That would be deuced annoying.
Hovstad.
Well, whatever happens, fortunately we can turn the situation to account. If the Burgomaster won’t agree to the Doctor’s proposal, he’ll have all the small middle-class down upon him—all the House-owners' Association, and the rest of them. And if he does agree to it, he’ll fall out with the whole crew of big shareholders in the Baths, who have hitherto been his main support——
Billing.
Yes, of course; for no doubt they’ll have to fork out a lot of money——
Hovstad.
You may take your oath of that. And then, don’t you see, when the ring is broken up, we’ll din it into the public day by day that the Burgomaster is incompetent in every respect, and that all responsible positions in the town, the whole municipal government in short, must be entrusted to men of liberal ideas.
Billing.
Strike me dead if that isn’t the square truth! I see it—I see it: we are on the eve of a revolution!
[A knock at the door.