ADOLF. Quite so--but all the rest? Nice?
THEKLA [_taps him caressingly on yhe cheek_]. Will he shut up? Otherwise I"ll kiss him.
[_She goes behind him; Adolf defending himself._]
ADOLF. Look out, look out, anybody might come.
THEKLA [_nestling close to him_]. What do I care! I"m surely allowed to kiss my own husband. That"s only my legal right.
ADOLF. Quite so; but do you know the people here in the hotel take the view that we"re not married because we kiss each other so much, and our occasional quarreling makes them all the more c.o.c.ksure about it, because lovers usually carry on like that.
THEKLA. But need there be any quarrels? Can"t he always be as sweet and good as he is at present. Let him tell me. Wouldn"t he like it himself?
Wouldn"t he like us to be happy?
ADOLF. I should like it, but--
THEKLA [_with a step to the right_]. Who put it into his head not to paint any more?
ADOLF. You"re always scenting somebody behind me and my thoughts. You"re jealous.
THEKLA. I certainly am. I was always afraid some one might estrange you from me.
ADOLF. You"re afraid of that, you say, though you know very well that there isn"t a woman living who can supplant you--that I can"t live without you.
THEKLA. I wasn"t frightened the least bit of females. It was your friends I was afraid of: they put all kinds of ideas into your head.
ADOLF [_probing_]. So you were afraid? What were you afraid of?
THEKLA. Some one has been here. Who was it?
ADOLF. Can"t you stand my looking at you?
THEKLA. Not in that way. You aren"t accustomed to look at me like that.
ADOLF. How am I looking at you then?
THEKLA. You are spying underneath your eyelids.
ADOLF. Right through. Yes, I want to know what it"s like inside.
THEKLA. I don"t mind. As you like. I"ve nothing to hide, but--your very manner of speaking has changed--you employ expressions. [_Probing._] You philosophize. Eh? [_She goes toward him in a menacing manner._] Who has been here?
ADOLF. My doctor--n.o.body else.
THEKLA. Your doctor! What doctor?
ADOLF. The doctor from Stromastad.
THEKLA. What"s his name?
ADOLF. Sjoberg.
THEKLA. What did he say?
ADOLF. Well--he said, among other things--that I"m pretty near getting epilepsy.
THEKLA [_with a step to the right_]. Among other things! What else did he say?
ADOLF. Oh, something extremely unpleasant.
THEKLA. Let me hear it.
ADOLF. He forbade us to live together as man and wife for some time.
THEKLA. There you are. I thought as much. They want to separate us. I"ve already noticed it for some time.
[_She goes round the circular table toward the right._]
ADOLF. There was nothing for you to notice. There was never the slightest incident of that description.
THEKLA. What do you mean?
ADOLF. How could it have been possible for you to have seen something which wasn"t there if your fear hadn"t heated your imagination to so violent a pitch that you saw what never existed? As a matter of fact, what were you afraid of? That I might borrow another"s eye so as to see you as you really were, not as you appeared to me?
THEKLA. Keep your imagination in check, Adolf. Imagination is the beast in the human soul.
ADOLF. Where did you get this wisdom from? From the pure youths on the steamer, eh?
THEKLA [_without losing her self-possession_]. Certainly--even youth can teach one a great deal.
ADOLF. You seem for once in a way, to be awfully keen on youth?
THEKLA [_standing by the door in the center_]. I have always been so, and that"s how it came about that I loved you. Any objection?
ADOLF. Not at all. But I should very much prefer to be the only one.
THEKLA [_coming forward on his right, and joking as though speaking to a child_]. Let the little brother look here. I"ve got such a large heart that there is room in it for a great many, not only for him.
ADOLF. But little brother doesn"t want to know anything about the other brothers.
THEKLA. Won"t he just come here and let himself be teased by his little woman, because he"s jealous--no, envious is the right word.
[_Two knocks with a chair are heard from the room on the right._]
ADOLF. No, I don"t want to fool about, I want to speak seriously.
THEKLA [_as though speaking to a child_]. Good Lord! he wants to speak seriously. Upon my word! Has the man become serious for once in his life? [_Comes on his left, takes hold of his head and kisses him._]
Won"t he laugh now a little?