ASTA. But you haven"t even touched the book! And yet you can look so happy and contented! That is not what you generally do--I mean when your work is going badly.
ALLMERS. You are right there. You see, I have been such a fool hitherto.
All the best that is in you goes into thinking. What you put on paper is worth very little.
ASTA. [Exclaiming.] Worth very little!
RITA. [Laughing.] What an absurd thing to say, Alfred.
EYOLF. [Looks confidingly up at him.] Oh yes, Papa, what you write is worth a great deal!
ALLMERS. [Smiling and stroking his hair.] Well, well, since you say so.--But I can tell you, some one is coming after me who will do it better.
EYOLF. Who can that be? Oh, tell me!
ALLMERS. Only wait--you may be sure he will come, and let us hear of him.
EYOLF. And what will you do then?
ALLMERS. [Seriously.] Then I will go to the mountains again--
RITA. Fie, Alfred! For shame!
ALLMERS.--up to the peaks and the great waste places.
EYOLF. Papa, don"t you think I shall soon be well enough for you to take me with you?
ALLMERS. [With painful emotion.] Oh, yes, perhaps, my little boy.
EYOLF. It would be so splendid, you know, if I could climb the mountains, like you.
ASTA. [Changing the subject.] Why, how beautifully you are dressed to-day, Eyolf!
EYOLF. Yes, don"t you think so, Auntie?
ASTA. Yes, indeed. Is it in honour of Papa that you have got your new clothes on?
EYOLF. Yes, I asked Mama to let me. I wanted so to let Papa see me in them.
ALLMERS. [In a low voice, to RITA.] You shouldn"t have given him clothes like that.
RITA. [In a low voice.] Oh, he has teased me so long about them--he had set his heart on them. He gave me no peace.
EYOLF. And I forgot to tell you, Papa--Borgheim has bought me a new bow.
And he has taught me how to shoot with it too.
ALLMERS. Ah, there now--that"s just the sort of thing for you, Eyolf.
EYOLF. And next time he comes, I shall ask him to teach me to swim, too.
ALLMERS. To swim! Oh, what makes you want to learn swimming?
EYOLF. Well, you know, all the boys down at the beach can swim. I am the only one that can"t.
ALLMERS. [With emotion, taking him in his arms.] You shall learn whatever you like--everything you really want to.
EYOLF. Then do you know what I want most of all, Papa?
ALLMERS. No; tell me.
EYOLF. I want most of all to be a soldier.
ALLMERS. Oh, little Eyolf, there are many, many other things that are better than that.
EYOLF. Ah, but when I grow big, then I shall have to be a soldier. You know that, don"t you?
ALLMERS. [Clenching his hands together.] Well, well, well: we shall see--
ASTA. [Seating herself at the table on the left.] Eyolf! Come here to me, and I will tell you something.
EYOLF. [Goes up to her.] What is it, Auntie?
ASTA. What do you think, Eyolf--I have seen the Rat-Wife.
EYOLF. What! Seen the Rat-Wife! Oh, you"re only making a fool of me!
ASTA. No; it"s quite true. I saw her yesterday.
EYOLF. Where did you see her?
ASTA. I saw her on the road, outside the town.
ALLMERS. I saw her, too, somewhere up in the country.
RITA. [Who is sitting on the sofa.] Perhaps it will be out turn to see her next, Eyolf.
EYOLF. Auntie, isn"t it strange that she should be called the Rat-Wife?
ASTA. Oh, people just give her that name because she wanders round the country driving away all the rats.
ALLMERS. I have heard that her real name is Varg.
EYOLF. Varg! That means a wolf, doesn"t it?
ALLMERS. [Patting him on the head.] So you know that, do you?
EYOLF. [Cautiously.] Then perhaps it may be true, after all, that she is a were-wolf at night. Do you believe that, Papa?
ALLMERS. Oh, no; I don"t believe it. Now you ought to go and play a little in the garden.