No. I.—ROSMERSHÖLM (CONCLUDED.)
ACT III.
Sitting-room at Rosmershölm. Sun shining outside in the Garden. Inside REBECCA WEST is watering a geranium with a small watering-pot. Her crochet antimacassar lies in the arm-chair. Madam HELSETH is rubbing the chairs with furniture-polish from a large bottle. Enter ROSMER, with his hat and stick in his hand. Madam HELSETH corks the bottle and goes out to the right.
Rebecca. Good morning, dear. (A moment after—crocheting.) Have you seen Rector KROLL's paper this morning? There's something about you in it.
Rosmer. Oh, indeed? (Puts down hat and stick, and takes up paper.) H'm! (Reads—then walks about the room.) KROLL has made it hot for me. (Reads some more.) Oh, this is too bad! REBECCA, they do say such nasty spiteful things! They actually call me a renegade—and I can't think why! They mustn't go on like this. All that is good in human nature will go to ruin if they're allowed to attack an excellent man like me! Only think, if I can make them see how unkind they have been!
Reb. Yes, dear, in that you have a great and glorious object to attain—and I wish you may get it!
Rosmer. Thanks. I think I shall. (Happens to look through window, and jumps.) Ah, no, I shan't—never now. I have just seen—
Reb. Not the White Horse, dear? We must really not overdo that White Horse!
Rosmer. No—the mill-race, where BEATA—(Puts on his hat—takes it off again.) I'm beginning to be haunted by—no, I don't mean the horse—by a terrible suspicion that BEATA may have been right after all! Yes, I do believe, now I come to think of it, that I must really have been in love with you from the first. Tell me your opinion.
Reb. (struggling with herself, and still crocheting.) Oh—I can't exactly say—such an odd question to ask me!
Rosmer (shakes his head). Perhaps; I have no sense of humour—no respectable Norwegian has—and I do want to know—because, you see, if I was in love with you, it was a sin, and if I once convinced myself of that—
[Wanders across the room.
Reb. (breaking out). Oh, these old ancestral prejudices! Here is your hat, and your stick, too; go and take a walk.
[ROSMER takes hat and stick, first, then goes out and takes a walk; presently Madam HELSETH appears, and tells REBECCA something. REBECCA tells her something. They whisper together. Madam H. nods, and shows in Rector KROLL, who keeps his hat in his hand, and sits on a chair.
Kroll. I merely called for the purpose of informing you that I consider you an artful and designing person, but that, on the whole, considering your birth and moral antecedents, you know—(nods at her)—it is not surprising. (REBECCA walks about, wringing her hands) Why, what is the matter? Did you really not know that you had no right to your father's name? I'd no idea you would mind my mentioning such a trifle!
Reb. (breaking out). I do mind. I am an emancipated enigma, but I retain a few little prejudices still. I don't like owning to my real age, and I do prefer to be legitimate. And, after your information—of which I was quite ignorant, as my mother, the late Mrs. GAMVIK, never once alluded to it—I feel I must confess everything. Strong-minded advanced women are like that. Here is ROSMER. (ROSMER enters with his hat and stick.) ROSMER, I want to tell you and Rector KROLL a little story. Let us sit down, dear, all three of us. (They sit down, mechanically, on chairs.) A long time ago, before the play began—(in a voice scarcely audible)—in Ibsenite dramas, all the interesting things somehow do happen before the play begins—
Rosmer. But, REBECCA, I know all this. KROLL—(looks hard at her). Perhaps I had better go?
Reb. No—I will be short—this was it. I wanted to take my share in the life of the New Era, and march onward with ROSMER. There was one dismal, insurmountable barrier—(to ROSMER, who nods gravely)—BEATA! I understood where your deliverance lay—and I acted. I drove BEATA into the mill-race ... There!
Rosmer (after a short silence). H'm! Well, KROLL—(takes up his hat)—if you're thinking of walking home, I'll go too. I'm going to be orthodox once more—after this!
Kroll (severely and impressively, to REB.). A nice sort of young woman you are! [Both go out hastily, without looking at REB.
Reb. (speaks to herself, under her breath). Now I have done it. I wonder why. (Pulls bell-rope.) Madam HELSETH, I have just had a glimpse of two rushing White Horses. Bring down my hair-trunk.
[Enter Madam H., with large hair-trunk, as Curtain falls.
ACT IV.
Late evening. REBECCA WEST stands by a lighted lamp, with a shade over it, packing sandwiches, &c., in a reticule, with a faint smile. The antimacassar is on the sofa. Enter ROSMER.
Rosmer (seeing the sandwiches, &c.). Sandwiches? Then you are going I Why, on earth,—I can't understand!
Reb. Dear, you never can. Rosmershölm is too much for me. But how did you get on with KROLL?
Rosmer. We have made it up. He has convinced me that the work of ennobling men was several sizes too large for me—so I am going to let it alone—
Reb. (with her faint smile). There I almost think, dear, that you are wise.
Rosmer (as if annoyed). What, so you don't believe in me either, REBECCA—you never did! [Sits listlessly on chair.
Reb. Not much, dear, when you are left to yourself—but I've another confession to make.
Rosmer. What, another? I really can't stand any more confessions just now!
Reb. (sitting close to him). It is only a little one. I bullied BEATA into the mill-race—because of a wild uncontrollable— (ROSMER moves uneasily.) Sit still, dear—uncontrollable fancy—for you!
Rosmer (goes and sits on sofa). Oh, my goodness, REBECCA—you mustn't, you know!
[He jumps up and down as if embarrassed.
Reb. Don't be alarmed, dear, it is all over now. After living alone with you in solitude, when you showed me all your thoughts without reserve,—little by little, somehow the fancy passed off. I caught the ROSMER view of life badly, and dulness descended on my soul as an extinguisher upon one of our Northern dips. The ROSMER view of life is ennobling, very—but hardly lively. And I've more yet to tell you.
Rosmer (turning it off). Isn't that enough for one evening P
Reb. (almost voiceless). No, dear. I have a Past—behind me!
Rosmer. Behind you? How strange. I had an idea of that sort already. (Starts, as if in fear.) A joke! (Sadly.) Ah, no—no, I must not give way to that! Never mind the Past, REBECCA; I once thought that I had made the grand discovery that, if one is only virtuous, one will be happy. I see now it was too daring, too original—an immature dream. What bothers me is that I can't—somehow I can't—believe entirely in you—I am not even sure that I have ennobled you so very much—isn't it terrible?
Reb. (wringing her hands). Oh, this killing doubt! (Looks darkly at him.) Is there anything I can do to convince you?
Rosmer (as if impelled to speak against his will). Yes, one thing—only I'm afraid you wouldn't see it in the same light. And yet I must mention it. It is like this. I want to recover faith in my mission, in my power to ennoble human souls. And, as a logical thinker, this I cannot do now, unless—well, unless you jump into the mill-race, too, like BEATA!
Reb. (takes up her antimacassar, with composure, and puts it on her head). Anything to oblige you.
Rosmer (springs up). What? You really will! You are sure you don't mind? Then, REBECCA, I will go further. I will even go—yes—as far as you go yourself!
Reb. (bows her head towards his breast). You will see me off? Thanks. Now you are indeed an Ibsenite.
[Smiles almost imperceptibly.
Rosmer (cautiously). I said as far as you go. I don't commit myself further than that. Shall we go?
Reb. First tell me this. Are you going with me, or am I going with you?
Rosmer. A subtle psychological point—but we have not time to think it out here. We will discuss it as we go along. Come!
[ROSMER takes his hat and stick, REBECCA her reticule, with sandwiches. They go out hand-in-hand through the door, which they leave open. The room (as is not uncommon with rooms in Norway) is left empty. Then Madam HELSETH enters through another door.
Madam H. The cab, Miss—not here! (Looks out.) Out together—at this time of night—upon my—not on the garden-seat? (Looks out of window.) My goodness! what is that white thing on the bridge—the Horse at last! (Shrieks aloud.) And those two sinful creatures running home!
Enter ROSMER and REBECCA, out of breath.
Rosmer (scarcely able to get the words out). It's no use, REBECCA—we must put it off till another evening. We can't be expected to jump off a footbridge which already has a White Horse on it. And, if it comes to that, why should we jump at all? I know now that I really have ennobled you, which was all I wanted. What would be the good of recovering faith in my mission at the bottom of a mill-pond? No, REBECCA—(lays his hand on her head)—there is no judge over us, and therefore—
Reb. (interrupting gravely). We will bind ourselves over in our own recognisances to come up for judgment when called upon.
[Madam HELSETH holds on to a chair-back, REBECCA finishes the antimacassar calmly as Curtain falls.