Three Dramas by Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson

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Mrs. Tjaelde (taking off his hat and wiping his forehead). You are
very hot, dear. You have never looked so handsome as you do now!

Tjaelde. That's just as well, as you have so much time to admire
me now!

Mrs. Tjaelde. Now that I find getting about so difficult, you mean?
Ah, that is only my pretence, so as to get you to wheel me about!

Tjaelde (with a sigh). Ah, my dear, it is good of you to take it so
cheerfully. But that you should be the only one of us to bear such
hard traces of our misfortune--

Mrs. Tjaelde (interrupting him). Do you forget your own whitened
hair? That is a sign of it, too, but a beautiful one! And, as for
my being an invalid, I thank God every day for it! In the first
place I have almost no pain, and then it gives me the opportunity
to feel how good you are to me in every way.

Tjaelde. You enjoy your life, then?

Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, indeed I do--and just as I should wish to.

Tjaelde. Just to be spoiled, and yourself to spoil us?

Valborg (from the window). I have finished the accounts, father.

Tjaelde. Doesn't it come out at about what I said?

Valborg. Almost exactly. Shall I enter it in the ledger at once?

Tjaelde. Oho! You are glad then, as you seem in such it hurry?

Valborg. Certainly! Such a good stroke of business!

Tjaelde. And both you and Sannaes tried your best to dissuade
me from it!

Valborg. Such a pair of wiseacres!

Mrs. Tjaelde. Ah, your father is your master, my dear!

Tjaelde. Tjaelde. Oh, it is easy enough to captain a small army
that marches on, instead of a big one that is in retreat. (VALBORG
goes on with her work.)

Mrs. Tjaelde. And yet it seemed hard enough for us to give it up.

Tjaelde. Yes, yes--oh, yes. I can tell you, I was thinking of that
last night. If God had given me what I begged for then, what state
should we have been in now? I was thinking of that, too.

Mrs. Tjaelde. It is the fact of the estate being at last wound up
that has brought all these thoughts into your mind, dear?

Tjaelde. Yes.

Mrs. Tjaelde. Then I must confess that I, too, have scarcely been
able to think of anything else since yesterday, when Sannaes went
into town to settle it up. This a red-letter day! Signe is
wrestling with a little banquet for us; we shall see what an
artist she has become! Here she is!

Tjaelde. I think I will just go and look over Valborg's accounts.
(Goes to the window. SIGNE comes out of the house, wearing a
cook's apron and carrying a basin.)

Signe. Mother, you must taste my soup! (Offers her a spoonful.)

Mrs. Tjaelde. Clever girl! (Tastes the soup.) Perhaps it would
stand a little--. No, it is very good as it is. You are clever!

Signe. Am I not! Will Sannaes be back soon?

Mrs. Tjaelde. Your father says we may expect him any moment.

Tjaelde (at the window, to VALBORG). No, wait a moment. I will come
in. (Goes into the house, and is seen within the window beside
VALBORG.)

Mrs. Tjaelde. My little Signe, I want to ask you something?

Signe. Do you?

Mrs. Tjaelde. What was in the letter you had yesterday evening?

Signe. Aha, I might have guessed that was it! Nothing, mother.

Mrs. Tjaelde. Nothing that pained you, then?

Signe. I slept like a top all night--so you can judge for yourself.

Mrs. Tjaelde. I am so glad. But, you know, there seems to me
something a little forced in the gay way you say that?

Signe. Does there? Well, it was something that I shall always be
ashamed of; that is all.

Mrs. Tjaelde. I am thankful to hear it, for--

Signe (interrupting her). That must be Sannaes. I hear wheels. Yes,
here he is! He has come too soon; dinner won't be ready for half an
hour yet.

Mrs. Tjaelde. That doesn't matter.

Signe. Father, here is Sannaes!

Tjaelde (from within). Good! I will come out! (SIGNE goes into
the house as TJAELDE comes out. SANNAES comes in a moment later.)

Tjaelde and Mrs. Tjaelde. Welcome!

Sannaes. Thank you! (Lays down his dust-coat and driving gloves on
a chair, and comes forward.)

Tjaelde. Well?

Sannaes. Yes--your bankruptcy is discharged!

Mrs. Tjaelde. And the result was--?

Sannaes. Just about what we expected.

Tjaelde. And, I suppose, just about what Mr. Berent wrote?

Sannaes. Just about, except for one or two inconsiderable trifles.
You can see for yourself. (Gives him a bundle of papers.) The high
prices that have ruled of late, and good management, have altered
the whole situation.

Tjaelde (who has opened the papers and glanced at the totals). A
deficit of £12,000.

Sannaes. I made a declaration on your behalf, that you intended to
try and repay that sum, but that you should be at liberty to do it
in whatever way you found best. And so--

Tjaelde. And so--?

Sannaes. --I proferred on the spot rather more than half the amount
you still owed Jakobsen.

Mrs. Tjaelde. Not really? (TJAELDE takes out a pencil and begins
making calculations on the margins of the papers.)

Sannaes. There was general satisfaction--and they all sent you
their cordial congratulations.

Mrs. Tjaelde. So that, if all goes well--

Tjaelde. Yes, if things go as well with the business as they
promise to, Sannaes, in twelve or fourteen years I shall have paid
every one in full.

Mrs. Tjaelde. We haven't much longer than that left to live, dear!

Tjaelde. Then we shall die poor. And I shall not complain!

Mrs. Tjaelde. No, indeed! The honourable name you will leave to
your children will be well worth it.

Tjaelde. And they will inherit a sound business, which they can go
on with if they choose.

Mrs. Tjaelde. Did you hear that, Valborg?

Valborg (from the window). Every word! (SANNAES bows to her.) I
must go in and tell Signe! (Moves away from the window.)

Mrs. Tjaelde. What did Jakobsen say?--honest old Jakobsen?

Sannaes. He was very much affected, as you would expect. He will
certainly be coming out here to-day.

Tjaelde (looking up from the papers). And Mr. Berent?

Sannaes. He is coming hard on my heels. I was to give you his kind
regards and tell you so.

Tjaelde. Splendid! We owe him so much.

Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes, he has been a true friend to us. But, talking of
true friends, I have something particular to ask _you_, Sannaes.

Sannaes. Me, Mrs. Tjaelde?

Mrs. Tjaelde. The maid told me that yesterday, when you went into
town, you took the greater part of your belongings with you. Is
that so?

Sannaes. Yes, Mrs. Tjaelde.

Tjaelde. What does that mean? (To his wife.) You said nothing
about it to me, my dear.

Mrs. Tjaelde. Because I thought it might be a misunderstanding.
But now I must ask what was the meaning of it. Are you going away?

Sannaes (fingering a chair, in evident confusion). Yes, Mrs.
Tjaelde.

Tjaelde. Where to? You never said anything about it.

Sannaes. No; but I have always considered that I should have
finished my task here as soon as the estate was finally wound up.

Tjaelde and Mrs. Tjaelde. You mean to leave us?

Sannaes. Yes.

Tjaelde. But why?

Mrs. Tjaelde. Where do you mean to go?

Sannaes. To my relations in America. I can now, without doing you
any harm, withdraw my capital from the business by degrees and
transfer it abroad.

Tjaelde. And dissolve our partnership?

Sannaes. You know that at any rate you had decided now to resume
the old style of the firm's name.

Tjaelde. That is true; but, Sannaes, what does it all mean? What is
your reason?

Mrs. Tjaelde. Are you not happy here, where we are all so attached
to you?

Tjaelde. You have quite as good a prospect for the future here as
in America.

Mrs. Tjaelde. We held together in evil days; are we not to hold
together now that good days have come?

Sannaes. I owe you both so much.

Mrs. Tjaelde. Good heavens, it is we that owe you--

Tjaelde. --more than we can ever repay. (Reproachfully.) Sannaes!

(SIGNE comes in, having taken off her cooking apron.)

Signe. Congratulations! Congratulations! Father mother! (Kisses
them both.) Welcome, Sannaes!--But aren't you pleased?--now?
(A pause. VALBORG comes in.)

Valborg. What has happened?

Mrs. Tjaelde. Sannaes wants to leave us, my children (A pause.)

Signe. But, Sannaes--!

Tjaelde. Even if you want to go away, why have you never said a
single word to us about it before? (To the others.) Or has he
spoken to any of you? (MRS. TJAELDE shakes her head.)

Signe. No.

Sannaes. It was because--because--I wanted to be able to go as
soon as I had told you. Otherwise it would be too hard to go.

Tjaelde. You must have very serious grounds for it, then! Has
anything happened to you to--to make it necessary? (SANNAES
does not answer.)

Mrs. Tjaelde. And to make it impossible for you to trust any of
us?

Sannaes (shyly). I thought I had better keep it to myself. (A
pause.)

Tjaelde. That makes it still more painful for us--to think that you
could go about in our little home circle here, where you have
shared everything with us, carrying the secret of this intention
hidden in your heart.

Sannaes. Do not be hard on me! Believe me, if I could stay, I
would; and if I could tell you the reason, I would. (A pause.)

Signe (to her mother, in an undertone). Perhaps he wants to get
married?

Mrs. Tjaelde. Would his being here with us make any difference to
that? Any one that Sannaes loved would be dear to us.

Tjaelde (going up to SANNAES and putting an arm round his
shoulders). Tell one of us, then, if you cannot tell us all.
Is it nothing we can help you in?

Sannaes. No.

Tjaelde. But can you judge of that alone? One does not always
realise how much some one else's advice, on the experience of an
older man, may help one.

Sannaes. Unfortunately it is as I say.

Tjaelde. It must be something very painful, then?

Sannaes. Please--!

Tjaelde. Well, Sannaes, you have quite cast a cloud over to-day's
happiness for us. I shall miss you as I have never missed any one.

Mrs. Tjaelde. I cannot imagine the house without Sannaes!

Tjaelde (to his wife). Come, dear, shall we go in again?

Mrs. Tjaelde. Yes--it is not nice out here any longer. (TJAELDE
takes her into the house. SIGNE turns to VALBORG to go in with her,
but when she comes close to her she gives a little cry. VALBORG
takes her arm, and their eyes meet.)

Signe. Where have my wits been? (She goes into the house, looking
back at VALBORG and SANNAES. The latter is giving way to his
emotion, but as soon as his eyes fall on VALBORG he recovers
himself.)

Valborg (impetuously). Sannaes!

Sannaes. What are your orders, Miss Valborg?

Valborg (turning away from him, then turning back, but avoiding
his eyes). Do you really mean to leave us?

Sannaes. Yes, Miss Valborg. (A pause.)

Valborg. So we shall never stand back to back at our desks in the
same room again?

Sannaes. No, Miss Valborg.

Valborg. That is a pity; I had become so accustomed to it.

Sannaes. You will easily become accustomed to some one else's--
back.

Valborg. Ah, some one else is some one else.

Sannaes. You must excuse me, Miss Valborg; I don't feel in the
humour for jesting to-day. (Turn to go.)

Valborg (looking up at him). Is this to be our parting, then? (A
pause.)

Sannaes. I thought of taking leave of you all this afternoon.

Valborg (taking a step towards him). But ought not we two to settle
our accounts first?

Sannaes (coldly). No, Miss Valborg.

Valborg. Do you feel then that everything between us has been just
as it ought?

Sannaes. God knows I don't!

Valborg. But you think I am to blame?--Oh, well, it doesn't matter.

Sannaes. I am quite willing to take the blame. Put anyway, it is
all finished with now.

Valborg. But if we were to share the blame? You cannot be quite
indifferent as to which of us should take it?

Sannaes. I confess I am not. But, as I said, I do not wish for any
settling of accounts between us.

Valborg. But I wish it.

Sannaes. You will have plenty of time to settle it to your own
satisfaction.

Valborg. But, if I am in difficulties about it, I cannot do it
alone.

Sannaes. I do not think you will find any difficulty.

Valborg. But if _I_ think so?--if I feel myself deeply wronged?

Sannaes. I have told you that I am willing to take all the blame
upon myself.

Valborg. No, Sannaes--I don't want charity; I want to be
understood. I have a question to ask you.

Sannaes. As you will.

Valborg. How was it that we got on so well for the first year after
my father's failure-and even longer? Have you ever thought of that?

Sannaes. Yes. I think it was because we never talked about
anything but our work--about business.

Valborg. You were my instructor.

Sannaes. And when you no longer needed an instructor--

Valborg. --we hardly spoke to one another.

Sannaes (softly). No.

Valborg. Well, what could I say or do, when every sign of
friendship on my part went unnoticed?

Sannaes. Unnoticed? Oh no, Miss Valborg, I noticed them.

Valborg. That was my punishment, then!

Sannas. God forbid I should do you an injustice. You had a motive
which did you credit; you felt compassion for me, and so you could
not help acting as you did. But, Miss Valborg, I refuse your
compassion.

Valborg. And suppose it were gratitude?

Sannaes (softly). I dreaded that more than anything else! I had had
a warning.

Valborg. You must admit, Sannaes, that all this made you very
difficult to deal with!

Sannaes. I quite admit that. But, honestly, _you_ must admit that I
had good reason to mistrust an interest in me that sprang from
mere gratitude. Had circumstances been different, I should only
have bored you cruelly; I knew that quite well. And I had no
fancy for being an amusement for your idle hours.

Valborg. How you have mistaken me!--If you will think of it, surely
you must understand how different a girl, who has been accustomed
to travel and society, becomes when she has to stay at home and
work because it is her duty. She comes to judge men by an
altogether different standard, too. The men that she used to think
delightful are very likely to appear small in her eyes when it is a
question of the demands life makes on ability or courage or
self-sacrifice; while the men she used to laugh at are transformed
in her eyes into models of what God meant men to be, when she is
brought into close contact with them in her father's office.--Is
there anything so surprising in that? (A pause.)

Sannaes. Thank you, at all events, for saying that to me. It has
done me good. But you should have said it sooner.

Valborg (emphatically). How could I, when you misjudged everything
I did or said? No; it was impossible until mistakes and
misunderstandings had driven us so far apart that we could not
endure them any longer (Turns away.)

Sannaes. Perhaps you are right. I cannot at once recall all that
has happened. If I have been mistaken, I shall by degrees find the
knowledge of it a profound comfort.--You must excuse me, Miss
Valborg, I have a number of things to see to. (Turns to go.)

Valborg (anxiously). Sannaes, as you admit that you have judged me
unjustly, don't you think you ought at least to give me--some
satisfaction?

Sannaes. You may be certain, Miss Valborg, that when I am balancing
our account you shall not suffer any injustice. But I cannot do it
now. All I have to do now is to get ready to go.

Valborg. But you are not ready to go, Sannaes! You have not
finished your work here yet! There is what I just spoke of--and
something else that dates farther back than that.

Sannaes. You must feel how painful it is for me to prolong this
interview. (Turns to go.)

Valborg. But surely you won't go without setting right something
that I am going to beg you to?

Sannas. What is that, Miss Valborg?

Valborg. Something that happened a long time ago.

Sannaes. If it is in my power, I will do what you ask.

Valborg. It is.--Ever since that day you have never offered to
shake hands with me.

Sannaes. Have you really noticed that? (A pause.)

Valborg (with a smile, turning away). Will you do so now?

Sannaes (stepping nearer to her). Is this more than a mere whim?

Valborg (concealing her emotion). How can you ask such a question
now?

Sannaes. Because all this time you have never once asked me to
shake hands with you.

Valborg. I wanted you to offer me your hand. (A pause.)

Sannaes. Are you serious for once?

Valborg. I mean it, seriously.

Sannaes (in a happier voice). You really set a value on it?

Valborg. A great value.

Sannaes (going up to her). Here it is, then!

Valborg (turning and taking his hand). I accept the hand you offer
me.

Sannaes (turning pale). What do you mean?

Valborg. I mean that for some time past I have known that I should
be proud to be the wife of a man who has loved me, and me alone,
ever since he was a boy, and has saved my father and us all.

Sannaes. Oh, Miss Valborg!

Valborg. And you wanted to go away, rather than offer me your
hand; and that, only because we had accepted help from you--and you
did not think we were free agents! That was too much; and, as you
would not speak, I had to!

Sannaes (kneeling to her). Miss Valborg!

Valborg. You have the most loyal nature, the most delicate mind,
and the warmest heart I have ever known.

Sannaes. This is a thousand times too much!

Valborg. Next to God, I have to thank you that I have become what I
am; and I feel that I can offer you a life's devotion such as you
would rarely find in this world.

Sannaes. I cannot answer because I scarcely realise what you are
saying. But you are saying it because you are sorry for me, now
that I have to go away, and feel that you owe me some gratitude.
(Takes both her hand in his.) Let me speak! I know the truth better
than you, and have thought over it far more than you. You are so
immeasurably above me in ability, in education, in manners--and a
wife should not be able to look down on her husband. At all events,
I am too proud to be willing to be exposed to that. No, what you
are feeling now is only the result of your beautiful nature, and
the recollection of it will hallow all my life. All the pain and
all the happiness I have known have come from you. Your life will
be one of self-renunciation; but, God knows there are many such!
And my burden will be lightened now, because I shall know that your
good wishes will always be with me. (Gets up.) But part we must--
and now more than ever! For I could not bear to be near you unless
you were mine, and to make you mine would only mean misery for us
both after a little while!

Valborg. Sannaes--!

Sannaes (holding her hands and interrupting her). I entreat you not
to say anything more! You have too much power over me; do not use
it to make me sin! For it would be that--a great sin--to put two
honest hearts into a false position, where they would distress one
another, even perhaps get to hate one another.

Valborg. But let me--

Sannas (letting go her hands and stepping back). No, you must not
tempt me. Life with you would mean perpetual anxiety, for I should
never feel equal to what it would demand of me! But now I can part
from you comforted. There will be no bitterness in my heart now;
and by degrees all my thoughts of the past and of you will turn to
sweetness. God bless you! May every good fortune go with you!
Good-bye! (Goes quickly towards the house.)

Valborg. Sannaes! (Follows him.) Sannaes! Listen to me! (SANNAES
takes up his coat and gloves, and, as he rushes out without looking
where he is going, runs full tilt into BERENT who comes in at that
moment followed by JAKOBSEN.)

Sannaes. I beg your pardon! (Rushes out to the right.)

Berent. Are you two playing a game of blind man's buff?

Valborg. God knows we are!

Berent. You need not be so emphatic about it! I have had forcible
evidence of it. (Rubs his stomach and laughs.)

Valborg. You must excuse me! Father is in there. (Points to the
left and goes hurriedly out to the right.)

Berent. We don't seem to be getting a particularly polite
reception!

Jakobsen. No, we seem to be rather in the way, Mr. Berent.

Berent (laughing). It looks like it. But what has been going on?

Jakobsen. I don't know. They looked as if they had been fighting,
their faces were so flushed.

Berent. They looked upset, you mean?

Jakobsen. Yes, that's it. Ah, here is Mr. Tjaelde! (To himself.)
Good Lord, how aged he looks! (Withdraws into the background as
BERENT goes forward to greet TJAELDE, who comes in.)

Tjaelde (to BERENT). I am delighted to see you! You are always
welcome in our little home--and this year more welcome than ever!

Berent. Because things are going better than ever this year! I
congratulate you on your discharge--and also on your determination
to pay everything in full!

Tjaelde. Yes, if God wills, I mean to--

Berent. Well, things are going splendidly, aren't they?

Tjaelde. So far, yes.

Berent. You are over the worst of it, now that you have laid the
foundations of a new business and laid them solidly.

Tjaelde. One of the things that have given me the greatest
encouragement has been the fact that I have won your confidence--
and that has gained me the confidence of others.

Berent. I could have done nothing unless you had first of all done
everything. But don't let us say any more about it!--Well, the
place looks even prettier than it did last year.

Tjaelde. We do a little more to it each year, you know.

Berent. And you are still all together here?

Tjaelde. So far, yes.

Berent. Ah, by the way, I can give you news of your deserter.
(TJAELDE looks surprised.) I mean your lieutenant!

Tjaelde. Oh--of him! Have you seen him?

Berent. I was on the same boat coming here. There was a very
rich girl on board.

Tjaelde (laughing). Oh, I see!

Berent. All the same, I don't think it came to any thing. It is
rather like coming upon a herd of deer when you are stalking; after
your first shot, you don't find it so easy to get another; they
have grown wary!

Jakobsen (who during this conversation has been screwing up his
courage to address TJAELDE). I--I am a pig, I am! I know that!

Tjaelde (taking his hand). Oh, come, Jakobsen!--

Jakobsen. A great blundering pig!--But I know it now!

Tjaelde. That's all right! I can tell you I am delighted to be able
to set affairs straight between you and me.

Jakobsen. I don't know what to answer. It goes to my heart! (Shakes
his hand heartily.) You are a far better man than I,--and I said so
to my wife. "He's a splendid fellow," I said.

Tjaelde (releasing his hand). Let us forget everything except the
happy days we have had together, Jakobsen! How do things go
at the Brewery?

Jakobsen. At the Brewery! As long as folk ladle beer into their
stomachs at the rate they do now--

Berent. Jakobsen was kind enough to drive me out here. We had a
most amusing drive. He is a character.

Jakobsen (in an anxious undertone, to TJAELDE). What does he mean
by that?

Tjaelde. That you are different from most people.

Jakobsen. Ah!--I didn't feel sure, you know, whether he wasn't
sitting there making game of me, all the way here.

Tjaelde. How can you think such a thing? (To BERENT.) Do come into
the house. Excuse my going first; but my wife is not always quite
prepared to receive visitors since she has been able to do so
little for herself. (Goes into the house.)

Berent. I don't think Mr. Tjaelde seems to me to be looking in
quite as good form as I expected?

Jakobsen. Don't you? I didn't notice anything.

Berent. Perhaps I am mistaken. I think he meant us to follow him
in, didn't he?

Jakobsen. So I understood.

Berent. Then, as you have brought me so far, you must take me
in to Mrs. Tjaelde.

Jakobsen. I am quite at your service, sir. I have the deepest
respect for Mrs. Tjaelde--(hurriedly)--and of course for Mr.
Tjaelde too. Of course.

Berent. Yes. Well, let us go in.

Jakobsen. Let us go in. (He tries anxiously to keep in step with
BERENT'S peculiar walk, but finds it difficult.)

Berent. I think you had better not try. My step suits very few.

Jakobsen. Oh, I shall manage--! (They go out to the left. SANNAES
comes hurriedly in from the right, and crosses the stage; looks
around; then comes across to the foreground and leans with his
back against a tree. VALBORG comes in a moment later, comes
forward, sees him, and laughs.)

Sannaes. There, you see, Miss Valborg; you are laughing at me.

Valborg. I don't know whether I want to laugh or to cry.

Sannaes. Believe me, you are mistaken about this, Miss Valborg.
You don't see things as plainly as I do.

Valborg. Which of us was it that was mistaken to-day?--and had
to beg pardon for it?

Sannaes. It was I, I know. But this is impossible! A real union of
hearts needs to be founded on more than respect--

Valborg (laughing). On love?

Sannaes. You misunderstand me. Could you go into society with me
without feeling embarrassed? (VALBORG laughs.) You see, the mere
idea of it makes you laugh.

Valborg (laughing). I am laughing because you are magnifying the
least important part of it into the most important.

Sannaes. You know how awkward and shy--in fact downright frightened
I am amongst those who--. (VALBORG laughs again.) There, you see--
you can't help laughing at the idea!

Valborg. I should perhaps even laugh at you when we were in society
together! (Laughs.)

Sannaes (seriously). But I should suffer horribly if you did.

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