John Gabriel Borkman - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
ERHART.
I have found it, already!
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Shrieks.] Erhart! [ERHART goes quickly to the hall door and throws it open.]
ERHART.
[Calls out.] f.a.n.n.y, you can come in now!
[MRS. WILTON, in outdoor wraps, appears on the threshold.
MRS. BORKMAN.
[With uplifted hands.] Mrs. Wilton!
MRS. WILTON.
[Hesitating a little, with an enquiring glance at ERHART.] Do you want me to----?
ERHART.
Yes, now you can come in. I have told them everything.
[MRS. WILTON comes forward into the room. ERHART closes the door behind her. She bows formally to BORKMAN, who returns her bow in silence. A short pause.
MRS. WILTON.
[In a subdued but firm voice.] So the word has been spoken-- and I suppose you all think I have brought a great calamity upon this house?
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Slowly, looking hard at her.] You have crushed the last remnant of interest in life for me. [With an outburst.] But all of this--all this is utterly impossible!
MRS. WILTON.
I can quite understand that it must appear impossible to you, Mrs. Borkman.
MRS. BORKMAN.
Yes, you can surely see for yourself that it is impossible.
Or what----?
MRS. WILTON.
I should rather say that it seems highly improbable. But it's so, none the less.
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Turning.] Are you really in earnest about this, Erhart?
ERHART.
This means happiness for me, mother--all the beauty and happiness of life. That is all I can say to you.
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Clenching her hands together; to MRS. WILTON.] Oh, how you have cajoled and deluded my unhappy son!
MRS. WILTON.
[Raising her head proudly.] I have done nothing of the sort.
MRS. BORKMAN.
You have not, say you!
MRS. WILTON.
No. I have neither cajoled nor deluded him. Erhart came to me of his own free will. And of my own free will I went out half-way to meet him.
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Measuring her scornfully with her eye.] Yes, indeed! That I can easily believe.
MRS. WILTON.
[With self-control.] Mrs. Borkman, there are forces in human life that you seem to know very little about.
MRS. BORKMAN.
What forces, may I ask?
MRS. WILTON.
The forces which ordain that two people shall join their lives together, indissolubly--and fearlessly.
MRS. BORKMAN.
[With a smile.] I thought you were already indissolubly bound-- to another.
MRS. WILTON.
[Shortly.] That other has deserted me.
MRS. BORKMAN.
But he is still living, they say.
MRS. WILTON.
He is dead to me.
ERHART.
[Insistently.] Yes, mother, he is dead to f.a.n.n.y. And besides, this other makes no difference to me!
MRS. BORKMAN.
[Looking sternly at him.] So you know all this--about the other.
ERHART.
Yes, mother, I know quite well--all about it!
MRS. BORKMAN.
And yet you can say that it makes no difference to you?
ERHART.
[With defiant petulance.] I can only tell you that it is happiness I must have! I am young! I want to live, live, live!
MRS. BORKMAN.
Yes, you are young, Erhart. Too young for this.
MRS. WILTON.
[Firmly and earnestly.] You must not think, Mrs. Borkman, that I haven't said the same to him. I have laid my whole life before him. Again and again I have reminded him that I am seven years older than he----
