Chapter XL: Act III

SCENE.--CONSUL BERNICK'S _garden-room again_. KRAP _is
speaking to the_ CONSUL.

KRAP: The _Palm Tree_ can sail to-morrow, but as for
the _Indian Girl_, in my opinion she will not get far. I
have been secretly examining the bottom of the ship,
where the repairs have been pushed on very fast. The
rotten place is patched up, and made to look like new, for
Aune has been working himself all night at it. There is
some villainy at work. I believe Aune wants, out of
revenge for the use of the new machines, to send that
ship to the bottom of the sea.

BERNICK: This is horrible. True, Aune is an agitator
who is spreading discontent, but this is inconceivable.

[KRAP _goes out, and presently_ LONA HESSEL _enters_.

BERNICK: Well, Lona, what do you think of me now?

LONA: Just what I thought before. A lie more or
less----

BERNICK: I can talk to you more confidentially than
to others. I shall hide nothing from you. I had a part
in spreading that rumour about Johan and the cash-box.
But make allowance for me. Our house when I came
home from my foreign tour was threatened with ruin,
and one misfortune followed another. I was almost in
despair, and in my distraction got into that difficulty
which ended with the disappearance of Johan. Then
after you and he left various reports were spread. Some
folks declared that he had taken the money to America.
I was in such difficulty that I did not say a word to contradict
the rumours.

LONA: So a lie has made you one of the pillars of
society.

JOHAN (_entering_): I have come to tell you that I intend
not only to marry Dina Dorf, but to remain here and
to defy all these liars. Yesterday I promised to keep
silence, but now I need the truth. You must set me free
by telling the truth, that I may win Dina.

BERNICK (_in great agitation_): But just reflect on my
position. If you aim such a blow as this at me I am
ruined irretrievably. The welfare of this community is
also at stake. If my credit is not impaired, I shall soon
be a millionaire, when certain company projects mature.
Johan, go away, and I will share with you. I have
staked all I possess on schemes now about to mature, but
if my character is impaired, my utter ruin is inevitable.

To the surprise of Bernick, Johan announces that he will go to America, but will shortly return for Dina, and that accordingly he will sail next day in the _Indian Girl_, the captain having promised to take him. He will sell his farm and be back in two months, and then the guilty one must take the guilt on himself.

JOHAN: The wind is good, and in three weeks I shall
be across the Atlantic unless the _Indian Girl_ should go to
the bottom.

BERNICK (_involuntarily starting_): Go to the bottom?
Why should she?

JOHAN: Yes, indeed, why?

BERNICK (_very softly_): Go to the bottom?

They separate, and Aune enters, and anxiously asks if Bernick is positively determined that the American ship shall sail the next day, on pain of his dismissal. He replies that he supposes the repairs are properly finished, and therefore the _Indian Girl_ must sail. A merchant steps in to say that the storm-signals have been hoisted, for a tempest is threatening. This gentleman says to Bernick that the _Palm Tree_ ought to start all the same, for she is a splendidly-built craft, and she is only to cross the North Sea; but as for the _Indian Girl_, such an old hulk would be in great peril. But Bernick evades the remonstrance, and no alteration is made in the plans of procedure. The ship is to sail.