Three Comedies by Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson

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Leonarda. No.

Aagot. That the woman who had fostered--that was the word he
used--such a solemn word, but then he is studying for the church
--well, that the woman who had fostered such a girl--he meant me,
you know--I thought of all my faults, but he will get to know
them soon enough--

Leonarda. Well? That the woman who had fostered such a girl as
you--

Aagot. --as me, could not have her equal anywhere!

Leonarda. You must have been praising me up nicely?

Aagot. On the contrary. It was afterwards when he said he would
come here first, before me--it was his duty, he said, to stand
the first shock. "For heaven's sake don't," I said; "you don't
know her, she will crush you!"

Leonarda. Oh, Aagot!

Aagot. It was then that he said, "No, the woman who has fostered
such a girl," etcetera, etcetera. Ah, now I see you have been
horrid to him.

Leonarda. I had been worried all the morning--and I
misunderstood--

Aagot. You shall have no more worries after this. Because people
are so kind, you know, and you are going to move about among
them again. You, who are so good yourself--

Leonarda. No, that is just what I am not.

Aagot. You? You are only so very difficult to understand, aunt!--
Oh, what is it, dear?

Leonarda. I am unhappy, Aagot!

Aagot. Why, aunt? About me?

Leonarda. You are the sunshine of my life; you have brought light
and warmth and gentleness into it--but it is just because of
that--

Aagot. Because of that? Aunt, I don't undcrstand you.

Leonarda. I am clumsy, I am hard, I am suspicious--wicked. I am a
savage, with no more self-restraint than I ever had. What sort of
a figure must I cut in his eyes--and in yours? Tell me! Am I not
a clumsy, ugly--

Aagot. You are the sweetest woman in the whole work! It is
only your indomitable strength and courage and youthfulness--

Leonarda. No, no--tell me the truth! I deserve it! Because, you
know, it has been for your sake that for eight years I have only
associated with work-people. All that I have will be yours. So
have some respect for me, Aagot--tell me the truth! Am I not--
what shall I say? Tell me what I am!

Aagot. Adorable!

Leonarda. No, no! I have never realised as strongly as I do now
how I have buried myself all these eight years. All the books I
have read about the great movements going on in the world outside
have not really enlightened me. All that I have read and thought
fades away before the first gleam of life that reaches me from
the real world of men and women. I see new beauty merely in your
new clothes, your fashionable hat--the colours you are wearing--
the way they are blended. They mean something that I know nothing
of. You bring a fragrance in with you--a breath of freshness; you
are so dainty and full of life; whereas everything here has
become so old, so heavy, so disjointed--and my life most of all.

Aagot. Well, I must tell you what he said, since you won't
believe what I say.

Leonarda. But he knew nothing about me?

Aagot. No--it only indirectly referred to you. He said he had
never wanted so much to get to know any one, as he wanted to
get to know you, because seeing much of me had made him discover
you--that was the very expression he used! And it was an
extraordinary chance that--

Leonarda. Stop! I can't bear to think of it!--To think it should
be the very man whom we--we--

Aagot. Hated so!--yes, isn't it extraordinary?

Leonarda. The very first time you have been away from me!

Aagot. Yes!

Leonarda. And you come back in a halo of reconciliation and
affection for him!

Aagot. But who is responsible for that, I should like to know!
And you talk about your life here having made you clumsy and
ugly--you, who can manufacture a goddess of victory like me!

Leonarda. No, I don't complain when I see you and hear you--
when I have you with me! That is worth paying a price for. It
was selfish of me to think for a moment that the price was too
high. You are in the springtime of your life--while I--

Aagot. You? What is wrong with your life?

Leonarda. I am beginning to think my life is over.

Aagot. Yours? Your life over? Oh, you pain me by saying such a
thing.

Leonarda. I am very happy--very happy about all this! Believe
me that is so. But you know--

Aagot. I know how tremendously and incomprehensibly you have
changed!

Leonarda. Go, my child--and bring him back!

Aagot. How delicious that sounds! Bring him back! (Gets up, then
stops.) Thank you, my dear, sweet, darling aunt! (She runs out.
LEONARDA falls into a chair by the table and buries her head in
her hands. AAGOT'S voice is heard without: "Yes, come along!"
and HAGBART'S, answering: "Is it true?")

Aagot (coming in with HAGBART). Come along! (LEONARDA gets up,
dries her eyes, and meets them with a smile.) Aunt, here he is!

Hagbart. Mrs. Falk!

Leonarda. Forgive me!

Hagbart. What?--No, you must forgive me! I haven t been able to
ask you to! I--

Aagot. We can talk about that another time! Let aunt look at you
now!

Leonarda. You two won't disappoint one another. I can see that.

Aagot. It is wonderfully sweet of you, aunt!

Leonarda. Yes, love one another! Bring some beauty, some warmth,
some colour into this cold house!

Aagot. Oh, aunt--!

Leonarda. Have you kissed her yet? (AAGOT moves a little away
from HAGBART.) Go on! (They embrace.)

Aagot (running from him to LEONARDA). But, dearest aunt, are you
crying?

Leonarda. Don't bother about me!--Have you told your uncle, the
bishop, about it?

Hagbart. Not yet.

Leonarda. You haven't?--Well, you have the worst of it before you
yet, I am afraid.

Hagbart. No; now that I have got as far as this, nothing shall
stand in my way!

Aagot. Do you hear that, aunt?

[Curtain.]

ACT II

(SCENE.--A room in the BISHOP's house, some weeks later. A door at
the back of the room leads to another large room. Another door in
the right-hand wall; windows in the left. Well forward, by one of
the windows, a large easy-chair. Farther back, a writing-desk and
chair. On the right, near the door, a couch, and chairs ranged
along the wall. Chairs also alongside the door at the back. The
Bishop is sitting on the couch, talking to HAGBART.)

Bishop. My dear Hagbart, you keep on telling me that you have
acted up to your convictions. Very well, do you want to forbid
my acting up to mine?

Hagbart. You know that all I ask, uncle, is that you will see her
and talk to her first.

Bishop. But if that is exactly what I don't wish to do? You have
made things difficult for us, you know, by choosing a wife out
of your own class--although at the same time we have grown
fonder of her every day, and are ready to do anything for _her_.
But farther than that we cannot go. Do you want to read my
letter?

Hagbart. No.

Bishop. I think you should. It is quite a polite letter.

Hagbart. I know you can put things politely enough. But it is the
fact, uncle--the fact of your doing it!

Bishop. Yes--I cannot alter that.

Hagbart. Could you not at all events postpone sending the
letter?

Bishop. It is sent.

Hagbart. Sent?

Bishop. This morning. Yes. So there is nothing more to be done.

Hagbart. Uncle, you are cruel!

Bishop. How can you say that, Hagbart? I have acquiesced in your
giving up your clerical career--and Heaven alone knows what a
grief that is to me. (Gets up.) But I will not acquiesce in your
bringing into my house a woman who does not even bear her
husband's name. Do we as much as know who her husband was? She
was both married and divorced abroad. And we don't know anything
more about her life since then; it is scarcely likely it has been
blameless. Since she came here she has never once been to church.
She has led a most eccentric life, and lately has been allowing a
man of very evil reputation to visit her.

Hagbart. General Rosen?

Bishop. Yes, General Rosen. He is next door to a drunkard. And he
is a dissolute fellow in other ways, too.

Hagbart. He goes everywhere, all the same. He even comes here.

Bishop. Well, you see, he distinguished himself on military
service; he has many sociable qualities, and he is well
connected. It is the way of the world.

Hagbart. But Mrs. Falk is not to be received?

Bishop. She is a woman.

Hagbart. How long will this sort of thing be endured?

Bishop. Come, come--are you getting those ideas into your head
too? You seem to have imbibed a lot of new doctrines lately!

Hagbart. You should have seen her and talked to her once at
least, before making up your mind.

Bishop. I will tell you something in confidence, Hagbart. Justice
Röst, who lives out there in the country, has often seen General
Rosen coming away from her house at most unseemly hours. I will
have nothing to do with women of that sort.

Hagbart. What about men of that sort?

Bishop. Well, as I said, that is quite another matter.

Hagbart. Quite so.--Mrs. Falk takes compassion on the General;
she interests herself in him. That is all.

Bishop. Did she know him previously, then?

Hagbart. Very likely.

Bishop. Then she has her own private reasons for acting as she
does.

Hagbart. Shall I tell you what it is? She has a kinder heart than
any of us, and can make a sacrifice more willingly.

Bishop. So you know that?

Hagbart. Yes. Hers is a finer nature than any of ours; it is more
completely developed, intellectually and morally.

Bishop. I am listening to you with the profoundest amazement!

Hagbart. Oh, don't misunderstand me! She has her faults.

Bishop. Really, you admit that!--I want to beg something of you
earnestly, Hagbart. Go away for a little while.

Hagbart. Go away!

Bishop. Yes, to your uncle's, for instance. Only for a week or a
fortnight. You need to clear your thoughts, badly--about all
sorts of things. Your brain is in a whirl.

Hagbart. That is true; but--

Bishop. Speak out!

Hagbart. My brain has been in a whirl much longer than you have
had any idea of. It has been so ever since that day in winter
when I did Mrs. Falk such a horrible injustice.

Bishop. Not exactly an injustice, but--

Hagbart. Yes, an injustice! It was a turning point in my life. To
think that I should have given way to such a fanatical outburst!
It ended in my being terrified at myself--well, I won't bore you
with the whole story of my long fight with myself. You saw
nothing of it, because I was not here. But at last, when I got
ill and had to go away and take the waters, and then happened
to see Aagot--the effect on me was more than anything I could
have imagined. I seemed to see the truth; mankind seemed
different, and I seemed to hear the voice of life itself at last.
You cannot imagine the upheaval it caused in me. It must be that
she had something within her that I lacked, and had always
lacked! It was her wonderful naturalness; everything she did was
done with more charm and gaiety than I found in any one else, and
she was quite unconscious of it herself. I used to ask myself
what was the reason of it--how it could be that it had been her
lot to grow up so free and wholesome. I realised that it was
because I had been oblivious to what I lacked myself, that I had
been so fanatically severe upon others. I knew it is humiliating
to confess it, but it is true. I have always been blundering and
impetuous.--But what was I going to say?

Bishop. You were going to speak about Mrs. Falk, I presume.

Hagbart. Yes!--My dear uncle, don't take it amiss. But all this
time I have never been able to keep away from her.

Bishop. Then it is she you have been talking to?

Hagbart. Of course!--and of course, that is to say, to Aagot too.
You propose my going away. I cannot! If I could multiply myself
by two, or if I could double the length of the days, I should
never have enough of being with her! No, I have seen daylight
now. On no account can I go away.

Bishop. And you call that seeing daylight! Poor boy!

Hagbart. I cannot discuss it with you. You would no more
understand than you did that day when you took away those books
of grandmother's from me and put them in the lumber-room.

Bishop. Oh, you are bringing that up again? Well, you are at
liberty to do as you please. You shall not have the right to say
I have exercised any compulsion.

Hagbart. No, uncle, you are very good--to me.

Bishop. But there is a new fact to be taken into consideration. I
have noticed it for some days.

Hagbart. What do you mean?

Bishop. In all this conversation we have just had, you have only
mentioned Aagot's name twice, at most.

Hagbart. But we were not talking about Aagot.

Bishop. Are you not in love with her any longer?

Hagbart. Not in love with Aagot? (Laughs.) Can you ask that? Do
you mean to say--?

Bishop. Yes, I mean to say--

Hagbart (laughing again). No, that is quite a misunderstanding on
your part, uncle.

Bishop. Well, I say it again: go away for a week or a fortnight,
Hagbart! Consider the situation from a distance--both your own
position and that of others!

Hagbart. It is impossible, absolutely impossible, uncle. It would
be just as useful to say to me: "Lie down and go to sleep for a
week or a fortnight, Hagbart; it will do you good"! No. All my
faculties are awake at last--yes, at last--so much so, that
sometimes I can scarcely control myself.

Bishop. That is the very reason.

Hagbart. The very reason why I must go straight ahead, for once
in my life! No, I must stay here now. --Well, good morning,
uncle! I must go out for a turn.

Bishop. Go to call on Mrs. Falk, you mean.

Hagbart (laughing). Unfortunately I haven't the face to do that
till this afternoon; I was there the whole day yesterday. But our
conversation has set all my thoughts agog again, and when I have
no means of appeasing them I have to go out and walk. Thank
you, uncle, for being so indulgent to me!

Bishop. Then you don't wish to read my letter?

Hagbart. Ah, that is true--the letter! That upsets the whole
thing again. I don't know how I came to forget that.

Bishop. You see for yourself how confused and distracted you
are. You need to pull yourself together. Go away for a little!

Hagbart. It is impossible!--Good-bye, uncle!

Bishop. Here is grandmother!

[Enter the GRANDMOTHER and CORNELIA.]

Hagbart. Good morning, grandmother! Have you slept well?

Grandmother (coming forward on CORNELIA's arm). Excellently!

Cornelia. She slept well into the morning.

Bishop. I am delighted, grandmother. (Takes her other arm.)

Grandmother. You needn't shout so loud. It is a fine day to-day
and I can hear very well. (To HAGBART.) You didn't come in to see
me last night.

Hagbart. I came in too late, grandmother.

Grandmother. I tell you, you needn't talk so loud.

Cornelia. She always wants to make out that she can hear.

Grandmother (as they settle her in the big chair by the window).
This is a nice seat--

Bishop. And I am always delighted to see you sitting there.

Grandmother. The window--and the mirror over there.

Cornelia. Yes, it enables you to see everything.

Grandmother. How you do shout, all you good people!

Bishop. I must go and change my things, if you will excuse me.
(Goes out to the right.)

Cornelia. Do you want anything more?

Grandmother. No, thank you. (CORNELIA goes out at the back.)

Hagbart. Dear, good grandmother! You are the only one here
who understands me!

Grandmother (trying to look round the room). Are we alone?

Hagbart. Yes.

Grandmother. Has your uncle called on Mrs. Falk?

Hagbart. No, worse luck; he has written her a letter.

Grandmother. I thought as much.

Hagbart. Isn't it shameful, grandmother! He won't see her once,
or talk to her, before judging her.

Grandmother. They are all alike, these--. Are we alone?

Hagbart. Yes, grandmother.

Grandmother. You must have patience, Hagbart! You used to be
patient.

Hagbart. Yes, grandmother.

Grandmother. I have seen so many generations--so many different
ways of behaving. In my day we were tolerant.

Hagbart. I enjoyed reading your books so much, grand mother!

Grandmother. Of course you did.--Are we alone?

Hagbart. Yes, grandmother.

Grandmother. I am quite in love with your fiancée, Hagbart. She
is like what girls were in my day.

Hagbart. Courageous, weren't they?

Grandmother. Yes, and independent. They seem quite different
nowadays.--Are we alone?

Hagbart. Yes.

Grandmother. You get married--and I will come and live with you
and her. Hush!

Hagbart. Do you mean it?

Grandmother. Hush! (Looks out of the window.) There is Justice
Röst coming, with his wife. Go and tell your uncle!

Hagbart. Yes.

Grandmother. I might have expected it. They came up from the
country yesterday.

Hagbart. Good-bye, then, grandmother!

Grandmother. Good-bye, my boy! (HAGBART goes out to the right.
The door at the back is opened. CORNELIA ushers in RÖST and
MRS. RÖST.)

Cornelia. Please walk in!

Mrs. Röst. Thank you! You must excuse us for calling so early.
We came up from the country yesterday, and my husband has to
go to the courts for a little while!

Röst. I have to go to the courts to-day. (The BISHOP conies in
from the right.)

Bishop. Welcome!

Röst and Mrs. Röst. Thank you!

Mrs. Röst. You must excuse our calling so early; but we came up
from the country yesterday, and my husband has to go to the
courts to-day.

Röst. I have to go to the courts for a little while.

Bishop. I know.

Mrs. Röst. And there is the old lady in her chair already!

Röst. Good morning, my dear madam!

Mrs. Röst. Good morning!--No, please don't get up!

Grandmother. Oh, I can get up still.

Röst. Ah, I wish I were as active as you!

Mrs. Röst. My husband was saying to Miss Cornelia only last
night--

Grandmother. You need not strain yourself so. I can hear
perfectly well. (The others exchange glances.)

Röst. I was saying to Miss Cornelia only last night--we met for a
few moments after the service--

Grandmother. I know, I know.

Röst. I said I had never known any one of over ninety have all
their faculties so remarkably clear--

Mrs. Röst. --so remarkably clear as yours! And such good health,
too! My husband has suffered a great deal from asthma lately.

Röst. I have suffered a great deal from asthma lately.

Mrs. Röst. And I from a heart trouble, which--

Grandmother. We did not know anything about such ailments in
my day.

Mrs. Röst. Isn't she sweet! She doesn't remember that people
were sometimes ill in her day.

Bishop. Lovely weather we are having!

Röst. Delightful weather! I cannot in the least understand how it
is that I--. (The BISHOP brings a chair forward for him.) Oh,
please don't trouble, my lord! Allow me.

Mrs. Röst. My husband must have caught cold. (RÖST sits down.)

Cornelia. It certainly was draughty in church last night.

Röst. But we sat in the corner farthest from the door.

Mrs. Röst. We sat in the corner farthest from the door. That was
why we were not able to bid your lordship good evening afterwards.

Bishop. There was such a crowd.

Röst, Mrs. Röst, and Cornelia. Such a crowd!

Mrs. Röst. These services must be a great help in your
lordship's labours.

Röst. Yes, every one says that.

Bishop. Yes, if only the result were something a little more
practical. We live in sad times.

All three (as before). Sad times!

Mrs. Röst. We only just heard yesterday and we met so many
friends that I was prevented from asking your sister about it--we
have only just heard--

Röst. And that is why we have come here to-day. We believe in
being straightforward!

Mrs. Röst. Straightforward! That is my husband's motto.

Bishop. Probably you mean about Hagbart's engagement?

Röst and Mrs. Röst. To Miss Falk?

Cornelia. Yes, it is quite true.

Mrs. Röst. Really?

Cornelia. My brother came to the conclusion that he had no right
to oppose it.

Röst. Quite so. It must have been a difficult matter for your
lordship to decide.

Bishop. I cannot deny that it was.

Mrs. Röst. How Mr. Tallhaug has changed!

Röst. Yes, it seems only the other day he--

Bishop. We must not be too severe on young people in that
respect nowadays, Mrs. Röst.

Röst. It is the spirit of the time!

Bishop. Besides, I must say that the young lady is by no means
displeasing to me.

Cornelia. My brother has a very good opinion of her--although he
finds her manner perhaps a little free, a little too impetuous.

Mrs. Röst. But her adoptive mother?

Röst. Yes, her adoptive mother!

Cornelia. My brother has decided not to call on her.

Röst and Mrs. Röst. Really!

Mrs. Röst. We are extremely glad to hear that!

Röst. It was what we wanted to know! Everybody we met yesterday
was anxious to know.

Mrs. Röst. Everybody! We were so concerned about it.

Cornelia. My brother has written to her, to make it quite clear
to her.

Röst. Naturally!

Mrs. Röst. We are very glad to hear it!

Grandmother (looking out of the window). There is a carriage
stopping at the door.

Cornelia. I thought I heard a carriage, too. (Gets up.)

Grandmother. There is a lady getting out of it.

Mrs. Röst. A lady?--Good heavens, surely it is not--? (Gets up.)

Röst. What do you say? (Gets up.)

Cornelia. She has a veil on.

Mrs. Röst. I really believe--! (To her husband.) You look, my
dear--you know her.

Röst. It is she; I recognise her coachman Hans.

Bishop (who has got up). But perhaps it is Miss Aagot?

Cornelia. No, it is not Miss Aagot.--She is in the house by this
time. What are we to do?

Mrs. Röst. Has she not had your lordship's letter?

Bishop. Yes, this morning.

Röst. And in spite of that--?

Bishop. Perhaps for that very reason. Ahem!--Cornelia, you
must go down and--

Cornelia. Not on any account! I refuse!

Mrs. Röst (to her husband). Come, dear! Be quick, let us get
away. (Looks for her parasol.) Where is my parasol?

Bishop (in a low voice). Won't you wait a little while Mr. Röst?

Röst. Oho!

Mrs. Röst. My parasol! I can't find my parasol.

Röst. Because you have got it in your hand, my love!

Mrs. Röst. So I have! You see how upset I am. Make haste--come
along! Can we get out this way?

Röst. Through the Bishop's bedroom!

Mrs. Röst. Oh!--But if you come with me, my dear!--Are we to meet
this woman? Why do you stand still? Surely you don't want to--?

Röst. Let us wait a little.

Mrs. Röst. Wait? So that you may talk to her? Oh, you men--you
are all alike!

Bishop. But, you know, some one must--. Cornelia!

Cornelia. Not for worlds! I am not going to stir an inch.

Grandmother. Gracchus!

Bishop. Yes, grandmother?

Mrs. Röst. Now the old lady is going to interfere. I thought as
much!

Grandmother. Courtesy is a duty that every one must recognise.

Bishop. You are quite right. (Goes towards the back of the room;
at the same time a knock is heard on the door). Come in! (The
door opens, and LEONARDA enters.)

Mrs. Röst. It is she!

Röst. Be quiet!

Mrs. Röst. But wouldn't you rather--?

Leonarda. Excuse me, am I speaking to the Bishop?

Bishop. Yes, madam. Whom have I the honour to--?

Leonarda. Mrs. Falk.

Bishop. Allow me to introduce my sister--and Mr. Justice Röst
and Mrs. Röst--and this is--

Leonarda. "Grandmamma" of whom I have heard, I think!

Bishop. Yes. Let me present Mrs. Falk to you, grandmother.

Grandmother (getting up). I am very glad to see you, ma'am.

Mrs. Röst and Cornelia. What does she say?

Grandmother. As the oldest of the family--which is the only
merit I possess--let me bid you welcome. (LEONARDA gives a start,
then kneels down and kisses her hand.)

Mrs. Röst. Good gracious!

Cornelia. Well!

Mrs. Röst. Let us go away!

Röst (in a low voice). Does your lordship wish--?

Bishop (in the same tone). No, thank you--I must go through with
it now.

Röst. Good morning, then!

Bishop. Many thanks for your visit and for being so frank with
me.

Mrs. Röst. That is always our way, your lordship. Good morning!

Cornelia (as they advance to take leave of her). I will see you
out.

Röst (to the GRANDMOTHER). I hope I shall always see you looking
as well, madam!

Mrs. Röst. Good-bye, madam! No, please don't disturb yourself.
You have over-exerted yourself just now you know.

Grandmother. The same to you.

Röst and Mrs. Röst. I beg your pardon?

Bishop. She thought you were wishing her good day--or something
of that sort.

Röst and Mrs. Röst. Oh, I see! (They laugh. They both
ceremoniously in silence to LEONARDA as they pass her; CORNELIA
and the BISHOP go with them to see them out, the BISHOP turning
at the door and coming back into the room.)

Bishop (to LEONARDA). Won't you sit down?

Leonarda. Your lordship sent me a letter to-day. (She pauses for
an answer, but without effect.) In it you give me to understand,
as politely as possible, that your family does not wish to have
any intercourse with me.

Bishop. I imagined, Mrs. Falk, that you had no such desire,
either previously or now.

Leonarda. What it rally means is that you want me to make over
my property to the two young people, and disappear.

Bishop. If you choose to interpret it in that way, Mrs. Falk.

Leonarda. I presume your nephew has told you that my means are
not such as to allow of my providing for one establishment here
and another for myself elsewhere.

Bishop. Quite so. But could you not sell your property?

Leonarda. And all three of us leave here, your lordship means?
Of course that would be possible; but the property is just now
becoming of some value, because of the projected railway--and,
besides, it has been so long in our family.

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