Act Third
The room at the Tesmans’. The curtains are drawn over the middle doorway, and also over the glass door. The lamp, half turned down, and with a shade over it, is burning on the table. In the stove, the door of which stands open, there has been a fire, which is now nearly burnt out.
Mrs. Elvsted, wrapped in a large shawl, and with her feet upon a foot-rest, sits close to the stove, sunk back in the arm-chair. Hedda, fully dressed, lies sleeping upon the sofa, with a sofa-blanket over her.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
After a pause, suddenly sits up in her chair, and listens eagerly. Then she sinks back again wearily, moaning to herself.
Not yet!—Oh God—oh God—not yet!
Berta slips cautiously in by the hall door. She has a letter in her hand.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Turns and whispers eagerly.
Well—has any one come?
Berta
Softly.
Yes, a girl has just brought this letter.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Quickly, holding out her hand.
A letter! Give it to me!
Berta
No, it’s for Dr. Tesman, ma’am.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Oh, indeed.
Berta
It was Miss Tesman’s servant that brought it. I’ll lay it here on the table.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Yes, do.
Berta
Laying down the letter.
I think I had better put out the lamp. It’s smoking.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Yes, put it out. It must soon be daylight now.
Berta
Putting out the lamp.
It is daylight already, ma’am.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Yes, broad day! And no one come back yet—!
Berta
Lord bless you, ma’am—I guessed how it would be.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
You guessed?
Berta
Yes, when I saw that a certain person had come back to town—and that he went off with them. For we’ve heard enough about that gentleman before now.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Don’t speak so loud. You will waken Mrs. Tesman.
Berta
Looks towards the sofa and sighs.
No, no—let her sleep, poor thing. Shan’t I put some wood on the fire?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Thanks, not for me.
Berta
Oh, very well.
She goes softly out by the hall door.
Hedda
Is wakened by the shutting of the door, and looks up.
What’s that—?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
It was only the servant.
Hedda
Looking about her.
Oh, we’re here—! Yes, now I remember.
Sits erect upon the sofa, stretches herself, and rubs her eyes.
What o’clock is it, Thea?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Looks at her watch.
It’s past seven.
Hedda
When did Tesman come home?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
He has not come.
Hedda
Not come home yet?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Rising.
No one has come.
Hedda
Think of our watching and waiting here till four in the morning—
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Wringing her hands.
And how I watched and waited for him!
Hedda
Yawns, and says with her hand before her mouth.
Well well—we might have spared ourselves the trouble.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Did you get a little sleep?
Hedda
Oh yes; I believe I have slept pretty well. Have you not?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Not for a moment. I couldn’t, Hedda!—not to save my life.
Hedda
Rises and goes towards her.
There there there! There’s nothing to be so alarmed about. I understand quite well what has happened.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Well, what do you think? Won’t you tell me?
Hedda
Why, of course it has been a very late affair at Judge Brack’s—
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Yes, yes—that is clear enough. But all the same—
Hedda
And then, you see, Tesman hasn’t cared to come home and ring us up in the middle of the night.
Laughing.
Perhaps he wasn’t inclined to show himself either—immediately after a jollification.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
But in that case—where can he have gone?
Hedda
Of course he has gone to his Aunts’ and slept there. They have his old room ready for him.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
No, he can’t be with them for a letter has just come for him from Miss Tesman. There it lies.
Hedda
Indeed?
Looks at the address.
Why yes, it’s addressed in Aunt Julia’s hand. Well then, he has remained at Judge Brack’s. And as for Eilert Lovborg—he is sitting, with vine-leaves in his hair, reading his manuscript.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Oh, Hedda, you are just saying things you don’t believe a bit.
Hedda
You really are a little blockhead, Thea.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Oh yes, I suppose I am.
Hedda
And how mortally tired you look.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Yes, I am mortally tired.
Hedda
Well then, you must do as I tell you. You must go into my room and lie down for a little while.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Oh no, no—I shouldn’t be able to sleep.
Hedda
I am sure you would.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Well, but you husband is certain to come soon now; and then I want to know at once—
Hedda
I shall take care to let you know when he comes.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Do you promise me, Hedda?
Hedda
Yes, rely upon me. Just you go in and have a sleep in the meantime.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Thanks; then I’ll try.
She goes off to the inner room.
Hedda goes up to the glass door and draws back the curtains. The broad daylight streams into the room. Then she takes a little hand-glass from the writing-table, looks at herself in it, and arranges her hair. Next she goes to the hall door and presses the bell-button.
Berta presently appears at the hall door.
Berta
Did you want anything, ma’am?
Hedda
Yes; you must put some more wood in the stove. I am shivering.
Berta
Bless me—I’ll make up the fire at once.
She rakes the embers together and lays a piece of wood upon them; then stops and listens.
That was a ring at the front door, ma’am.
Hedda
Then go to the door. I will look after the fire.
Berta
It’ll soon burn up.
She goes out by the hall door.
Hedda kneels on the foot-rest and lays some more pieces of wood in the stove.
After a short pause, George Tesman enters from the hall. He steals on tiptoe towards the middle doorway and is about to slip through the curtains.
Hedda
At the stove, without looking up.
Good morning.
Tesman
Turns.
Hedda!
Approaching her.
Good heavens—are you up so early? Eh?
Hedda
Yes, I am up very early this morning.
Tesman
And I never doubted you were still sound asleep! Fancy that, Hedda!
Hedda
Don’t speak so loud. Mrs. Elvsted is resting in my room.
Tesman
Has Mrs. Elvsted been here all night?
Hedda
Yes, since no one came to fetch her.
Tesman
Ah, to be sure.
Hedda
Closes the door of the stove and rises.
Well, did you enjoy yourselves at Judge Brack’s?
Tesman
Have you been anxious about me? Eh?
Hedda
No, I should never think of being anxious. But I asked if you had enjoyed yourself.
Tesman
Oh yes,—for once in a way. Especially the beginning of the evening; for then Eilert read me part of his book. We arrived more than an hour too early—fancy that! And Brack had all sorts of arrangements to make—so Eilert read to me.
Hedda
Seating herself by the table on the right.
Well? Tell me then—
Tesman
Sitting on a footstool near the stove.
Oh, Hedda, you can’t conceive what a book that is going to be! I believe it is one of the most remarkable things that have ever been written. Fancy that!
Hedda
Yes yes; I don’t care about that—
Tesman
I must make a confession to you, Hedda. When he had finished reading—a horrid feeling came over me.
Hedda
A horrid feeling?
Tesman
I felt jealous of Eilert for having had it in him to write such a book. Only think, Hedda!
Hedda
Yes, yes, I am thinking!
Tesman
And then how pitiful to think that he—with all his gifts—should be irreclaimable, after all.
Hedda
I suppose you mean that he has more courage than the rest?
Tesman
No, not at all—I mean that he is incapable of taking his pleasure in moderation.
Hedda
And what came of it all—in the end?
Tesman
Well, to tell the truth, I think it might best be described as an orgie, Hedda.
Hedda
Had he vine-leaves in his hair?
Tesman
Vine-leaves? No, I saw nothing of the sort. But he made a long, rambling speech in honour of the woman who had inspired him in his work—that was the phrase he used.
Hedda
Did he name her?
Tesman
No, he didn’t; but I can’t help thinking he meant Mrs. Elvsted. You may be sure he did.
Hedda
Well—where did you part from him?
Tesman
On the way to town. We broke up—the last of us at any rate—all together; and Brack came with us to get a breath of fresh air. And then, you see, we agreed to take Eilert home; for he had had far more than was good for him.
Hedda
I daresay.
Tesman
But now comes the strange part of it, Hedda; or, I should rather say, the melancholy part of it. I declare I am almost ashamed—on Eilert’s account—to tell you—
Hedda
Oh, go on—!
Tesman
Well, as we were getting near town, you see, I happened to drop a little behind the others. Only for a minute or two—fancy that!
Hedda
Yes yes yes, but—?
Tesman
And then, as I hurried after them—what do you think I found by the wayside? Eh?
Hedda
Oh, how should I know!
Tesman
You mustn’t speak of it to a soul, Hedda! Do you hear! Promise me, for Eilert’s sake.
Draws a parcel, wrapped in paper, from his coat pocket.
Fancy, dear—I found this.
Hedda
Is not that the parcel he had with him yesterday?
Tesman
Yes, it is the whole of his precious, irreplaceable manuscript! And he had gone and lost it, and knew nothing about it. Only fancy, Hedda! So deplorably—
Hedda
But why did you not give him back the parcel at once?
Tesman
I didn’t dare to—in the state he was then in—
Hedda
Did you not tell any of the others that you had found it?
Tesman
Oh, far from it! You can surely understand that, for Eilert’s sake, I wouldn’t do that.
Hedda
So no one knows that Eilert Lovborg’s manuscript is in your possession?
Tesman
No. And no one must know it.
Hedda
Then what did you say to him afterwards?
Tesman
I didn’t talk to him again at all; for when we got in among the streets, he and two or three of the others gave us the slip and disappeared. Fancy that!
Hedda
Indeed! They must have taken him home then.
Tesman
Yes, so it would appear. And Brack, too, left us.
Hedda
And what have you been doing with yourself since?
Tesman
Well, I and some of the others went home with one of the party, a jolly fellow, and took our morning coffee with him; or perhaps I should rather call it our night coffee—eh? But now, when I have rested a little, and given Eilert, poor fellow, time to have his sleep out, I must take this back to him.
Hedda
Holds out her hand for the packet.
No—don’t give it to him! Not in such a hurry, I mean. Let me read it first.
Tesman
No, my dearest Hedda, I mustn’t, I really mustn’t.
Hedda
You must not?
Tesman
No—for you can imagine what a state of despair he will be in when he wakens and misses the manuscript. He has no copy of it, you must know! He told me so.
Hedda
Looking searchingly at him.
Can such a thing not be reproduced? Written over again?
Tesman
No, I don’t think that would be possible. For the inspiration, you see—
Hedda
Yes, yes—I suppose it depends on that—
Lightly.
But, by-the-bye—here is a letter for you.
Tesman
Fancy—!
Hedda
Handing it to him.
It came early this morning.
Tesman
It’s from Aunt Julia! What can it be?
He lays the packet on the other footstool, opens the letter, runs his eye through it, and jumps up.
Oh, Hedda—she says that poor Aunt Rina is dying!
Hedda
Well, we were prepared for that.
Tesman
And that if I want to see her again, I must make haste. I’ll run in to them at once.
Hedda
Suppressing a smile.
Will you run?
Tesman
Oh, my dearest Hedda—if you could only make up your mind to come with me! Just think!
Hedda
Rises and says wearily, repelling the idea.
No, no don’t ask me. I will not look upon sickness and death. I loathe all sorts of ugliness.
Tesman
Well, well, then—!
Bustling around.
My hat—? My overcoat—? Oh, in the hall—. I do hope I mayn’t come too late, Hedda! Eh?
Hedda
Oh, if you run—
Berta appears at the hall door.
Berta
Judge Brack is at the door, and wishes to know if he may come in.
Tesman
At this time! No, I can’t possibly see him.
Hedda
But I can.
To Berta.
Ask Judge Brack to come in.
Berta goes out.
Hedda
Quickly, whispering.
The parcel, Tesman!
She snatches it up from the stool.
Tesman
Yes, give it to me!
Hedda
No, no, I will keep it till you come back.
She goes to the writing-table and places it in the bookcase. Tesman stands in a flurry of haste, and cannot get his gloves on.
Judge Brack enters from the hall.
Hedda
Nodding to him.
You are an early bird, I must say.
Brack
Yes, don’t you think so!
To Tesman.
Are you on the move, too?
Tesman
Yes, I must rush of to my aunts’. Fancy—the invalid one is lying at death’s door, poor creature.
Brack
Dear me, is she indeed? Then on no account let me detain you. At such a critical moment—
Tesman
Yes, I must really rush—Good-bye! Good-bye!
He hastens out by the hall door.
Hedda
Approaching.
You seem to have made a particularly lively night of it at your rooms, Judge Brack.
Brack
I assure you I have not had my clothes off, Mrs. Hedda.
Hedda
Not you, either?
Brack
No, as you may see. But what has Tesman been telling you of the night’s adventures?
Hedda
Oh, some tiresome story. Only that they went and had coffee somewhere or other.
Brack
I have heard about that coffee-party already. Eilert Lovborg was not with them, I fancy?
Hedda
No, they had taken him home before that.
Brack
Tesman too?
Hedda
No, but some of the others, he said.
Brack
Smiling.
George Tesman is really an ingenuous creature, Mrs. Hedda.
Hedda
Yes, heaven knows he is. Then is there something behind all this?
Brack
Yes, perhaps there may be.
Hedda
Well then, sit down, my dear Judge, and tell your story in comfort.
She seats herself to the left of the table. Brack sits near her, at the long side of the table.
Hedda
Now then?
Brack
I had special reasons for keeping track of my guests—last night.
Hedda
Of Eilert Lovborg among the rest, perhaps?
Brack
Frankly, yes.
Hedda
Now you make me really curious—
Brack
Do you know where he and one or two of the others finished the night, Mrs. Hedda?
Hedda
If it is not quite unmentionable, tell me.
Brack
Oh no, it’s not at all unmentionable. Well, they put in an appearance at a particularly animated soiree.
Hedda
Of the lively kind?
Brack
Of the very liveliest—
Hedda
Tell me more of this, Judge Brack—
Brack
Lovborg, as well as the others, had been invited in advance. I knew all about it. But he had declined the invitation; for now, as you know, he has become a new man.
Hedda
Up at the Elvsteds’, yes. But he went after all, then?
Brack
Well, you see, Mrs. Hedda—unhappily the spirit moved him at my rooms last evening—
Hedda
Yes, I hear he found inspiration.
Brack
Pretty violent inspiration. Well, I fancy that altered his purpose; for we menfolk are unfortunately not always so firm in our principles as we ought to be.
Hedda
Oh, I am sure you are an exception, Judge Brack. But as to Lovborg—?
Brack
To make a long story short—he landed at last in Mademoiselle Diana’s rooms.
Hedda
Mademoiselle Diana’s?
Brack
It was Mademoiselle Diana that was giving the soiree, to a select circle of her admirers and her lady friends.
Hedda
Is she a red-haired woman?
Brack
Precisely.
Hedda
A sort of a—singer?
Brack
Oh yes—in her leisure moments. And moreover a mighty huntress—of men—Mrs. Hedda. You have no doubt heard of her. Eilert Lovborg was one of her most enthusiastic protectors—in the days of his glory.
Hedda
And how did all this end?
Brack
Far from amicably, it appears. After a most tender meeting, they seem to have come to blows—
Hedda
Lovborg and she?
Brack
Yes. He accused her or her friends of having robbed him. He declared that his pocket-book had disappeared—and other things as well. In short, he seems to have made a furious disturbance.
Hedda
And what came of it all?
Brack
It came to a general scrimmage, in which the ladies as well as the gentlemen took part. Fortunately the police at last appeared on the scene.
Hedda
The police too?
Brack
Yes. I fancy it will prove a costly frolic for Eilert Lovborg, crazy being that he is.
Hedda
How so?
Brack
He seems to have made a violent resistance—to have hit one of the constables on the head and torn the coat off his back. So they had to march him off to the police-station with the rest.
Hedda
How have you learnt all this?
Brack
From the police themselves.
Hedda
Gazing straight before her.
So that is what happened. Then he had no vine-leaves in his hair.
Brack
Vine-leaves, Mrs. Hedda?
Hedda
Changing her tone.
But tell me now, Judge—what is your real reason for tracking out Eilert Lovborg’s movements so carefully?
Brack
In the first place, it could not be entirely indifferent to me if it should appear in the police-court that he came straight from my house.
Hedda
Will the matter come into court then?
Brack
Of course. However, I should scarcely have troubled so much about that. But I thought that, as a friend of the family, it was my duty to supply you and Tesman with a full account of his nocturnal exploits.
Hedda
Why so, Judge Brack?
Brack
Why, because I have a shrewd suspicion that he intends to use you as a sort of blind.
Hedda
Oh, how can you think such a thing!
Brack
Good heavens, Mrs. Hedda—we have eyes in our head. Mark my words! This Mrs. Elvsted will be in no hurry to leave town again.
Hedda
Well, even if there should be anything between them, I suppose there are plenty of other places where they could meet.
Brack
Not a single home. Henceforth, as before, every respectable house will be closed against Eilert Lovborg.
Hedda
And so ought mine to be, you mean?
Brack
Yes. I confess it would be more than painful to me if this personage were to be made free of your house. How superfluous, how intrusive, he would be, if he were to force his way into—
Hedda
—into the triangle?
Brack
Precisely. It would simply mean that I should find myself homeless.
Hedda
Looks at him with a smile.
So you want to be the one cock in the basket—that is your aim.
Brack
Nods slowly and lowers his voice.
Yes, that is my aim. And for that I will fight—with every weapon I can command.
Hedda
Her smile vanishing.
I see you are a dangerous person—when it comes to the point.
Brack
Do you think so?
Hedda
I am beginning to think so. And I am exceedingly glad to think—that you have no sort of hold over me.
Brack
Laughing equivocally.
Well well, Mrs. Hedda—perhaps you are right there. If I had, who knows what I might be capable of?
Hedda
Come come now, Judge Brack! That sounds almost like a threat.
Brack
Rising.
Oh, not at all! The triangle, you know, ought, if possible, to be spontaneously constructed.
Hedda
There I agree with you.
Brack
Well, now I have said all I had to say; and I had better be getting back to town. Good-bye, Mrs. Hedda.
He goes towards the glass door.
Hedda
Rising.
Are you going through the garden?
Brack
Yes, it’s a short cut for me.
Hedda
And then it is a back way, too.
Brack
Quite so. I have no objection to back ways. They may be piquant enough at times.
Hedda
When there is ball practice going on, you mean?
Brack
In the doorway, laughing to her.
Oh, people don’t shoot their tame poultry, I fancy.
Hedda
Also laughing.
Oh no, when there is only one cock in the basket—
They exchange laughing nods of farewell. He goes. She closes the door behind him.
Hedda, who has become quite serious, stands for a moment looking out. Presently she goes and peeps through the curtain over the middle doorway. Then she goes to the writing-table, takes Lovborg’s packet out of the bookcase, and is on the point of looking through its contents. Berta is heard speaking loudly in the hall. Hedda turns and listens. Then she hastily locks up the packet in the drawer, and lays the key on the inkstand.
Eilert Lovborg, with his greatcoat on and his hat in his hand, tears open the hall door. He looks somewhat confused and irritated.
Lovborg
Looking towards the hall.
and I tell you I must and will come in! There!
He closes the door, turns, sees Hedda, at once regains his self- control, and bows.
Hedda
At the writing-table.
Well, Mr Lovborg, this is rather a late hour to call for Thea.
Lovborg
You mean rather an early hour to call on you. Pray pardon me.
Hedda
How do you know that she is still here?
Lovborg
They told me at her lodgings that she had been out all night.
Hedda
Going to the oval table.
Did you notice anything about the people of the house when they said that?
Lovborg
Looks inquiringly at her.
Notice anything about them?
Hedda
I mean, did they seem to think it odd?
Lovborg
Suddenly understanding.
Oh yes, of course! I am dragging her down with me! However, I didn’t notice anything.—I suppose Tesman is not up yet.
Hedda
No—I think not—
Lovborg
When did he come home?
Hedda
Very late.
Lovborg
Did he tell you anything?
Hedda
Yes, I gathered that you had had an exceedingly jolly evening at Judge Brack’s.
Lovborg
Nothing more?
Hedda
I don’t think so. However, I was so dreadfully sleepy—
Mrs. Elvsted enters through the curtains of the middle doorway.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Going towards him.
Ah, Lovborg! At last—!
Lovborg
Yes, at last. And too late!
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Looks anxiously at him.
What is too late?
Lovborg
Everything is too late now. It is all over with me.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Oh no, no—don’t say that!
Lovborg
You will say the same when you hear—
Mrs
ELVSTED.
I won’t hear anything!
Hedda
Perhaps you would prefer to talk to her alone? If so, I will leave you.
Lovborg
No, stay—you too. I beg you to stay.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Yes, but I won’t hear anything, I tell you.
Lovborg
It is not last night’s adventures that I want to talk about.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
What is it then—?
Lovborg
I want to say that now our ways must part.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Part!
Hedda
Involuntarily.
I knew it!
Lovborg
You can be of no more service to me, Thea.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
How can you stand there and say that! No more service to you! Am I not to help you now, as before? Are we not to go on working together?
Lovborg
Henceforward I shall do no work.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Despairingly.
Then what am I to do with my life?
Lovborg
You must try to live your life as if you had never known me.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
But you know I cannot do that!
Lovborg
Try if you cannot, Thea. You must go home again—
Mrs
ELVSTED.
In vehement protest.
Never in this world! Where you are, there will I be also! I will not let myself be driven away like this! I will remain here! I will be with you when the book appears.
Hedda
Half aloud, in suspense.
Ah yes—the book!
Lovborg
Looks at her.
My book and Thea’s; for that is what it is.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Yes, I feel that it is. And that is why I have a right to be with you when it appears! I will see with my own eyes how respect and honour pour in upon you afresh. And the happiness—the happiness—oh, I must share it with you!
Lovborg
Thea—our book will never appear.
Hedda
Ah!
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Never appear!
Lovborg
Can never appear.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
In agonised foreboding.
Lovborg—what have you done with the manuscript?
Hedda
Looks anxiously at him.
Yes, the manuscript—?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Where is it?
Lovborg
The manuscript—. Well then—I have torn the manuscript into a thousand pieces.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Shrieks.
Oh no, no—!
Hedda
Involuntarily.
But that’s not—
Lovborg
Looks at her.
Not true, you think?
Hedda
Collecting herself.
Oh well, of course—since you say so. But it sounded so improbable—
Lovborg
It is true, all the same.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Wringing her hands.
Oh God—oh God, Hedda—torn his own work to pieces!
Lovborg
I have torn my own life to pieces. So why should I not tear my life-work too—?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
And you did this last night?
Lovborg
Yes, I tell you! Tore it into a thousand pieces—and scattered them on the fiord—far out. There there is cool sea-water at any rate—let them drift upon it—drift with the current and the wind. And then presently they will sink—deeper and deeper—as I shall, Thea.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Do you know, Lovborg, that what you have done with the book—I shall think of it to my dying day as though you had killed a little child.
Lovborg
Yes, you are right. It is a sort of child-murder.
Mrs
ELVSTED.
How could you, then—! Did not the child belong to me too?
Hedda
Almost inaudibly.
Ah, the child—
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Breathing heavily.
It is all over then. Well well, now I will go, Hedda.
Hedda
But you are not going away from town?
Mrs
ELVSTED.
Oh, I don’t know what I shall do. I see nothing but darkness before me.
She goes out by the hall door.
Hedda
Stands waiting for a moment.
So you are not going to see her home, Mr. Lovborg?
Lovborg
I? Through the streets? Would you have people see her walking with me?
Hedda
Of course I don’t know what else may have happened last night. But is it so utterly irretrievable?
Lovborg
It will not end with last night—I know that perfectly well. And the thing is that now I have no taste for that sort of life either. I won’t begin it anew. She has broken my courage and my power of braving life out.
Hedda
Looking straight before her.
So that pretty little fool has had her fingers in a man’s destiny.
Looks at him.
But all the same, how could you treat her so heartlessly.
Lovborg
Oh, don’t say that I was heartless!
Hedda
To go and destroy what has filled her whole soul for months and years! You do not call that heartless!
Lovborg
To you I can tell the truth, Hedda.
Hedda
The truth?
Lovborg
First promise me—give me your word—that what I now confide in you Thea shall never know.
Hedda
I give you my word.
Lovborg
Good. Then let me tell you that what I said just now was untrue.
Hedda
About the manuscript?
Lovborg
Yes. I have not torn it to pieces—nor thrown it into the fiord.
Hedda
No, no—. But—where is it then?
Lovborg
I have destroyed it none the less—utterly destroyed it, Hedda!
Hedda
I don’t understand.
Lovborg
Thea said that what I had done seemed to her like a child-murder.
Hedda
Yes, so she said.
Lovborg
But to kill his child—that is not the worst thing a father can do to it.
Hedda
Not the worst?
Lovborg
Suppose now, Hedda, that a man—in the small hours of the morning—came home to his child’s mother after a night of riot and debauchery, and said: “Listen—I have been here and there—in this place and in that. And I have taken our child with—to this place and to that. And I have lost the child—utterly lost it. The devil knows into what hands it may have fallen—who may have had their clutches on it.”
Hedda
Well—but when all is said and done, you know—this was only a book—
Lovborg
Thea’s pure soul was in that book.
Hedda
Yes, so I understand.
Lovborg
And you can understand, too, that for her and me together no future is possible.
Hedda
What path do you mean to take then?
Lovborg
None. I will only try to make an end of it all—the sooner the better.
Hedda
A step nearer him.
Eilert Lovborg—listen to me.—Will you not try to—to do it beautifully?
Lovborg
Beautifully?
Smiling.
With vine-leaves in my hair, as you used to dream in the old days—?
Hedda
No, no. I have lost my faith in the vine-leaves. But beautifully nevertheless! For once in a way!—Good-bye! You must go now—and do not come here any more.
Lovborg
Good-bye, Mrs. Tesman. And give George Tesman my love.
He is on the point of going.
Hedda
No, wait! I must give you a memento to take with you.
She goes to the writing-table and opens the drawer and the pistol-case; then returns to Lovborg with one of the pistols.
Lovborg
Looks at her.
This? Is this the memento?
Hedda
Nodding slowly.
Do you recognise it? It was aimed at you once.
Lovborg
You should have used it then.
Hedda
Take it—and do you use it now.
Lovborg
Puts the pistol in his breast pocket.
Thanks!
Hedda
And beautifully, Eilert Lovborg. Promise me that!
Lovborg
Good-bye, Hedda Gabler.
He goes out by the hall door.
Hedda listens for a moment at the door. Then she goes up to the writing-table, takes out the packet of manuscript, peeps under the cover, draws a few of the sheets half out, and looks at them. Next she goes over and seats herself in the arm-chair beside the stove, with the packet in her lap. Presently she opens the stove door, and then the packet.
Hedda
Throws one of the quires into the fire and whispers to herself.
Now I am burning your child, Thea!—Burning it, curly-locks!
Throwing one or two more quires into the stove.
Your child and Eilert Lovborg’s.
Throws the rest in.
I am burning—I am burning your child.