Evje. Good gracious, is she? I will come up--I will come up!
John. I will help him up, ma"am! (Pretends to be doing so.)
Mrs. Evje. Is that you, John?
Evje (in a low voice). Will you be off!
John. Yes, it is me, ma"am. He is so unwell.
Mrs. Evje. Is he! Heavens, it is one of his attacks! Help him, John!
Evje (as before). Don"t you dare!
John (who has rung the bell loudly). I do hope you will moon be better, sir! (Calls up to the window.) I can leave him now, ma"am! (To EVJE, as he goes.) This has been a bit of luck, for me; but you shall have some more of it! (Disappears into the fog as EVJE goes into his house. The two Pa.s.sers-by, that were seen at the beginning of the scene, are now indistinctly seen returning along the street at the back.)
First Pa.s.ser-by. Well, the land of Fogs used to be thought by the ancients to lie in the north, where all confused ideas come from--
Second Pa.s.ser-by (who does not seem to be able to get a word in). But, listen to me for a moment-do you think it means--?
[Curtain]
ACT III
(SCENE.--A room in HALVDAN REJN"s house. He is lying, supported on pillows, on a sofa on the left-hand side of the room. There is a table in the background, and another near the sofa. A lamp is hanging from the ceiling, and another standing on the table at the back. HAAKON REJN, his dress proclaiming him to be a well-to-do yeoman farmer, is sitting on a chair by the sofa.)
Halvdan. So she couldn"t come?
Haakon. No; there are the youngsters, you know--she finds it difficult to get away.
Halvdan (after a moment"s silence). Remember to thank her for all her kindness to me. The happiest moments of my life have been those Sundays and evenings that she and you and I spent together at your house. (A pause.)
Haakon. She wanted very much to know how you were feeling--whether you, who have suffered so much, are at peace now.
Halvdan. At peace? A man who has to die with all his work unfinished, cannot easily root out all thoughts of that from his heart.
Haakon. You should try to lay in G.o.d"s hands all that you have striven for.
Halvdan. That is what I struggle daily to do. (A pause.)
Haakon. A sister of my wife"s, who was a widow and badly off, died leaving three young children. But she was glad to die. "Their Heavenly Father will help them better when I am out of the way," she said. "I took up too much room," she said; "I know I have often stood in their way." (A pause.)
Halvdan. You tell that just as your wife would; she told me that story once.
Haakon. I was to tell you from her that she believes you are to die in order that what you have worked for may come to its fullest fruit. She thinks that when you are gone, people will appreciate better what your aims were.
Halvdan. There is some comfort in the thought that I may be dying in order that what I have loved may live. I have already given up happiness-even honour-for it; I gladly give my life for it now. (A pause.)
Haakon. Do you bear ill-will to any of those who have opposed you so cruelly?
Halvdan. To no one.
Haakon. Not even to those whose doing it is that you are lying here?
Halvdan. No, to no one. (A pause.)
Haakon. Could you bear to read something hateful about yourself to-day?
Halvdan. I don"t know.
Haakon. Then you have not done with it all yet.
Halvdan. No, I know I have not. It is only sometimes that the busy world outside seems to me like a ship sailing idly before the wind. More often, I am back in the midst of it again--planning, hoping, praying! I am young, you know, and have had to suffer so much--there was so much I wanted to do. (Lifts a handkerchief to his forehead. HAAKON helps him to wipe his face with it. A pause.)
Haakon. But it must be a comfort to you, too, that Harald is taking up what you are laying down. There is good stuff in him.
Halvdan. Yes.
Haakon. And he never says more than is necessary. The country folk will understand him all the better for it.
Halvdan. I hope so. As soon as he comes into my room I feel as if the atmosphere were charged with electricity--I feel as if I _must_ have a part in what he is doing--and so I work, and tire myself out. Ah, it often seems very hard to have to die, and leave undone a great work that one has failed to accomplish!
Haakon. But you have made him what he is, you know--and many others.
Halvdan. I have started the fight, that is all. It is hard to have to desert at the beginning of it!--But G.o.d is good, and will understand; He will not be surprised at what my thoughts are full of, when I go to Him.
(A ring is heard at the bell.)
Haakon. I expect that is Harald.
Halvdan. No, he never rings. Besides, I expect he is taking a walk, to think over what he is going to say to-night.
Haakon. Yes, I suppose it will be a big meeting. (The HOUSEKEEPER comes in.)
The Housekeeper. Mr. Evje is here, sir, asking for Mr. Harald. I told him we were expecting him every moment. Shall I ask him to come in?
Halvdan. Yes, show him in. (HAAKON gets up, as EVJE is shown in.)
Evje (to HALVDAN). Good evening! (Sees HAAKON.) Ah, good evening! So you have come? That is splendid. Is your wife with you?
Haakon. No, she couldn"t leave the children.
Evje. I see. (To HALVDAN.) And how are you? About the same? Of course, yes.--Where is your brother?
Halvdan. He has his meeting to-night, you know.
Evje. His momentous meeting--I know! I am going to it myself!