She quivers and trembles the moment I come
• 25:26
  Speaker 7: near her. What do you think of that?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Hm, well, it's not very hard to explain.
• 25:32
  Speaker 7: Well, but what about the other thing that she believed
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: I had said to her? What I had only wished
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: and willed silently inwardly to myself. What do you say
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: to that? Can you explain that, doctor.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Heirdahal No, I won't understake to do that.
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: I felt sure you would not, and so I have
• 25:51
  Speaker 7: never cared to talk about it till now. But it's
• 25:54
  Speaker 7: a cursed nuisance to me in the long run. You understand? Here?
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: Have I got to go on day after day pretty
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: and it's a shame to treat her so too, poor girl?
• 26:04
  Speaker 7: But I cannot do anything else, for if she runs
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: away from me, then Rangnar will be off too.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: And you have not told your wife the rights of
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: this story? No, then why on earth don't you?
• 26:18
  Speaker 7: Because I seem to find a sort of a salutary
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: self torture in allowing Alena to do me an injustice.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: I I don't in the least understand what you mean.
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: Well, you see, it is like paying off a little
• 26:35
  Speaker 7: bit of a huge immeasurable debt to your wife. Yes,
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: and that always helps to relieve one's mind a little
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: one can breathe more freely for a while.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: You understand, no Goodness knows I don't understand at all.
• 26:52
  Speaker 7: Well, well, well then we won't talk any more about it.
• 26:56
  Speaker 7: I suppose you think you have drawn me out nicely, now, doctor.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Drawn you out again. I have not the faintest notion
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: of what you mean, mister soulness.
• 27:06
  Speaker 7: Oh, come out with it. I have seen it quite clearly.
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: You know what have you seen that you have been
• 27:13
  Speaker 7: quietly keeping an eye upon me? That I have?
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: And why in all the world should I do that?
• 27:20
  Speaker 7: Because you think that I well, devil? Take it you
• 27:23
  Speaker 7: think the same of me as Elena does.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: And what does she think about you?
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: She has begun to think that I am that I
• 27:31
  Speaker 7: am ill?
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: Ill?
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: She has never hinted at such a thing to me.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Why what can she think is the matter with you?
• 27:40
  Speaker 7: Alena has made up her mind that I am mad?
• 27:44
  Speaker 7: That is what she thinks. Why, my dear fellow, Yes,
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: on my soul, she does. I tell you it is so,
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: And she has got you to think the same. Now,
• 27:55
  Speaker 7: I can assure you, doctor, I see it in your
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: face as clearly as possible. You don't take me in
• 27:59
  Speaker 7: sae easily, I can tell you.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Never, mister soulness. Never has such a thought entered my mind?
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: Really, has it? Not? Oh?
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Never, nor your wife's mind either. I'm convinced I could
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: almost swear to that.
• 28:15
  Speaker 7: Well, I wouldn't advise you to, for in a certain sense,
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: you see, perhaps perhaps she is not so far wrong
• 28:23
  Speaker 7: in thinking something of the kind.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Oh come now, I really must say.
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: Well, well, my dear doctor, don't let us discuss this
• 28:31
  Speaker 7: any further. We had better agree to differ. But look
• 28:34
  Speaker 7: here now, doctor, Well, since you don't believe that I
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: am ill and crazy and mad and so forth, what
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: then then I dare say? You fancy that I am
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: an extremely happy man?
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Is that mere fancy?
• 28:52
  Speaker 7: No? No, of course not. Heaven forbid only think to
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: be Soulness, the master builder, Holliverard's Soulness. What could be
• 29:00
  Speaker 7: more delightful?
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, I must say. It seems to me you have
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: had the luck on your side to an astounding degree, So.
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: I have I can't complain on that score.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: First of all, that grim old Robber's castle is burnt
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: down for you, and that was certainly a great piece
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: of luck.
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: It was the home of Elena's family. Remember that.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, it must have been a great grief to her.
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: She has not got over it to this day, not
• 29:28
  Speaker 7: in all these twelve or thirteen years.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: But you yourself, you rose upon the ruins. You began
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: as a poor boy from a country village, and now
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: you are at the head of your profession.
• 29:42
  Speaker 7: Ah.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Yes, mister soulness, you have undoubtedly had the luck on
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: your side.
• 29:46
  Speaker 7: Yes, but that is just what makes me so horribly afraid.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: Afraid because you have had the luck on your side.
• 29:54
  Speaker 7: It terrifies me. Terrifies me every hour of the day.
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: For sooner or later the luck must turn, you see,
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: old nonsense, What should make the luck to the younger generation?
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Pot, a younger generation. You're not laid on the shelf yet,
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: I should hope. Oh no, your position here is probably
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: firmer now than it has ever been.
• 30:18
  Speaker 7: The luck will turn, I know it. I feel the
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: day approaching. Some one or other will take it into
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: his head to say, give me a chance, and then
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: all the rest will come clamoring after him and shake
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: their fists at me and shout, make room, make room, yes,
• 30:35
  Speaker 7: just you see, doctor. Presently the younger generation will come
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: knocking at my door.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Well, and what if they do?
• 30:43
  Speaker 7: What if they do, then there's an end of Halvard's soleness.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: There is a knock at the door on the left.
• 30:50
  Speaker 7: What's that? Did you not hear something?
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Some one is knocking at the door.
• 30:55
  Speaker 7: Come in.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Hilda van Gell enters by the hall door. She is
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of middle height, supple and delicately built, somewhat sunburnt, dressed
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: in a tourist costume, with a skirt caught up for walking,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a sailor's collar open at the throat, and a small
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: sailor hat on her head, knapsack on back, plaid in
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: strap and alpinstock. Hilda goes straight up to solness, her
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: eyes sparkling with happiness.
• 31:27
  Speaker 7: Good evening, Good evening.
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: I almost believe you don't recognize me.
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: No, I must admit that just for the moment.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: But I recognize you, my dear young lady.
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: Oh is it you that?
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: Of course it is. We met at one of the
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: mountain stations this summer. What became of the other ladies.
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: Oh, they went westward.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: They didn't much like all the fun we used to
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: have in the evenings.
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: No, I believe they didn't.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: And I'm afraid it can't be denied that you flirted
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: a little.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: Willis Well, that was better fun than to sit there
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: knitting stockings with all those old women.
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: There.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: I entirely agree with you.
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: Have you come to town this evening?
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: Yes, I have just arrived quite alone, miss Wangle? Oh, yes, Wanngle.
• 32:20
  Speaker 7: Is your name Vangle?
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: Yes, of course it is.
• 32:25
  Speaker 7: Then you must be a daughter of the district doctor
• 32:28
  Speaker 7: up at Lussannger.
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: Yes. Who else's daughter should I be?
• 32:32
  Speaker 7: Oh? Then I suppose we met up there that summer
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: when I was building a tower on the old church.
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: Yes, of course it was then we met.
• 32:41
  Speaker 7: Well, that is a long time ago.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: It is exactly ten years.
• 32:46
  Speaker 7: You must have been a mere child, then I should.
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: Think, well I was twelve or thirteen.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Is this the first time you've ever been up to town,
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: miss Wangle?
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: Yes it is indeed, And you don't know anyone here,
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: nobody but you, and of course your wife, so you
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: know her too, only a little. We spent a few
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: days together at the sanatorium.
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: Ah, up there.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: She said I might come and pay her a visit
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: if ever I came up to town, Not that that
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: was necessary, odd that.
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: She should never have mentioned it.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Hilda puts her stick down by the stove, takes off
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the knapsack and lays it and the plaid on the sofa.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Doctor Herdall offers to help her. Soulna stands and gazes
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: at her.
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: Well, now I must ask you to let me stay
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: the night here.
• 33:37
  Speaker 7: I am sure there will be no difficulty about that,
• 33:40
  Speaker 7: for I have.
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: No other clothes than those I stand in except a
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: change of linen in my knapsack, and that has got
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: to go to the wash, for it's very dirty.
• 33:50
  Speaker 7: Oh, yes, that can be managed. Now, I'll just let
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: my wife know.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, I will go and see my patient.
• 33:56
  Speaker 7: Yes, do and come again later on, Oh that I will.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: You may be very certain so your prediction has come true,
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: mister Sulness. How so the younger generation did come knocking
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: at your door?
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: Yes, but in a very different way from what I meant.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Very different. Yes, that's undeniable.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: He goes out by the hall door. Soulness opens the
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: door on the right and speaks into the side room.
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: Elena, will you come in here please? Here is a
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: friend of yours, Miss Wangle.
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: Who do you say it is? Oh?
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: Is it you?
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: Miss Vangle?
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: Miss fangle has this moment arrived, and she would like
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: to stay the night here here with us.
• 34:39
  Speaker 6: Oh, yes, certainly, till.
• 34:41
  Speaker 7: She can get her things a little in order.
• 34:43
  Speaker 6: You know, I will do the best I can for you.
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: It's no more than my duty. I suppose your trunk
• 34:49
  Speaker 6: is coming on later.
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: I have no trunk.
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: Well, it will be all right, I dare say. In
• 34:55
  Speaker 6: the meantime, you must excuse my leaving you here with
• 34:58
  Speaker 6: my husband until I can get a room made a
• 35:00
  Speaker 6: little more comfortable for you.
• 35:02
  Speaker 7: Can we not give her one of the nurseries? They
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: are already as it is.
• 35:06
  Speaker 6: Oh yes, there we have room and to spare. Sit
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: down now and rest.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: A little Hilda, with her hands behind her back, strolls
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: about the room and looks at various objects. Soulness stands
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: in front beside the table, also with his hands behind
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: his back, and follows her with his eyes.
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: Have you several nurseries?
• 35:30
  Speaker 7: There are three nurseries in the house.
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: That's a lot that I suppose you have a great
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: many children.
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: No, we have no child, But now you can be
• 35:40
  Speaker 7: the child here for the time being.
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: For tonight. Yes, I shall not cry. I mean to
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: sleep as sound as a stone.
• 35:49
  Speaker 7: Yes, you must be very tired, I should think.
• 35:52
  Speaker 4: Oh no, But all the same, it's so delicious to
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: lie and dream.
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: Do you dream much of nights?
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: Yes, almost always.
• 36:03
  Speaker 7: What do you dream about most?
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: I shan't tell you tonight another time perhaps.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: She again strolls about the room, stops at the desk,
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: and turns over the books and papers a little.
• 36:17
  Speaker 7: Are you searching for anything?
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: No, I'm merely looking at all these things. Perhaps I mustn't.
• 36:24
  Speaker 7: No, by all means, is it.
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: You that writes in this great ledger?
• 36:29
  Speaker 7: No, it's my bookkeeper.
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: Is it a woman, yes, one you employ here in
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: your office.
• 36:37
  Speaker 7: Yes?
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: Is she married?
• 36:39
  Speaker 7: No? She is single? Oh indeed, but I believe she
• 36:43
  Speaker 7: is soon going to be married.
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: That's a good thing for her, but not.
• 36:48
  Speaker 7: Such a good thing for me, For then I shall
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: have nobody to help me.
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: Can't you get hold of someone else who will do
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: just as well?
• 36:55
  Speaker 7: Perhaps you would stay here and write in the ledger?
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I dare say, no, thank you, nothing of
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: that sort for me.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: She again strolls across the room and sits down on
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: the rocking chair. Soulness too goes to the table, for there.
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: Must surely be plenty of other things to be done here,
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: don't you think so too?
• 37:21
  Speaker 7: Of course? First of all, I suppose you want to
• 37:24
  Speaker 7: make a round of the shops and get yourself up
• 37:26
  Speaker 7: in the height of fashion.
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: No, I think I shall let that alone.
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: Indeed, for you must know.
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: I have run through all.
• 37:35
  Speaker 7: My money, neither trunk nor money then.
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: Neither one nor the other. But never mind, it doesn't matter.
• 37:44
  Speaker 7: Now come now, I like you for that, only for that,
• 37:49
  Speaker 7: for that, among other things.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Sits in the armchair.
• 37:53
  Speaker 7: Is your father alive still?
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: Yes, father's alive.
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: Perhaps you are thinking of studying here?
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: No, that hadn't occurred to me.
• 38:03
  Speaker 7: But I suppose you will be staying for some time.
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: That must depend upon circumstances.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: She sits awhile, rocking herself and looking at him, half seriously,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: half with a suppressed smile. Then she takes off her
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: hat and puts it on the table in front of her.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: Mister soulness, well, have you a very bad memory?
• 38:28
  Speaker 7: A bad memory? No, not that I am aware of.
• 38:32
  Speaker 4: Then have you nothing to say to me about what
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: happened up there? A?
• 38:36
  Speaker 7: It loosen her? Why it was nothing much to talk about?
• 38:39
  Speaker 7: It seems to me?
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: How can you sit there and say such things.
• 38:44
  Speaker 7: Well, then you talk to me about it.
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: When the tower was finished, we had grand doings in
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: the town.
• 38:51
  Speaker 7: Yes, I shall not easily forget that day.
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: Will you not. That comes well from you, comes well.
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: Music in the churchyard, and many, many hundreds of people,
• 39:05
  Speaker 4: we school girls were dressed in white, and we all
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: carried flags.
• 39:10
  Speaker 7: Ah, yes, those flags, I can tell you I remember them.
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: Then you climbed right up the scaffolding, straight to the
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: very top, and you had a great wreath with you,
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: and you hung that wreath right away up on the
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: weather vein.
• 39:26
  Speaker 7: I always did that in those days, and it is
• 39:28
  Speaker 7: an old custom.
• 39:29
  Speaker 4: It was so wonderfully thrilling to stand below and look
• 39:33
  Speaker 4: up at you. Fancy if he should fall over, he
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: the Master builder himself.
• 39:40
  Speaker 7: Yes, yes, yes, that might very well have happened too,
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: for one of those white frocked little devils. She went
• 39:46
  Speaker 7: on in such a way and screamed up at me.
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: So hurrah for Master Builder soulness.
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: Yes, and waved and flourished with her flag so that
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: I so that it almost made me giddy to look
• 39:59
  Speaker 7: at it.
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: That little devil that was I I am sure of that.
• 40:05
  Speaker 7: Now it must have been you.
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: Oh, it was so gloriously thrilling. I could not have
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: believed there was a builder in the whole world that
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: could build such a tremendously high tower, and then that
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: you yourself should stand at the very top of it,
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: as large as life, and that you should not be
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: the least bit dizzy. It was that above everything that
• 40:31
  Speaker 4: made one made one dizzy to think of.
• 40:34
  Speaker 7: How could you be so certain that I was not? No?
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: Indeed, oh no, I knew that instinctively, for if you
• 40:40
  Speaker 4: had been, you could never have stood up there and
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: sung sung?
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: Did I sing?
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: Yes? I should think you did.
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: I have never sung a note in my life.
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: Yes, indeed you sang. Then it sounded like harps in
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: the air.
• 40:57
  Speaker 7: This is very strange.
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: But then it was after that that the real thing.
• 41:06
  Speaker 7: Happened, the real thing.
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: Yes, I surely don't need to remind you of that.
• 41:14
  Speaker 7: Oh, yes, do remind me a little of that too.
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: Don't you remember that a great dinner was given in
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: your honor at the club?
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: Yes, to be sure, it must have been the same afternoon,
• 41:25
  Speaker 7: for I left the place the next morning.
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: And from the club you were invited to come round
• 41:31
  Speaker 4: to our house to supper.
• 41:33
  Speaker 7: Quite right, miss Vangle. It is wonderful how all these
• 41:36
  Speaker 7: trifles have impressed themselves on your mind.
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: Trifles. I like that. Perhaps it was a trifle too
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: that I was alone in the room when you came in.
• 41:48
  Speaker 7: Were you alone?
• 41:50
  Speaker 4: You didn't call me a little devil?
• 41:52
  Speaker 7: Then? No, I suppose I did not.
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: You said I was lovely in my white dress, and
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: that I looked like a little princess.
• 42:02
  Speaker 7: I have no doubt you did, Miss Vanga. And besides,
• 42:06
  Speaker 7: I was feeling so buoyant and free that day.
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: And then you said that when I grew up, I
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: should be your princess.
• 42:16
  Speaker 7: Dear, dear, Did I say that too?
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: Yes? You did? And when I asked how long I
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: should have to wait, you said that you would come
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: again in ten years like a troll and carry me
• 42:29
  Speaker 4: off to Spain or some such place. And you promised
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: you would buy me a kingdom there.
• 42:36
  Speaker 7: Yes, after a good dinner, one doesn't haggle about the hapns.
• 42:40
  Speaker 7: But did I really say all that?
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: Yes? And you told me too what the kingdom was
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: to be called?
• 42:49
  Speaker 7: Well, what was it?
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: It was to be called the Kingdom of Ourngia?
• 42:55
  Speaker 7: You said, Well, that was an appetizing name.
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: No I didn't like it a bit, for it seemed
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: as though you wanted to make a game of me.
• 43:04
  Speaker 7: I am sure that cannot have been my intention.
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: No, I should hope not considering what you did next.
• 43:13
  Speaker 7: What in the world did I do next?
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: Well, that's the finishing touch. If you have forgotten that too,
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: I should have thought no one could help remembering such
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: a thing as that.
• 43:25
  Speaker 7: Yes, yes, just give me a hint. And then perhaps, well.
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: You came and kissed me, mister Soulness. I did, Yes,
• 43:34
  Speaker 4: indeed you did. You took me in both your arms
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: and bent my head back and kissed me many times.
• 43:44
  Speaker 7: Now, really, my dear miss Vungle.
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: You surely cannot mean to deny it.
• 43:48
  Speaker 7: Yes, I do, I deny it altogether.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: Oh indeed, she turns and goes slowly up to the stove,
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: where she remains standing motionless, her face subverted from him,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: her hands behind her back. Soulness goes cautiously up behind her.
• 44:07
  Speaker 7: Miss Thunga.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: Hilda is silent and does not move.
• 44:11
  Speaker 7: Don't stand there like a statue. You must have dreamt
• 44:14
  Speaker 7: all this.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: Lays his hand on her arm.
• 44:18
  Speaker 7: Now just listen.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Hilda makes an impatient movement with her arm.
• 44:23
  Speaker 7: Or wait, a moment. There is something under all this,
• 44:28
  Speaker 7: you may depend I must have thought all that, I
• 44:33
  Speaker 7: must have wished it, have willed it, have longed to
• 44:37
  Speaker 7: do it. And then may not that be the explanation? Oh,
• 44:43
  Speaker 7: very well, deuce take it all. Then I did do it,
• 44:46
  Speaker 7: I suppose.
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: Then you admit it now, Yes, whatever you like. You
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: came and put your arms round me. Oh, yes, and
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: bent my head back.
• 44:56
  Speaker 7: Very far back and kissed me. Yes, I did many times,
• 45:01
  Speaker 7: as many as ever you like.
• 45:03
  Speaker 4: Well, you see I got it out of you at last.
• 45:08
  Speaker 7: Yes, just think of my forgetting such a thing as that.
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: Oh, you have kissed so many people in your time,
• 45:15
  Speaker 4: I suppose.
• 45:16
  Speaker 7: No, you mustn't think that of me.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: Hilda seats herself in the armchair. Soulnaz stands and leans
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: against the rocking chair, looks observantly at her Miss thung.
• 45:29
  Speaker 7: Yes, how was it? Now? What came of all this
• 45:33
  Speaker 7: between us two?
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: Why? Nothing more came of it? You know that quite well?
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: For then the other guests came in, and then, bah.
• 45:43
  Speaker 7: Quite so the others came in. To think of my
• 45:46
  Speaker 7: forgetting that too.
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: Oh, you haven't really forgotten anything, You were only a
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: little ashamed of it. All. I am sure one doesn't
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: forget things of that kind.
• 45:57
  Speaker 7: No one would suppose not.
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: Perhaps you have even forgotten what day it was?
• 46:03
  Speaker 7: What day? Yes?
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: On what day did you hang the wreath on the tower? Well,
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: tell me at once.
• 46:12
  Speaker 7: Hmm, I confess I have forgotten the particular day. I
• 46:16
  Speaker 7: only know it was ten years ago, sometime in the autumn.
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: It was ten years ago, on the nineteenth of September.
• 46:24
  Speaker 7: Yes, it must have been about that time. Fancy you're
• 46:27
  Speaker 7: remembering that too. But wait a moment. Yes, it's the
• 46:32
  Speaker 7: nineteenth of September today, Yes.
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: It is, and the ten years are gone. And you
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: didn't come as you had promised.
• 46:42
  Speaker 7: Me, promised you threatened. I suppose you mean.
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: I don't think there was any sort of threat in that.
• 46:49
  Speaker 7: Well, then a little bit of fun.
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: Was that all? You wanted? To make fun of me?
• 46:54
  Speaker 7: Well, or to have a little joke with you? Upon
• 46:57
  Speaker 7: my soul? I don't recollect. But it must have been
• 47:00
  Speaker 7: something of that kind, for you were a mere child then.
• 47:04
  Speaker 4: Oh perhaps I wasn't quite such a child either, not
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: such a mere chit as you imagine.
• 47:10
  Speaker 7: Did you really and seriously expect me to come again?
• 47:14
  Speaker 4: Yes, indeed I did. Expect that of you.
• 47:17
  Speaker 7: That I should come back to your home and take
• 47:20
  Speaker 7: you away with me just like a troll. Yes, and
• 47:24
  Speaker 7: make a princess of.
• 47:25
  Speaker 4: You, that's what you promised.
• 47:28
  Speaker 7: And give you a kingdom as well?
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: Why not? Of course it need not have been an actual,
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: every day sort of a kingdom.
• 47:37
  Speaker 7: But something else just as good.
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: Yes, at least as good. I thought. If you could
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: build the highest church towers in the world, you could
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: surely manage to raise a kingdom of one sort or
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: another as well.
• 47:52
  Speaker 7: I can't quite make you out.
• 47:54
  Speaker 4: Miss Van now, can you not?
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: To me?
• 47:58
  Speaker 4: It seems all so simple?
• 48:00
  Speaker 7: No, I can't make up my mind whether you mean
• 48:03
  Speaker 7: all you say here? Are simply having a joke with me?
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: Making fun of you? Perhaps I too.
• 48:09
  Speaker 7: Yes, exactly making fun have both of us? Is it
• 48:15
  Speaker 7: long since you've found out that I was married?
• 48:17
  Speaker 4: I have known it all along. Why do you ask
• 48:20
  Speaker 4: me that?
• 48:21
  Speaker 7: Oh? Well, it just occurred to me. What have you
• 48:24
  Speaker 7: come for?
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: I want my kingdom? The time is up?
• 48:30
  Speaker 7: What a girl? You are?
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: Out with? My kingdom? Mister soulness, the kingdom on the.
• 48:36
  Speaker 7: Table now, seriously speaking? What have you come for? What
• 48:41
  Speaker 7: do you really want to do here?
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: Oh, First of all, I want to go round and
• 48:47
  Speaker 4: look at all the things that.
• 48:49
  Speaker 7: You have built that will give you plenty of exercise.
• 48:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, I know you have built a tremendous lot.
• 48:56
  Speaker 7: I have indeed, especially of late years.
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: Many church among the rest immensely high ones.
• 49:03
  Speaker 7: No I build no more church towers now, nor churches either.
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: What do you build then?
• 49:09
  Speaker 7: Homes for human beings?
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: Couldn't you build a little, a little bit of a
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: church tower over those homes as well?
• 49:18
  Speaker 7: What do you mean by that?
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: I mean something that points points up into the free
• 49:24
  Speaker 4: air with the vein at a dizzy height.
• 49:27
  Speaker 7: Strange that you should say that, for that is just
• 49:31
  Speaker 7: what I am most anxious to do.
• 49:33
  Speaker 4: Well, why don't you do it? Then?
• 49:35
  Speaker 7: No, the people will not have.
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: It, fancy, they're not wanting it.
• 49:41
  Speaker 7: But now I am building a new home for myself.
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: Just opposite here for yourself.
• 49:46
  Speaker 7: Yes, it is almost finished. And on that there is
• 49:49
  Speaker 7: a tower, a.
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: High tower, yes, very high.
• 49:54
  Speaker 7: No doubt. People will say it is too high, too
• 49:56
  Speaker 7: high for a dwelling house.
• 49:58
  Speaker 4: I'll go out to look at that to our first
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: thing tomorrow morning.
• 50:03
  Speaker 7: Tell me, miss Vara, what is your name? Your Christian name?
• 50:07
  Speaker 4: I mean why Hilda, Of course Hilda. Indeed, don't you
• 50:14
  Speaker 4: remember that you called me Hilda yourself that day when
• 50:19
  Speaker 4: you misbehaved?
• 50:21
  Speaker 7: Did I really?
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: But then you said little Hilda, and I didn't like that.
• 50:27
  Speaker 7: Oh you didn't like that, miss Hilda.
• 50:30
  Speaker 4: No, not at such a time as that. But Princess Hilda,
• 50:36
  Speaker 4: that will sound very well, I.
• 50:38
  Speaker 7: Think very well. Indeed, Princess Hilda, of of what was
• 50:43
  Speaker 7: to be the name of the kingdom.
• 50:46
  Speaker 4: Pooh, I won't have anything to do with that stupid kingdom.
• 50:49
  Speaker 4: I have set my heart upon quite a different one.
• 50:54
  Speaker 7: Isn't it strange? The more I think of it now,
• 50:58
  Speaker 7: the more it seems to me as though I had
• 51:00
  Speaker 7: gone about all these years torturing myself with with what
• 51:08
  Speaker 7: with the effort to recover something, some experience which I
• 51:13
  Speaker 7: seem to have forgotten, But I never had the least
• 51:17
  Speaker 7: inkling of what it could be.
• 51:19
  Speaker 4: You should have tied a knot in your pocket handkerchief,
• 51:22
  Speaker 4: mister soulness.
• 51:23
  Speaker 7: In that case, I should simply have had to go
• 51:25
  Speaker 7: racking my brains to discover what the knot could mean.
• 51:28
  Speaker 4: Oh yes, I suppose there are trolls of that kind
• 51:32
  Speaker 4: in the world too.
• 51:33
  Speaker 7: What a good thing it is that you have come
• 51:35
  Speaker 7: to me.
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: Now, is it a good thing?
• 51:38
  Speaker 7: For I have been so lonely here, I have been
• 51:41
  Speaker 7: gazing so helplessly at it all. I must tell you
• 51:45
  Speaker 7: I have begun to be afraid of the younger generation.
• 51:49
  Speaker 4: Pooh, is the younger generation something to be afraid of?
• 51:53
  Speaker 7: It is indeed, And that is why I have locked
• 51:57
  Speaker 7: and barred myself in. I tell you the younger generation
• 52:01
  Speaker 7: will one day come and thunder at my door. They
• 52:04
  Speaker 7: will break in upon me.
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: Then I should say, you ought to go out and
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: open the door to the younger generation.
• 52:11
  Speaker 7: Open the door.
• 52:13
  Speaker 4: Yes, let them come in to you on friendly terms
• 52:17
  Speaker 4: as it were.
• 52:18
  Speaker 7: No, no, no, the younger generation. It means retribution. You see.
• 52:23
  Speaker 7: It comes as if under a new banner heralding the
• 52:26
  Speaker 7: turn of fortune.
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: Can I be of any use to you, mister soulness,
• 52:32
  Speaker 4: Yes you can.
• 52:33
  Speaker 7: Indeed, for you too come under a new banner. It
• 52:37
  Speaker 7: seems to me you marshaled against youth.
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: Doctor Herdall comes in by the hall door.
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: What you and miss wangle here? Still?
• 52:47
  Speaker 7: You have had no end of things to talk.
• 52:49
  Speaker 4: About, both old and new?
• 52:52
  Speaker 3: Have you?
• 52:53
  Speaker 4: Really? Oh? It has been the greatest fun for mister Soulness.
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: He has such a maraculous memory, all the least little
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: details he remembers instantly.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: Missus Solness enters by the door on the right.
• 53:09
  Speaker 6: Well, miss Vangle, your room is quite ready for you.
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: Now, oh, how kind you are to me.
• 53:16
  Speaker 6: The nursery, yes, the middle one. But first let us
• 53:20
  Speaker 6: go in to supper.
• 53:21
  Speaker 7: Hilda shall sleep in the nursery she shall Hilda. Yes,
• 53:26
  Speaker 7: Miss Vangle's name is Hilda. I knew her when she
• 53:28
  Speaker 7: was a child.
• 53:30
  Speaker 6: Did you really, Halbard? Well, shall we go?
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: She takes Doctor Herdall's arm and goes out with him
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: to the right. Hilda has meanwhile been collecting her traveling things.
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: Is it true what you said? Can I be of
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: use to you?
• 53:46
  Speaker 7: You are the very being I have needed most?
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: But then, great heavens, what then I have my kingdom?
• 53:57
  Speaker 7: Hilda?
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: Almost I was going to say.
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: She goes out to the right. Soulness follows her, and
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: of act first of the Master Builder by Henry Gibson,