Mrs. Alving (hoarsely). Ghosts! The couple from the conservatory have risen again!—Ghosts, The Pillars of Society, and other Plays. By Henrik Ibsen, Camelot Series, p. 150.]
[321] Frau Helseth has in vain sought for Rosmer and Rebecca in the house.
Madame Helseth (goes to the window and looks out). Oh, good God! that white thing there!—My soul! They’re both of them out on the bridge! God forgive the sinful creatures—if they’re not in each other’s arms! (Shrieks aloud) Oh—down—both of them! Out into the mill-race! Help! help! (Her knees tremble, she holds on to the chair-back, shaking all over, she can scarcely get the words out.) No. No help here. The dead wife has taken them.—Rosmerholm. London, Walter Scott, p. 144. The last sentence is not a happy one. It is commonplace, upsetting the mood of the hearer or reader.
[322] Hjalmar has passed the night away from home, having learned that his wife before her marriage with him had had a liaison with another. He returns in the morning, crapulous and hipped. He is bombastic and melodramatic, while his wife is calm and practical:—
Gina (standing with the brush in her hand, and looking at him). Oh, there now, Ekdal; so you’ve come after all?
Hjalmar (comes in and answers in a toneless voice). I come—only to depart again immediately.
Gina. Yes, yes; I suppose so. But, Lord help us, what a sight you are!
Hjalmar. A sight?
Gina. And your nice winter coat, too! Well, that’s done for.... Then, you are still bent on leaving us, Ekdal?
Hjalmar. Yes; that’s a matter of course, I should think.