Act I
Scene.—Dr. Stockmann’s sitting-room. It is evening. The room is plainly but neatly appointed and furnished. In the right-hand wall are two doors; the farther leads out to the hall, the nearer to the doctor’s study. In the left-hand wall, opposite the door leading to the hall, is a door leading to the other rooms occupied by the family. In the middle of the same wall stands the stove, and, further forward, a couch with a looking-glass hanging over it and an oval table in front of it. On the table, a lighted lamp, with a lampshade. At the back of the room, an open door leads to the dining-room. Billing is seen sitting at the dining table, on which a lamp is burning. He has a napkin tucked under his chin, and Mrs. Stockmann is standing by the table handing him a large plate-full of roast beef. The other places at the table are empty, and the table somewhat in disorder, evidently a meal having recently been finished.
Mrs. Stockmann
You see, if you come an hour late, Mr. Billing, you have to put up with cold meat.
Billing
As he eats
It is uncommonly good, thank you—remarkably good.
Mrs. Stockmann
My husband makes such a point of having his meals punctually, you know.
Billing
That doesn’t affect me a bit. Indeed, I almost think I enjoy a meal all the better when I can sit down and eat all by myself, and undisturbed.
Mrs. Stockmann
Oh well, as long as you are enjoying it—.
Turns to the hall door, listening.
I expect that is Mr. Hovstad coming too.
Billing
Very likely.
Peter Stockmann comes in. He wears an overcoat and his official hat, and carries a stick.
Peter Stockmann
Good evening, Katherine.
Mrs. Stockmann
Coming forward into the sitting-room
Ah, good evening—is it you? How good of you to come up and see us!
Peter Stockmann
I happened to be passing, and so—
Looks into the dining-room.
But you have company with you, I see.
Mrs. Stockmann
A little embarrassed
Oh, no—it was quite by chance he came in.
Hurriedly.
Won’t you come in and have something, too?
Peter Stockmann
I! No, thank you. Good gracious—hot meat at night! Not with my digestion.
Mrs. Stockmann
Oh, but just once in a way—
Peter Stockmann
No, no, my dear lady; I stick to my tea and bread and butter. It is much more wholesome in the long run—and a little more economical, too.
Mrs. Stockmann
Smiling
Now you mustn’t think that Thomas and I are spendthrifts.
Peter Stockmann
Not you, my dear; I would never think that of you.
Points to the Doctor’s study.
Is he not at home?
Mrs. Stockmann
No, he went out for a little turn after supper—he and the boys.
Peter Stockmann
I doubt if that is a wise thing to do.
Listens.
I fancy I hear him coming now.
Mrs. Stockmann
No, I don’t think it is he.
A knock is heard at the door.
Come in!
Hovstad comes in from the hall.
Oh, it is you, Mr. Hovstad!
Hovstad
Yes, I hope you will forgive me, but I was delayed at the printers. Good evening, Mr. Mayor.
Peter Stockmann
Bowing a little distantly
Good evening. You have come on business, no doubt.
Hovstad
Partly. It’s about an article for the paper.
Peter Stockmann
So I imagined. I hear my brother has become a prolific contributor to the “People’s Messenger.”
Hovstad
Yes, he is good enough to write in the “People’s Messenger” when he has any home truths to tell.
Mrs. Stockmann
To Hovstad
But won’t you—?
Points to the dining-room.
Peter Stockmann
Quite so, quite so. I don’t blame him in the least, as a writer, for addressing himself to the quarters where he will find the readiest sympathy. And, besides that, I personally have no reason to bear any ill will to your paper, Mr. Hovstad.
Hovstad
I quite agree with you.
Peter Stockmann
Taking one thing with another, there is an excellent spirit of toleration in the town—an admirable municipal spirit. And it all springs from the fact of our having a great common interest to unite us—an interest that is in an equally high degree the concern of every right-minded citizen.
Hovstad
The Baths, yes.
Peter Stockmann
Exactly—-our fine, new, handsome Baths. Mark my words, Mr. Hovstad—the Baths will become the focus of our municipal life! Not a doubt of it!
Mrs. Stockmann
That is just what Thomas says.
Peter Stockmann
Think how extraordinarily the place has developed within the last year or two! Money has been flowing in, and there is some life and some business doing in the town. Houses and landed property are rising in value every day.
Hovstad
And unemployment is diminishing,
Peter Stockmann
Yes, that is another thing. The burden on the poor rates has been lightened, to the great relief of the propertied classes; and that relief will be even greater if only we get a really good summer this year, and lots of visitors—plenty of invalids, who will make the Baths talked about.
Hovstad
And there is a good prospect of that, I hear.
Peter Stockmann
It looks very promising. Inquiries about apartments and that sort of thing are reaching us, every day.
Hovstad
Well, the doctor’s article will come in very suitably.
Peter Stockmann
Has he been writing something just lately?
Hovstad
This is something he wrote in the winter; a recommendation of the Baths—an account of the excellent sanitary conditions here. But I held the article over, temporarily.
Peter Stockmann
Ah,—some little difficulty about it, I suppose?
Hovstad
No, not at all; I thought it would be better to wait until the spring, because it is just at this time that people begin to think seriously about their summer quarters.
Peter Stockmann
Quite right; you were perfectly right, Mr. Hovstad.
Hovstad
Yes, Thomas is really indefatigable when it is a question of the Baths.
Peter Stockmann
Well remember, he is the Medical Officer to the Baths.
Hovstad
Yes, and what is more, they owe their existence to him.
Peter Stockmann
To him? Indeed! It is true I have heard from time to time that some people are of that opinion. At the same time I must say I imagined that I took a modest part in the enterprise.
Mrs. Stockmann
Yes, that is what Thomas is always saying.
Hovstad
But who denies it, Mr. Stockmann? You set the thing going and made a practical concern of it; we all know that. I only meant that the idea of it came first from the doctor.
Peter Stockmann
Oh, ideas yes! My brother has had plenty of them in his time—unfortunately. But when it is a question of putting an idea into practical shape, you have to apply to a man of different mettle, Mr. Hovstad. And I certainly should have thought that in this house at least...
Mrs. Stockmann
My dear Peter—
Hovstad
How can you think that—?
Mrs. Stockmann
Won’t you go in and have something, Mr. Hovstad? My husband is sure to be back directly.
Hovstad
Thank you, perhaps just a morsel.
Goes into the dining-room.
Peter Stockmann
Lowering his voice a little
It is a curious thing that these farmers’ sons never seem to lose their want of tact.
Mrs. Stockmann
Surely it is not worth bothering about! Cannot you and Thomas share the credit as brothers?
Peter Stockmann
I should have thought so; but apparently some people are not satisfied with a share.
Mrs. Stockmann
What nonsense! You and Thomas get on so capitally together.
Listens.
There he is at last, I think.
Goes out and opens the door leading to the hall.
Dr. Stockmann
Laughing and talking outside
Look here—here is another guest for you, Katherine. Isn’t that jolly! Come in, Captain Horster; hang your coat up on this peg. Ah, you don’t wear an overcoat. Just think, Katherine; I met him in the street and could hardly persuade him to come up!
Captain Horster comes into the room and greets Mrs. Stockmann. He is followed by Dr. Stockmann.
Come along in, boys. They are ravenously hungry again, you know. Come along, Captain Horster; you must have a slice of beef.
Pushes Horster into the dining-room. Ejlif and Morten go in after them.
Mrs. Stockmann
But, Thomas, don’t you see—?
Dr. Stockmann
Turning in the doorway
Oh, is it you, Peter?
Shakes hands with him.
Now that is very delightful.
Peter Stockmann
Unfortunately I must go in a moment—
Dr. Stockmann
Rubbish! There is some toddy just coming in. You haven’t forgotten the toddy, Katherine?
Mrs. Stockmann
Of course not; the water is boiling now.
Goes into the dining-room.
Peter Stockmann
Toddy too!
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, sit down and we will have it comfortably.
Peter Stockmann
Thanks, I never care about an evening’s drinking.
Dr. Stockmann
But this isn’t an evening’s drinking.
Peter Stockmann
It seems to me—.
Looks towards the dining-room.
It is extraordinary how they can put away all that food.
Dr. Stockmann
Rubbing his hands
Yes, isn’t it splendid to see young people eat? They have always got an appetite, you know! That’s as it should be. Lots of food—to build up their strength! They are the people who are going to stir up the fermenting forces of the future, Peter.
Peter Stockmann
May I ask what they will find here to “stir up,” as you put it?
Dr. Stockmann
Ah, you must ask the young people that—when the times comes. We shan’t be able to see it, of course. That stands to reason—two old fogies, like us.
Peter Stockmann
Really, really! I must say that is an extremely odd expression to—
Dr. Stockmann
Oh, you mustn’t take me too literally, Peter. I am so heartily happy and contented, you know. I think it is such an extraordinary piece of good fortune to be in the middle of all this growing, germinating life. It is a splendid time to live in! It is as if a whole new world were being created around one.
Peter Stockmann
Do you really think so?
Dr. Stockmann
Ah, naturally you can’t appreciate it as keenly as I. You have lived all your life in these surroundings, and your impressions have been blunted. But I, who have been buried all these years in my little corner up north, almost without ever seeing a stranger who might bring new ideas with him—well, in my case it has just the same effect as if I had been transported into the middle of a crowded city.
Peter Stockmann
Oh, a city—!
Dr. Stockmann
I know, I know; it is all cramped enough here, compared with many other places. But there is life here—there is promise—there are innumerable things to work for and fight for; and that is the main thing.
Calls.
Katherine, hasn’t the postman been here?
Mrs. Stockmann
From the dining-room
No.
Dr. Stockmann
And then to be comfortably off, Peter! That is something one learns to value, when one has been on the brink of starvation, as we have.
Peter Stockmann
Oh, surely—
Dr. Stockmann
Indeed I can assure you we have often been very hard put to it, up there. And now to be able to live like a lord! Today, for instance, we had roast beef for dinner—and, what is more, for supper too. Won’t you come and have a little bit? Or let me show it you, at any rate? Come here—
Peter Stockmann
No, no—not for worlds!
Dr. Stockmann
Well, but just come here then. Do you see, we have got a table-cover?
Peter Stockmann
Yes, I noticed it.
Dr. Stockmann
And we have got a lamp-shade too. Do you see? All out of Katherine’s savings! It makes the room so cosy. Don’t you think so? Just stand here for a moment—no, no, not there—just here, that’s it! Look now, when you get the light on it altogether. I really think it looks very nice, doesn’t it?
Peter Stockmann
Oh, if you can afford luxuries of this kind—
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, I can afford it now. Katherine tells me I earn almost as much as we spend.
Peter Stockmann
Almost—yes!
Dr. Stockmann
But a scientific man must live in a little bit of style. I am quite sure an ordinary civil servant spends more in a year than I do.
Peter Stockmann
I daresay. A civil servant—a man in a well-paid position...
Dr. Stockmann
Well, any ordinary merchant, then! A man in that position spends two or three times as much as—
Peter Stockmann
It just depends on circumstances.
Dr. Stockmann
At all events I assure you I don’t waste money unprofitably. But I can’t find it in my heart to deny myself the pleasure of entertaining my friends. I need that sort of thing, you know. I have lived for so long shut out of it all, that it is a necessity of life to me to mix with young, eager, ambitious men, men of liberal and active minds; and that describes every one of those fellows who are enjoying their supper in there. I wish you knew more of Hovstad.
Peter Stockmann
By the way, Hovstad was telling me he was going to print another article of yours.
Dr. Stockmann
An article of mine?
Peter Stockmann
Yes, about the Baths. An article you wrote in the winter.
Dr. Stockmann
Oh, that one! No, I don’t intend that to appear just for the present.
Peter Stockmann
Why not? It seems to me that this would be the most opportune moment.
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, very likely—under normal conditions.
Crosses the room.
Peter Stockmann
Following him with his eyes
Is there anything abnormal about the present conditions?
Dr. Stockmann
Standing still
To tell you the truth, Peter, I can’t say just at this moment—at all events not tonight. There may be much that is very abnormal about the present conditions—and it is possible there may be nothing abnormal about them at all. It is quite possible it may be merely my imagination.
Peter Stockmann
I must say it all sounds most mysterious. Is there something going on that I am to be kept in ignorance of? I should have imagined that I, as Chairman of the governing body of the Baths—
Dr. Stockmann
And I should have imagined that I—. Oh, come, don’t let us fly out at one another, Peter.
Peter Stockmann
Heaven forbid! I am not in the habit of flying out at people, as you call it. But I am entitled to request most emphatically that all arrangements shall be made in a businesslike manner, through the proper channels, and shall be dealt with by the legally constituted authorities. I can allow no going behind our backs by any roundabout means.
Dr. Stockmann
Have I ever at any time tried to go behind your backs?
Peter Stockmann
You have an ingrained tendency to take your own way, at all events; and, that is almost equally inadmissible in a well ordered community. The individual ought undoubtedly to acquiesce in subordinating himself to the community—or, to speak more accurately, to the authorities who have the care of the community’s welfare.
Dr. Stockmann
Very likely. But what the deuce has all this got to do with me?
Peter Stockmann
That is exactly what you never appear to be willing to learn, my dear Thomas. But, mark my words, some day you will have to suffer for it—sooner or later. Now I have told you. Good-bye.
Dr. Stockmann
Have you taken leave of your senses? You are on the wrong scent altogether.
Peter Stockmann
I am not usually that. You must excuse me now if I—
Calls into the dining-room.
Good night, Katherine. Good night, gentlemen.
Goes out.
Mrs. Stockmann
Coming from the dining-room
Has he gone?
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, and in such a bad temper.
Mrs. Stockmann
But, dear Thomas, what have you been doing to him again?
Dr. Stockmann
Nothing at all. And, anyhow, he can’t oblige me to make my report before the proper time.
Mrs. Stockmann
What have you got to make a report to him about?
Dr. Stockmann
Hm! Leave that to me, Katherine. It is an extraordinary thing that the postman doesn’t come.
Hovstad, Billing and Horster have got up from the table and come into the sitting-room. Ejlif and Morten come in after them.
Billing
Stretching himself
Ah!—one feels a new man after a meal like that.
Hovstad
The mayor wasn’t in a very sweet temper tonight, then.
Dr. Stockmann
It is his stomach; he has wretched digestion.
Hovstad
I rather think it was us two of the “People’s Messenger” that he couldn’t digest.
Mrs. Stockmann
I thought you came out of it pretty well with him.
Hovstad
Oh yes; but it isn’t anything more than a sort of truce.
Billing
That is just what it is! That word sums up the situation.
Dr. Stockmann
We must remember that Peter is a lonely man, poor chap. He has no home comforts of any kind; nothing but everlasting business. And all that infernal weak tea wash that he pours into himself! Now then, my boys, bring chairs up to the table. Aren’t we going to have that toddy, Katherine?
Mrs. Stockmann
Going into the dining-room
I am just getting it.
Dr. Stockmann
Sit down here on the couch beside me, Captain Horster. We so seldom see you. Please sit down, my friends.
They sit down at the table. Mrs. Stockmann brings a tray, with a spirit-lamp, glasses, bottles, etc., upon it.
Mrs. Stockmann
There you are! This is arrack, and this is rum, and this one is the brandy. Now every one must help themselves.
Dr. Stockmann
Taking a glass
We will.
They all mix themselves some toddy.
And let us have the cigars. Ejlif, you know where the box is. And you, Morten, can fetch my pipe.
The two boys go into the room on the right.
I have a suspicion that Ejlif pockets a cigar now and then!—but I take no notice of it.
Calls out.
And my smoking-cap too, Morten. Katherine, you can tell him where I left it. Ah, he has got it.
The boys bring the various things.
Now, my friends. I stick to my pipe, you know. This one has seen plenty of bad weather with me up north.
Touches glasses with them.
Your good health! Ah, it is good to be sitting snug and warm here.
Mrs. Stockmann
Who sits knitting
Do you sail soon, Captain Horster?
Horster
I expect to be ready to sail next week.
Mrs. Stockmann
I suppose you are going to America?
Horster
Yes, that is the plan.
Mrs. Stockmann
Then you won’t be able to take part in the coming election?
Horster
Is there going to be an election?
Billing
Didn’t you know?
Horster
No, I don’t mix myself up with those things.
Billing
But do you not take an interest in public affairs?
Horster
No, I don’t know anything about politics.
Billing
All the same, one ought to vote, at any rate.
Horster
Even if one doesn’t know anything about what is going on?
Billing
Doesn’t know! What do you mean by that? A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.
Horster
Maybe that is all very well on shore; but on board ship it wouldn’t work.
Hovstad
It is astonishing how little most sailors care about what goes on on shore.
Billing
Very extraordinary.
Dr. Stockmann
Sailors are like birds of passage; they feel equally at home in any latitude. And that is only an additional reason for our being all the more keen, Hovstad. Is there to be anything of public interest in tomorrow’s “Messenger”?
Hovstad
Nothing about municipal affairs. But the day after tomorrow I was thinking of printing your article—
Dr. Stockmann
Ah, devil take it—my article! Look here, that must wait a bit.
Hovstad
Really? We had just got convenient space for it, and I thought it was just the opportune moment—
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, yes, very likely you are right; but it must wait all the same. I will explain to you later.
Petra comes in from the hall, in hat and cloak and with a bundle of exercise books under her arm.
Petra
Good evening.
Dr. Stockmann
Good evening, Petra; come along.
Mutual greetings; Petra takes off her things and puts them down on a chair by the door.
Petra
And you have all been sitting here enjoying yourselves, while I have been out slaving!
Dr. Stockmann
Well, come and enjoy yourself too!
Billing
May I mix a glass for you?
Petra
Coming to the table
Thanks, I would rather do it; you always mix it too strong. But I forgot, father—I have a letter for you.
Goes to the chair where she has laid her things.
Dr. Stockmann
A letter? From whom?
Petra
Looking in her coat pocket
The postman gave it to me just as I was going out.
Dr. Stockmann
Getting up and going to her
And you only give to me now!
Petra
I really had not time to run up again. There it is!
Dr. Stockmann
Seizing the letter
Let’s see, let’s see, child!
Looks at the address.
Yes, that’s all right!
Mrs. Stockmann
Is it the one you have been expecting go anxiously, Thomas?
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, it is. I must go to my room now and—Where shall I get a light, Katherine? Is there no lamp in my room again?
Mrs. Stockmann
Yes, your lamp is already lit on your desk.
Dr. Stockmann
Good, good. Excuse me for a moment—,
Goes into his study.
Petra
What do you suppose it is, mother?
Mrs. Stockmann
I don’t know; for the last day or two he has always been asking if the postman has not been.
Billing
Probably some country patient.
Petra
Poor old dad!—he will overwork himself soon.
Mixes a glass for herself.
There, that will taste good!
Hovstad
Have you been teaching in the evening school again today?
Petra
Sipping from her glass
Two hours.
Billing
And four hours of school in the morning?
Petra
Five hours.
Mrs. Stockmann
And you have still got exercises to correct, I see.
Petra
A whole heap, yes.
Horster
You are pretty full up with work too, it seems to me.
Petra
Yes—but that is good. One is so delightfully tired after it.
Billing
Do you like that?
Petra
Yes, because one sleeps so well then.
Morten
You must be dreadfully wicked, Petra.
Petra
Wicked?
Morten
Yes, because you work so much. Mr. Rorlund says work is a punishment for our sins.
Ejlif
Pooh, what a duffer, you are, to believe a thing like that!
Mrs. Stockmann
Come, come, Ejlif!
Billing
Laughing
That’s capital!
Hovstad
Don’t you want to work as hard as that, Morten?
Morten
No, indeed I don’t.
Hovstad
What do you want to be, then?
Morten
I should like best to be a Viking,
Ejlif
You would have to be a pagan then.
Morten
Well, I could become a pagan, couldn’t I?
Billing
I agree with you, Morten! My sentiments, exactly.
Mrs. Stockmann
Signalling to him
I am sure that is not true, Mr. Billing.
Billing
Yes, I swear it is! I am a pagan, and I am proud of it. Believe me, before long we shall all be pagans.
Morten
And then shall be allowed to do anything we like?
Billing
Well, you’ll see, Morten.
Mrs. Stockmann
You must go to your room now, boys; I am sure you have some lessons to learn for tomorrow.
Ejlif
I should like so much to stay a little longer—
Mrs. Stockmann
No, no; away you go, both of you,
The boys say good night and go into the room on the left.
Hovstad
Do you really think it can do the boys any harm to hear such things?
Mrs. Stockmann
I don’t know; but I don’t like it.
Petra
But you know, mother, I think you really are wrong about it.
Mrs. Stockmann
Maybe, but I don’t like it—not in our own home.
Petra
There is so much falsehood both at home and at school. At home one must not speak, and at school we have to stand and tell lies to the children.
Horster
Tell lies?
Petra
Yes, don’t you suppose we have to teach them all sorts of things that we don’t believe?
Billing
That is perfectly true.
Petra
If only I had the means, I would start a school of my own; and it would be conducted on very different lines.
Billing
Oh, bother the means—!
Horster
Well if you are thinking of that, Miss Stockmann, I shall be delighted to provide you with a schoolroom. The great big old house my father left me is standing almost empty; there is an immense dining-room downstairs—
Petra
Laughing
Thank you very much; but I am afraid nothing will come of it.
Hovstad
No, Miss Petra is much more likely to take to journalism, I expect. By the way, have you had time to do anything with that English story you promised to translate for us?
Petra
No, not yet, but you shall have it in good time.
Dr. Stockmann comes in from his room with an open letter in his hand.
Dr. Stockmann
Waving the letter
Well, now the town will have something new to talk about, I can tell you!
Billing
Something new?
Mrs. Stockmann
What is this?
Dr. Stockmann
A great discovery, Katherine.
Hovstad
Really?
Mrs. Stockmann
A discovery of yours?
Dr. Stockmann
A discovery of mine.
Walks up and down.
Just let them come saying, as usual, that it is all fancy and a crazy man’s imagination! But they will be careful what they say this time, I can tell you!
Petra
But, father, tell us what it is.
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, yes—only give me time, and you shall know all about it. If only I had Peter here now! It just shows how we men can go about forming our judgments, when in reality we are as blind as any moles—
Hovstad
What are you driving at, Doctor?
Dr. Stockmann
Standing still by the table
Isn’t it the universal opinion that our town is a healthy spot?
Hovstad
Certainly.
Dr. Stockmann
Quite an unusually healthy spot, in fact—a place that deserves to be recommended in the warmest possible manner either for invalids or for people who are well—
Mrs. Stockmann
Yes, but my dear Thomas—
Dr. Stockmann
And we have been recommending it and praising it—I have written and written, both in the “Messenger” and in pamphlets...
Hovstad
Well, what then?
Dr. Stockmann
And the Baths—we have called them the “main artery of the town’s life-blood,” the “nerve-centre of our town,” and the devil knows what else—
Billing
“The town’s pulsating heart” was the expression I once used on an important occasion.
Dr. Stockmann
Quite so. Well, do you know what they really are, these great, splendid, much praised Baths, that have cost so much money—do you know what they are?
Hovstad
No, what are they?
Mrs. Stockmann
Yes, what are they?
Dr. Stockmann
The whole place is a pest-house!
Petra
The Baths, father?
Mrs. Stockmann
At the same time
Our Baths?
Hovstad
But, Doctor—
Billing
Absolutely incredible!
Dr. Stockmann
The whole Bath establishment is a whited, poisoned sepulchre, I tell you—the gravest possible danger to the public health! All the nastiness up at Molledal, all that stinking filth, is infecting the water in the conduit-pipes leading to the reservoir; and the same cursed, filthy poison oozes out on the shore too—
Horster
Where the bathing-place is?
Dr. Stockmann
Just there.
Hovstad
How do you come to be so certain of all this, Doctor?
Dr. Stockmann
I have investigated the matter most conscientiously. For a long time past I have suspected something of the kind. Last year we had some very strange cases of illness among the visitors—typhoid cases, and cases of gastric fever—
Mrs. Stockmann
Yes, that is quite true.
Dr. Stockmann
At the time, we supposed the visitors had been infected before they came; but later on, in the winter, I began to have a different opinion; and so I set myself to examine the water, as well as I could.
Mrs. Stockmann
Then that is what you have been so busy with?
Dr. Stockmann
Indeed I have been busy, Katherine. But here I had none of the necessary scientific apparatus; so I sent samples, both of the drinking-water and of the sea-water, up to the University, to have an accurate analysis made by a chemist.
Hovstad
And have you got that?
Dr. Stockmann
Showing him the letter
Here it is! It proves the presence of decomposing organic matter in the water—it is full of infusoria. The water is absolutely dangerous to use, either internally or externally.
Mrs. Stockmann
What a mercy you discovered it in time.
Dr. Stockmann
You may well say so.
Hovstad
And what do you propose to do now, Doctor?
Dr. Stockmann
To see the matter put right, naturally.
Hovstad
Can that be done?
Dr. Stockmann
It must be done. Otherwise the Baths will be absolutely useless and wasted. But we need not anticipate that; I have a very clear idea what we shall have to do.
Mrs. Stockmann
But why have you kept this all so secret, dear?
Dr. Stockmann
Do you suppose I was going to run about the town gossiping about it, before I had absolute proof? No, thank you. I am not such a fool.
Petra
Still, you might have told us—
Dr. Stockmann
Not a living soul. But tomorrow you may run around to the old Badger—
Mrs. Stockmann
Oh, Thomas! Thomas!
Dr. Stockmann
Well, to your grandfather, then. The old boy will have something to be astonished at! I know he thinks I am cracked—and there are lots of other people who think so too, I have noticed. But now these good folks shall see—they shall just see!
Walks about, rubbing his hands.
There will be a nice upset in the town, Katherine; you can’t imagine what it will be. All the conduit-pipes will have to be relaid.
Hovstad
Getting up
All the conduit-pipes—?
Dr. Stockmann
Yes, of course. The intake is too low down; it will have to be lifted to a position much higher up.
Petra
Then you were right after all.
Dr. Stockmann
Ah, you remember, Petra—I wrote opposing the plans before the work was begun. But at that time no one would listen to me. Well, I am going to let them have it now. Of course I have prepared a report for the Baths Committee; I have had it ready for a week, and was only waiting for this to come.
Shows the letter.
Now it shall go off at once.
Goes into his room and comes back with some papers.
Look at that! Four closely written sheets!—and the letter shall go with them. Give me a bit of paper, Katherine—something to wrap them up in. That will do! Now give it to-to-
Stamps his foot
—what the deuce is her name?—give it to the maid, and tell her to take it at once to the Mayor.
Mrs. Stockmann takes the packet and goes out through the dining-room.
Petra
What do you think Uncle Peter will say, father?
Dr. Stockmann
What is there for him to say? I should think he would be very glad that such an important truth has been brought to light.
Hovstad
Will you let me print a short note about your discovery in the “Messenger?”
Dr. Stockmann
I shall be very much obliged if you will.
Hovstad
It is very desirable that the public should be informed of it without delay.
Dr. Stockmann
Certainly.
Mrs. Stockmann
Coming back
She has just gone with it.
Billing
Upon my soul, Doctor, you are going to be the foremost man in the town!
Dr. Stockmann
Walking about happily
Nonsense! As a matter of fact I have done nothing more than my duty. I have only made a lucky find—that’s all. Still, all the same...
Billing
Hovstad, don’t you think the town ought to give Dr. Stockmann some sort of testimonial?
Hovstad
I will suggest it, anyway.
Billing
And I will speak to Aslaksen about it.
Dr. Stockmann
No, my good friends, don’t let us have any of that nonsense. I won’t hear anything of the kind. And if the Baths Committee should think of voting me an increase of salary, I will not accept it. Do you hear, Katherine?—I won’t accept it.
Mrs. Stockmann
You are quite right, Thomas.
Petra
Lifting her glass
Your health, father!
Hovstad and Billing
Your health, Doctor! Good health!
Horster
Touches glasses with Dr. Stockmann
I hope it will bring you nothing but good luck.
Dr. Stockmann
Thank you, thank you, my dear fellows! I feel tremendously happy! It is a splendid thing for a man to be able to feel that he has done a service to his native town and to his fellow-citizens. Hurrah, Katherine!
He puts his arms round her and whirls her round and round, while she protests with laughing cries. They all laugh, clap their hands, and cheer the Doctor. The boys put their heads in at the door to see what is going on.