Tjaelde. No, devil take me if I give up a fight like this with a senseless surrender!
Berent. How do you propose to end it, then?
Tjaelde. There is no issue to it that I have not turned over in my thoughts--thousands of times. _I_ know what I shall do! I won"t be a mark for the jeers of this wretched little town, nor triumphed over by those who have envied me all round the countryside!
Berent. What will you do, then?
Tjaelde. You shall see! (Speaking more and more excitedly.) You won"t help me under any conditions?
Berent. No.
Tjaelde. You insist that I shall surrender my estate, here and now?
Berent. Yes.
Tjaelde. h.e.l.l and d.a.m.nation! You dare do that?
Berent. Yes.
Tjaelde (his agitation robbing him of his voice, which all at once sinks to a hoa.r.s.e whisper). You have never known what despair is!--You don"t know what an existence I have endured!-But if the decisive moment has come, and I have a man here in my office who _ought_ to save me but will not, then that man shall share what is in store for me.
Berent (leaning back in his chair). This is beginning to be impressive.
Tjaelde. No more jesting; you might regret it! (Goes to all the doors and locks them with a key which he takes out of his pocket; then unlocks his desk, and takes a revolver out of it.) How long do you suppose I have had this in here?
Berent. Since you bought it, I suppose.
Tjaelde. And why do you suppose I bought it?--Do you suppose that after I have been master of this town and the biggest man in the district, I would endure the disgrace of bankruptcy?
Berent. You have been enduring it for a long time.
Tjaelde. It is in your power now either to ruin me or to wave me. You have behaved in such a way that you deserve no mercy--and you shall have none! Report to the banks that they may give me the use of 14,000 for a year--I need no more than that--and I will save the situation for good and all. Think seriously, now! Remember my family, remember how long my firm has been established, remember the numbers that would be ruined if I were! And do not forget to think of your own family! Because, if you _don"t_ agree to what I ask, neither of us shall leave this room alive!
Berent (pointing to the revolver). Is it loaded?
Tjaelde (putting his finger on the trigger). You will find that out in good time. You must answer me now!
Berent. I have a suggestion to make. Shoot yourself first and me afterwards.
Tjaelde (going up to him and holding the revolver to his head). I will soon quiet your pretty wit.
Berent (getting up, and taking out of his pocket a paper which he unfolds). This is a formal surrender of your estate to the Receiver in Bankruptcy. If you sign it, you will be doing your duty to your creditors, to your family, and to yourself. Shooting yourself and me would only be adding an acted lie to all your others. Put away your revolver and take up your pen!
Tjaelde. Never! I had resolved on this long ago. But you shall keep me company, now!
Berent. Do what you please. But you cannot threaten me into a falsehood.
Tjaelde (who has lowered the revolver, takes a step back, raises the revolver and aims at BERENT). Very well!
Berent (walking up to TJAELDE and looking him straight in the eyes, while the latter reluctantly lowers the revolver). Do you suppose I don"t know that a man who has for so long shivered with falsehood and terror in his inmost heart has lots of schemes but no courage? You _dare_ not do it!
Tjaelde (furiously). I will show you! (Steps back and raises the revolver again.)
Berent (following him). Shoot, and you will hear a report--that is what you are longing for, I suppose! Or, give up your plan of shooting, think of what you have done, confess, and afterwards hold your tongue!
Tjaelde. No; may the devil take both you and me--
Berent. And the horse?
Tjaelde. The horse?
Berent. I mean the magnificent charger on which you came galloping home from the sale of Moller"s estate. You had better let some one shoot you on horseback--on what was your last and greatest piece of business duplicity! (Goes nearer to him and speaks more quietly.) Or--strip yourself of the tissue of lies which enfolds you, and your bankruptcy will bring you more blessing than your riches have ever done. (TJAELDE lets the revolver drop out of his hand, and sinks into a chair in an outburst of tears. There is silence for a moment.) You have made an amazing fight of it for these last three years. I do not believe I know any one who could have done what you have done. But you have lost the fight this time. Do not shrink now from a final settlement and the pain that it must cost you. Nothing else will cleanse your soul for you.
Tjaelde (weeping unrestrainedly, with his face buried in his hands). Oh, oh!
Berent. You have blamed me for my method of proceeding in the matter.
My answer to that is that I forgive you for yours. (A pause.) Try now to look the situation in the face, and take it like a man.
Tjaelde (as before). Oh!
Berent. At the bottom of your heart you must be weary of it all; make an end of it all now!
Tjaelde (as before). Oh!
Berent (sitting down beside him, after a moment"s pause). Wouldn"t you like to feel your conscience clear again--to be able really to live with your wife and children? Because I am sure you have not done that for many a day.
Tjaelde (as before). Oh!
Berent. I have known many speculators in my time and have received many confessions. So I know what you have been robbed of for three years--never a good night"s rest, never a meal eaten with a light heart.
You have scarcely been conscious of what your children were doing or saying, except when accident brought you together. And your wife--
Tjaelde. My wife!
Berent. Yes, she has slaved hard enough to prepare these banquets that were to conceal the nakedness of the land. Indeed, she has been the hardest worked servant in your house.
Tjaelde. My patient, good wife!
Berent. I feel certain you would rather be the humblest labourer earning your daily bread than live through such suffering again.
Tjaelde. A thousand times rather!
Berent. Then can you hesitate to do what will give every man his due, and bring you back to truthfulness again? Take the paper and sign it!
Tjaelde (falling on his knees). Mercy, mercy! You do not know what you are asking me. My own children will curse me. I have just heard of a child doing that to her father! And my business friends, who will be ruined with me--numbers of them--think of their families! Oh! What is to become of my work-people? Do you know there are more than four hundred of them? Think of them and their families, robbed of their livelihood!--Be merciful! I cannot, I dare not, do it! Save me, help me!
It was horrible of me to try and threaten you; but now I implore you, for the sake of all those that deserve more than I, but to whom I shall devote the rest of my life in loyal work!
Berent. I cannot save you, least of all with money that belongs to others. What you ask me to do would be disloyalty to them.