Chapter X: Part II: Characters (2)

JUDITH. It is true--and it is not true.

ALLAN. Can it become wholly untrue?

JUDITH. Yes, so it shall--within an hour!

ALLAN. And you keep your word? I can wait, I can suffer, I can work--Judith!

JUDITH. Don't go yet! How long must I wait?

ALLAN. A year.

JUDITH. [_Exultantly_] One? I shall wait a thousand years, and if you do not come then, I shall turn the dome of heaven upside down and make the sun rise in the west--Hush, somebody is coming! Allan, we must part--take me into your arms! [_They embrace each other_] But you must not kiss me. [_Turns her head away_] There, go now! Go now!

ALLAN _goes toward the background and puts on his
cloak. Then they rush into each other's arms so
that_ JUDITH _disappears beneath the cloak, and for
a moment they exchange kisses_. ALLAN _rushes out_.
JUDITH _throws herself face downward on the sofa and
sobs_.

ALLAN. [_Comes back and kneels beside the sofa_] No, I cannot go! I cannot go away from you--not now!

JUDITH. [_Rising_] If you could only see how beautiful you are now! If you could only see yourself!

ALLAN. Oh, no, a man cannot be beautiful. But you, Judith! You--that you--oh, I saw that, when you were kind, another Judith appeared--and she's mine!--But if you don't keep faith with me now, then I shall die!

JUDITH. I think I am dying even now--Oh, that I might die now, just now, when I am so happy----

ALLAN. Somebody is coming!

JUDITH. Let them come! I fear nothing in the world hereafter. But I wish you could take me along under your cloak. [_She hides herself in play under his cloak_] And then I should fly with you to Norrland. What are we to do in Norrland? Become a Fusilier--one of those that wear plumes on their hats? There's style in that, and it will be becoming to you.

[_Plays with his hair._

ALLAN _kisses the tips of her fingers, one by
one--and then he kisses her shoe_.

JUDITH. What are you doing, Mr. Madcap? Your lips will get black. [_Rising impetuously_] And then I cannot kiss you when you go! Come, and I'll go with you!

ALLAN. No, then I should be placed under arrest.

JUDITH. I'll go with you to the guard-room.

ALLAN. They wouldn't let you! We must part now!

JUDITH. I am going to swim after the steamer--and then you jump in and save me--and it gets into the newspapers, and we become engaged. Shall we do that?

ALLAN. You can still jest?

JUDITH. There will always be time for tears--Say good-bye now!----

_They rush into each other's arms; then_ ALLAN
_withdraws slowly through the door in the
background,_ JUDITH _following him; the door remains
open after them; they embrace again outside, in the
rain_.

ALLAN. You'll get wet, Judith.

JUDITH. What do I care!

_They tear themselves away from each other_. ALLAN
_leaves_. JUDITH _remains behind, exposing herself to
the rain and to the wind, which strains at her hair
and her clothes while she is waving her handkerchief.
Then_ JUDITH _runs back into the room and throws
herself on the sofa, with her face buried in her
hands_.

ALICE. [_Enters and goes over to_ JUDITH] What is this?--Get up and let me look at you.

[JUDITH _sits up_.

ALICE. [_Scrutinising her_] You are not sick--And I am not going to console you. [_Goes out to the right_.

_The_ LIEUTENANT _enters from the background_.

JUDITH. [_Gets up and puts on the hooded coat_] Come along to the telegraph office, Lieutenant.

LIEUTENANT. If I can be of any service--but I don't think it's quite proper----

JUDITH. So much the better! I want you to compromise me--but without any illusions on your part--Go ahead, please! [_They go out through the background_.

_The_ CAPTAIN _and_ ALICE _enter from the right; he
is in undress uniform_.

CAPTAIN. [_Sits down in the easy-chair_] Let him come in.

ALICE _goes over to the door on the left and opens
it, whereupon she sits down on the sofa_.

CURT. [_Enters from the left_] You want to speak to me?

CAPTAIN. [_Pleasantly, but somewhat condescendingly_] Yes, I have quite a number of important things to tell you. Sit down.

CURT. [_Sits down on the chair to the left_] I am all ears.

CAPTAIN. Well, then!--[_Bumptiously_] You know that our quarantine system has been neglected during nearly a century--hm!

ALICE. [_To_ CURT] That's the candidate for the Riksdag who speaks now.

CAPTAIN. But with the tremendous development witnessed by our own day in----

ALICE. [_To_ CURT] The communications, of course!

CAPTAIN.--all kinds of ways the government has begun to consider improvements. And for this purpose the Board of Health has appointed inspectors--hm!

ALICE. [_To_ CURT] He's giving dictation.

CAPTAIN. You may as well learn it now as later--I have been appointed an inspector of quarantines. [_Silence_.

CURT. I congratulate--and pay my respects to my superior at the same time.

CAPTAIN. On account of ties of kinship our personal relations will remain unchanged. However--to speak of other things--At my request your son Allan has been transferred to an infantry regiment in Norrland.

CURT. But I don't want it.

CAPTAIN. Your will in this case is subordinate to the mother's wishes--and as the mother has authorised me to decide, I have formed this decision.

CURT. I admire you!

CAPTAIN. Is that the only feeling you experience at this moment when you are to part from your son? Have you no other purely human feelings?

CURT. You mean that I ought to be suffering?

CAPTAIN. Yes.

CURT. It would please you if I suffered. You wish me to suffer.

CAPTAIN. _You_ suffer?--Once I was taken sick--you were present and I can still remember that your face expressed nothing but undisguised pleasure.

ALICE. That is not true! Curt sat beside your bed all night and calmed you down when your qualms of conscience became too violent--but when you recovered you ceased to be thankful for it----

CAPTAIN. [_Pretending not to hear_ Alice] Consequently Allan will have to leave us.

CURT. And who is going to pay for it?

CAPTAIN. I have done so already--that is to say, we--a syndicate of people interested in the young man's future.

CURT. A syndicate?

CAPTAIN. Yes--and to make sure that everything is all right you can look over these subscription lists.

[_Hands him some papers_.

CURT. Lists? [_Reading the papers_] These are begging letters?

CAPTAIN. Call them what you please.

CURT. Have you gone begging on behalf of my son?

CAPTAIN. Are you ungrateful again? An ungrateful man is the heaviest burden borne by the earth.

CURT. Then I am dead socially! And my candidacy is done for!

CAPTAIN. What candidacy?

CURT. For the Riksdag, of course.

CAPTAIN. I hope you never had any such notions--particularly as you might have guessed that I, as an older resident, intended to offer my own services, which you seem to underestimate.

CURT. Oh, well, then that's gone, too!

CAPTAIN. It doesn't seem to trouble you very much.

CURT. Now you have taken everything--do you want more?

CAPTAIN. Have you anything more? And have you anything to reproach me with? Consider carefully if you have anything to reproach me with.

CURT. Strictly speaking, no! Everything has been correct and legal as it should be between honest citizens in the course of daily life----

CAPTAIN. You say this with a resignation which I would call cynical. But your entire nature has a cynical bent, my dear Curt, and there are moments when I feel tempted to share Alice's opinion of you--that you are a hypocrite, a hypocrite of the first water.

CURT. [_Calmly_] So that's Alice's opinion?

ALICE. [_To_ CURT] It was--once. But not now, for it takes true heroism to bear what you have borne--or it takes something else!

CAPTAIN. Now I think the discussion may be regarded as closed. You, Curt, had better go and say good-bye to Allan, who is leaving with the next boat.

CURT. [_Rising_] So soon? Well, I have gone through worse things than that.

CAPTAIN. You say that so often that I am beginning to wonder what you went through in America?

CURT. What I went through? I went through misfortunes. And it is the unmistakable right of every human being to suffer misfortune.

CAPTAIN. [_Sharply_] There are self-inflicted misfortunes--were yours of that kind?

CURT. Is not this a question of conscience?

CAPTAIN. [_Brusquely_] Do you mean to say you have a conscience?

CURT. There are wolves and there are sheep, and no human being is honoured by being a sheep. But I'd rather be that than a wolf!

CAPTAIN. You don't recognise the old truth, that everybody is the maker of his own fortune?

CURT. Is _that_ a truth?

CAPTAIN. And you don't know that a man's own strength----

CURT. Yes, I know that from the night when your own strength failed you, and you lay flat on the floor.

CAPTAIN. [_Raising his voice_] A deserving man like myself --yes, look at me--For fifty years I have fought--against a world--but at last I have won the game, by perseverance, loyalty, energy, and--integrity!

ALICE. You should leave that to be said by others!

CAPTAIN. The others won't say it because they are jealous. However--we are expecting company--my daughter Judith will to-day meet her intended--Where is Judith?

ALICE. She is out.

CAPTAIN. In the rain? Send for her.

CURT. Perhaps I may go now?

CAPTAIN. No, you had better stay. Is Judith dressed--Properly?

ALICE. Oh, so-so--Have you definite word from the Colonel that he is coming?

CAPTAIN. [_Rising_] Yes--that is to say, he will take us by surprise, as it is termed. And I am expecting a telegram from him--any moment. [_Goes to the right_] I'll be back at once.

ALICE. There you see him as he is! Can he be called human?

CURT. When you asked that question once before, I answered no. Now I believe him to be the commonest kind of human being of the sort that possess the earth. Perhaps we, too, are of the same kind--making use of other people and of favourable opportunities?

ALICE. He has eaten you and yours alive--and you defend him?

CURT. I have suffered worse things. And this man-eater has left my soul unharmed--_that_ he couldn't swallow!

ALICE. What "worse" have you suffered?

CURT. And _you_ ask that?

ALICE. Do you wish to be rude?

CURT. No, I don't wish to--and therefore--don't ask again!

CAPTAIN. [_Enters from the right_] The telegram was already there, however--Please read it, Alice, for I cannot see--[_Seats himself pompously in the easy-chair_] Read it! You need not go, Curt.

ALICE _glances through the telegram quickly and looks
perplexed_.

CAPTAIN. Well? Don't you find it pleasing?

[ALICE _stares in silence at the_ CAPTAIN.

CAPTAIN. [_Ironically_] Who is it from?

ALICE. From the Colonel.

CAPTAIN. [_With self-satisfaction_] So I thought--and what does the Colonel say?

ALICE. This is what he says: "On account of Miss Judith's impertinent communication over the telephone, I consider the relationship ended--for ever!"

[_Looks intently at the_ CAPTAIN.

CAPTAIN. Once more, if you please.

ALICE. [_Reads rapidly_] "On account of Miss Judith's impertinent communication over the telephone, I consider the relationship ended--for ever!"

CAPTAIN. [_Turns pale_] It is Judith!

ALICE. And there is Holofernes!

CAPTAIN. And what are you?

ALICE. Soon you will see!

CAPTAIN. This is your doing!

ALICE. No!

CAPTAIN. [_In a rage_] This is your doing!

ALICE. No! [_The_ Captain _tries to rise and draw his sabre, but falls back, touched by an apoplectic stroke_] There you got what was coming to you!

CAPTAIN. [_With senile tears in his voice_] Don't be angry at me--I am very sick----

ALICE. Are you? I am glad to hear it.

CURT. Let us put him to bed.

ALICE. No, I don't want to touch him. [_Rings_.

CAPTAIN. [_As before_] You must not be angry at me! [_To_ CURT] Look after my children!

CURT. This is sublime! I am to look after his children, and he has stolen mine!

ALICE. Always the same self-deception!

CAPTAIN. Look after my children! [_Continues to mumble unintelligibly_] Blub-blub-blub-blub.

ALICE. At last that tongue is checked! Can brag no more, lie no more, wound no more! You, Curt, who believe in God, give Him thanks on my behalf. Thank Him for my liberation from the tower, from the wolf, from the vampire!

CURT. Not that way, Alice!

ALICE. [_With her face close to the_ CAPTAIN's] Where is your own strength now? Tell me? Where is your energy? [_The_ CAPTAIN, _speechless, spits in her face_] Oh, you can still squirt venom, you viper--then I'll tear the tongue out of your throat! [_Cuffs him on the ear_] The head is off, but still it blushes!--O, Judith, glorious girl, whom I have carried like vengeance under my heart--you, you have set us free, all of us!--? If you have more heads than one, Hydra, we'll take them! [_Pulls his beard_] Think only that justice exists on the earth! Sometimes I dreamed it, but I could never believe it. Curt, ask God to pardon me for misjudging Him. Oh, there is justice! So I will become a sheep, too! Tell Him that, Curt! A little success makes us better, but adversity alone turns us into wolves.

_The_ LIEUTENANT _enters from the background_.

ALICE. The Captain has had a stroke--will you please help us to roll out the chair?

LIEUTENANT. Madam----

ALICE. What is it?

LIEUTENANT. Well, Miss Judith----

ALICE. Help us with this first--then you can speak of Miss Judith afterward.

[_The_ LIEUTENANT _rolls out the chair to the right_.

ALICE. Away with the carcass! Out with it, and let's open the doors! The place must be aired! [_Opens the doors in the background; the sky has cleared_] Ugh!

CURT. Are you going to desert him?

ALICE. A wrecked ship is deserted, and the crew save their lives--I'll not act as undertaker to a rotting beast! Drainmen and dissectors may dispose of him! A garden bed would be too good for that barrowful of filth! Now I am going to wash and bathe myself in order to get rid of all this impurity--if I can ever cleanse myself completely!

JUDITH _is seen outside, by the balustrade, waving
her handkerchief toward the sea_.

CURT. [_Toward the background_] Who is there? Judith! [_Calls out_] Judith!

JUDITH.[_Cries out as she enters_] He is gone!

CURT. Who?

JUDITH. Allan is gone!

CURT. Without saying good-bye?

JUDITH. He did to me, and he sent his love to you, Uncle.

ALICE. Oh, that was it!

JUDITH. [_Throwing herself into_ CURT's _arms_] He is gone!

CURT. He will come back, little girl.

ALICE. Or we will go after him!

CURT. [_With a gesture indicating the door on the right_] And leave him? What would the world----

ALICE. The world--bah! Judith, come into my arms! [JUDITH _goes up to_ ALICE, _who kisses her on the forehead_] Do you want to go after him?

JUDITH. How can you ask?

ALICE. But your father is sick.

JUDITH. What do I care!

ALICE. This is Judith! Oh, I love you, Judith!

JUDITH. And besides, papa is never mean--and he doesn't like cuddling. There's style to papa, after all.

ALICE. Yes, in a way!

JUDITH. And I don't think he is longing for me after that telephone message--Well, why should he pester me with an old fellow? No, Allan, Allan! [_Throws herself into_ CURT's _arms_] I want to go to Allan!

_Tears herself loose again and runs out to wave her
handkerchief_

[CURT _follows her and waves his handkerchief also_.

ALICE. Think of it, that flowers can grow out of dirt!

_The_ LIEUTENANT _in from the right_.

ALICE. Well?

LIEUTENANT. Yes, Miss Judith----

ALICE. Is the feeling of those letters that form her name so sweet on your lips that it makes you forget him who is dying?

LIEUTENANT. Yes, but she said----

ALICE. She? Say rather Judith then! But first of all--how goes it in there?

LIEUTENANT. Oh, in there--it's all over!

ALICE. All over? O, God, on my own behalf and that of all mankind, I thank Thee for having freed us from this evil! Your arm, if you please--I want to go outside and get a breath--breathe!

[_The_ LIEUTENANT _offers his arm_.

ALICE. [_Checks herself_] Did he say anything before the end came?

LIEUTENANT. Miss Judith's father spoke a few words only.

ALICE. What did he say?

LIEUTENANT. He said: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

ALICE. Inconceivable!

LIEUTENANT. Yes, Miss Judith's father was a good and noble man.

ALICE. Curt!

CURT _Enters_.

ALICE. It is over!

CURT. Oh!

ALICE. Do you know what his last words were? No, you can never guess it. "Forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

CURT. Can you translate it?

ALICE. I suppose he meant that he had always done right and died as one that had been wronged by life.

CURT. I am sure his funeral sermon will be fine.

ALICE. And plenty of flowers--from the non-commissioned officers.

CURT. Yes.

ALICE. About a year ago he said something like this: "It looks to me as if life were a tremendous hoax played on all of us!"

CURT. Do you mean to imply that he was playing a hoax on us up to the very moment of death?

ALICE. No--but now, when he is dead, I feel a strange inclination to speak well of him.

CURT. Well, let us do so!

LIEUTENANT. Miss Judith's father was a good and noble man.

ALICE. [_To_ CURT] Listen to that!

CURT. "They know not what they do." How many times did I not ask you whether he knew what he was doing? And you didn't think he knew. Therefore, forgive him!

ALICE. Riddles! Riddles! But do you notice that there is peace in the house now? The wonderful peace of death. Wonderful as the solemn anxiety that surrounds the coming of a child into the world. I hear the silence--and on the floor I see the traces of the easy-chair that carried him away--And I feel that now my own life is ended, and I am starting on the road to dissolution! Do you know, it's queer, but those simple words of the Lieutenant--and his is a simple mind--they pursue me, but now they have become serious. My husband, my youth's beloved--yes, perhaps you laugh!--he _was_ a good and noble man--nevertheless!

CURT. Nevertheless? And a brave one--as he fought for his own and his family's existence!

ALICE. What worries! What humiliations! Which he wiped out--in order to pass on!

CURT. He was one who had been passed by! And that is to say much! Alice, go in there!

ALICE. No, I cannot do it! For while we have been talking here, the image of him as he was in his younger years has come back to me--I have seen him, I see him--now, as when he was only twenty--I must have loved that man!

CURT. And hated him!

ALICE. And hated!--Peace be with him!

_Goes toward the right door and stops in front of it,
folding her hands as if to pray_.

_Curtain_.

End of Project Gutenberg's Plays--First Series, by August Strindberg