Hedda Gabler
Hedda--here in the house of life--I ought myself to bring the tidings of
death.
HEDDA.
That was very kind of you.
MISS TESMAN.
Ah, Rina ought not to have left us just now. This is not the time for
Hedda's house to be a house of mourning.
HEDDA.
[Changing the subject.] She died quite peacefully, did she not, Miss
Tesman?
MISS TESMAN.
Oh, her end was so calm, so beautiful. And then she had the unspeakable
happiness of seeing George once more--and bidding him good-bye.--Has he
not come home yet?
HEDDA.
No. He wrote that he might be detained. But won't you sit down?
MISS TESMAN.
No thank you, my dear, dear Hedda. I should like to, but I have so much
to do. I must prepare my dear one for her rest as well as I can. She
shall go to her grave looking her best.
HEDDA.
Can I not help you in any way?
MISS TESMAN.
Oh, you must not think of it! Hedda Tesman must have no hand in such
mournful work. Nor let her thought dwell on it either--not at this time.
HEDDA.
One is not always mistress of one's thoughts--
MISS TESMAN.
[Continuing.] Ah yes, it is the way of the world. At home we shall be
sewing a shroud; and here there will soon be sewing too, I suppose--but
of another sort, thank God!
GEORGE TESMAN enters by the hall door.
HEDDA.
Ah, you have come at last!
TESMAN.
You here, Aunt Julia? With Hedda? Fancy that!
MISS TESMAN.
I was just going, my dear boy. Well, have you done all you promised?
TESMAN.
No; I'm really afraid I have forgotten half of it. I must come to you
again to-morrow. To-day my brain is all in a whirl. I can't keep my
thoughts together.
MISS TESMAN.
Why, my dear George, you mustn't take it in this way.
TESMAN.
Mustn't--? How do you mean?
MISS TESMAN.
Even in your sorrow you must rejoice, as I do--rejoice that she is at
rest.
TESMAN.
Oh yes, yes--you are thinking of Aunt Rina.
HEDDA.
You will feel lonely now, Miss Tesman.
MISS TESMAN.
Just at first, yes. But that will not last very long, I hope. I daresay
I shall soon find an occupant for Rina's little room.
TESMAN.
Indeed? Who do you think will take it? Eh?
MISS TESMAN.
Oh, there's always some poor invalid or other in want of nursing,
unfortunately.
HEDDA.
Would you really take such a burden upon you again?
MISS TESMAN.
A burden! Heaven forgive you, child--it has been no burden to me.
HEDDA.
But suppose you had a total stranger on your hands--
MISS TESMAN.
Oh, one soon makes friends with sick folk; and it's such an absolute
necessity for me to have some one to live for. Well, heaven be praised,
there may soon be something in this house, too, to keep an old aunt
busy.
HEDDA.
Oh, don't trouble about anything here.
TESMAN.
Yes, just fancy what a nice time we three might have together, if--?
HEDDA.
If--?
TESMAN.
[Uneasily.] Oh nothing. It will all come right. Let us hope so--eh?
MISS TESMAN.
Well well, I daresay you two want to talk to each other. [Smiling.] And
perhaps Hedda may have something to tell you too, George. Good-bye! I
must go home to Rina. [Turning at the door.] How strange it is to think
that now Rina is with me and with my poor brother as well!
TESMAN.
Yes, fancy that, Aunt Julia! Eh?
[MISS TESMAN goes out by the hall door.
HEDDA.
[Follows TESMAN coldly and searchingly with her eyes.] I almost believe
your Aunt Rina's death affects you more than it does your Aunt Julia.
TESMAN.
Oh, it's not that alone. It's Eilert I am so terribly uneasy about.
HEDDA.
[Quickly.] Is there anything new about him?
TESMAN.
I looked in at his rooms this afternoon, intending to tell him the
manuscript was in safe keeping.
HEDDA.
Well, did you find him?
TESMAN.
No. He wasn't at home. But afterwards I met Mrs. Elvsted, and she told
me that he had been here early this morning.
HEDDA.
Yes, directly after you had gone.
TESMAN.
And he said that he had torn his manuscript to pieces--eh?
HEDDA.
Yes, so he declared.
TESMAN.
Why, good heavens, he must have been completely out of his mind! And I
suppose you thought it best not to give it back to him, Hedda?
HEDDA.
No, he did not get it.
TESMAN.
But of course you told him that we had it?
HEDDA.
No. [Quickly.] Did you tell Mrs. Elvsted?
TESMAN.
No; I thought I had better not. But you ought to have told him. Fancy,
if, in desperation, he should go and do himself some injury! Let me have
the manuscript, Hedda! I will take it to him at once. Where is it?
HEDDA.
[Cold and immovable, leaning on the arm-chair.] I have not got it.
TESMAN.
Have not got it? What in the world do you mean?
HEDDA.
I have burnt it--every line of it.
TESMAN.
[With a violent movement of terror.] Burnt! Burnt Eilert's manuscript!
HEDDA.
Don't scream so. The servant might hear you.
TESMAN.
Burnt! Why, good God--! No, no, no! It's impossible!
HEDDA.
It is so, nevertheless.
TESMAN.
Do you know what you have done, Hedda? It's unlawful appropriation of
lost property. Fancy that! Just ask Judge Brack, and he'll tell you what
it is.
HEDDA.
I advise you not to speak of it--either to Judge Brack or to anyone
else.
TESMAN.
But how could you do anything so unheard-of? What put it into your head?
What possessed you? Answer me that--eh?
HEDDA.
[Suppressing an almost imperceptible smile.] I did it for your sake,
George.
TESMAN.
For my sake!
HEDDA.
This morning, when you told me about what he had read to you--
TESMAN.
Yes yes--what then?
HEDDA.
You acknowledged that you envied him his work.
TESMAN.
Oh, of course I didn't mean that literally.
HEDDA.
No matter--I could not bear the idea that any one should throw you into
the shade.
TESMAN.
[In an outburst of mingled doubt and joy.] Hedda! Oh, is this true?
But--but--I never knew you show your love like that before. Fancy that!
HEDDA.
Well, I may as well tell you that--just at this time-- [Impatiently
breaking off.] No, no; you can ask Aunt Julia. She will tell you, fast
enough.
TESMAN.
Oh, I almost think I understand you, Hedda! [Clasps his hands together.]
Great heavens! do you really mean it! Eh?
HEDDA.
Don't shout so. The servant might hear.
TESMAN.
[Laughing in irrepressible glee.] The servant! Why, how absurd you are,
Hedda. It's only my old Berta! Why, I'll tell Berta myself.
HEDDA.
[Clenching her hands together in desperation.] Oh, it is killing me,
--it is killing me, all this!
TESMAN.
What is, Hedda? Eh?
HEDDA.
[Coldly, controlling herself.] All this--absurdity--George.
TESMAN.
Absurdity! Do you see anything absurd in my being overjoyed at the news!
But after all--perhaps I had better not say anything to Berta.
HEDDA.
Oh--why not that too?
TESMAN.
No, no, not yet! But I must certainly tell Aunt Julia. And then that you
have begun to call me George too! Fancy that! Oh, Aunt Julia will be so
happy--so happy!
HEDDA.
When she hears that I have burnt Eilert Lovborg's manuscript--for your
sake?
TESMAN.
No, by-the-bye--that affair of the manuscript--of course nobody must
know about that. But that you love me so much,(13) Hedda--Aunt Julia
must really share my joy in that! I wonder, now, whether this sort of
thing is usual in young wives? Eh?
HEDDA.
I think you had better ask Aunt Julia that question too.
TESMAN.
I will indeed, some time or other. [Looks uneasy and downcast again.]
And yet the manuscript--the manuscript! Good God! it is terrible to
think what will become of poor Eilert now.
MRS. ELVSTED, dressed as in the first Act, with hat and cloak,
enters by the hall door.
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Greets them hurriedly, and says in evident agitation.] Oh, dear Hedda,
forgive my coming again.
HEDDA.
What is the matter with you, Thea?
TESMAN.
Something about Eilert Lovborg again--eh?
MRS. ELVSTED.
Yes! I am dreadfully afraid some misfortune has happened to him.
HEDDA.
[Seized her arm.] Ah,--do you think so?
TESMAN.
Why, good Lord--what makes you think that, Mrs. Elvsted?
MRS. ELVSTED.
I heard them talking of him at my boarding-house--just as I came in. Oh,
the most incredible rumours are afloat about him to-day.
TESMAN.
Yes, fancy, so I heard too! And I can bear witness that he went straight
home to bed last night. Fancy that!
HEDDA.
Well, what did they say at the boarding-house?
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh, I couldn't make out anything clearly. Either they knew nothing
definite, or else--. They stopped talking when the saw me; and I did
not dare to ask.
TESMAN.
[Moving about uneasily.] We must hope--we must hope that you
misunderstood them, Mrs. Elvsted.
MRS. ELVSTED.
No, no; I am sure it was of him they were talking. And I heard something
about the hospital or--
TESMAN.
The hospital?
HEDDA.
No--surely that cannot be!
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh, I was in such mortal terror! I went to his lodgings and asked for
him there.
HEDDA.
You could make up your mind to that, Thea!
MRS. ELVSTED.
What else could I do? I really could bear the suspense no longer.
TESMAN.
But you didn't find him either--eh?
MRS. ELVSTED.
No. And the people knew nothing about him. He hadn't been home since
yesterday afternoon, they said.
TESMAN.
Yesterday! Fancy, how could they say that?
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh, I am sure something terrible must have happened to him.
TESMAN.
Hedda dear--how would it be if I were to go and make inquiries--?
HEDDA.
No, no--don't you mix yourself up in this affair.
JUDGE BRACK, with his hat in his hand, enters by the hall
door, which BERTA opens, and closes behind him. He looks
grave and bows in silence.
TESMAN.
Oh, is that you, my dear Judge? Eh?
BRACK.
Yes. It was imperative I should see you this evening.
TESMAN.
I can see you have heard the news about Aunt Rina?
BRACK.
Yes, that among other things.
TESMAN.
Isn't it sad--eh?
BRACK.
Well, my dear Tesman, that depends on how you look at it.
TESMAN.
[Looks doubtfully at him.] Has anything else happened?
BRACK.
Yes.
HEDDA.
[In suspense.] Anything sad, Judge Brack?
BRACK.
That, too, depends on how you look at it, Mrs. Tesman.
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Unable to restrain her anxiety.] Oh! it is something about Eilert
Lovborg!
BRACK.
[With a glance at her.] What makes you think that, Madam? Perhaps you
have already heard something--?
MRS. ELVSTED.
[In confusion.] No, nothing at all, but--
TESMAN.
Oh, for heaven's sake, tell us!
BRACK.
[Shrugging his shoulders.] Well, I regret to say Eilert Lovborg has been
taken to the hospital. He is lying at the point of death.
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Shrieks.] Oh God! oh God--!
TESMAN.
To the hospital! And at the point of death!
HEDDA.
[Involuntarily.] So soon then--
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Wailing.] And we parted in anger, Hedda!
HEDDA.
[Whispers.] Thea--Thea--be careful!
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Not heeding her.] I must go to him! I must see him alive!
BRACK.
It is useless, Madam. No one will be admitted.
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh, at least tell me what has happened to him? What is it?
TESMAN.
You don't mean to say that he has himself-- Eh?
HEDDA.
Yes, I am sure he has.
BRACK.
[Keeping his eyes fixed upon her.] Unfortunately you have guessed quite
correctly, Mrs. Tesman.
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh, how horrible!
TESMAN.
Himself, then! Fancy that!
HEDDA.
Shot himself!
BRACK.