[The table-cloth is violently agitated for a minute, and presently the curtains open, and Hedda appears.
Hedda.
[Clearly and firmly.] I've been trying in there to shoot myself beautifully—but with General Gabler's pistol—[She lifts the table-cloth, then looks behind the stove and under the sofa.] What! the accounts of all those everlasting bores settled? Then my suicide becomes unnecessary. Yes, I feel the courage of life once more!
[She goes into the back-room and plays "The Funeral March of a Marionette" as the Curtain falls.
"What! the accounts of all those everlasting bores settled?"
THE WILD DUCK
ACT FIRST
At Werle's house. In front a richly-upholstered study. (R.) A green baize door leading to Werle's office. At back, open folding doors, revealing an elegant dining-room, in which a brilliant Norwegian dinner-party is going on. Hired Waiters in profusion. A glass is tapped with a knife. Shouts of "Bravo!" Old Mr. Werle is heard making a long speech, proposing—according to the custom of Norwegian society on such occasions—the health of his House-keeper, Mrs. Sörby. Presently several short-sighted, flabby, and thin-haired Chamberlains enter from the dining-room with Hialmar Ekdal, who writhes shyly under their remarks.