Little Eyolf - LightNovelsOnl.com
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BORGHEIM. [With a suppressed outburst of joy.] Will I? Yes, yes!
ASTA. Then come!
RITA. [Slowly.] Ah! That is how it is. Well, then, you cannot stay with us.
ASTA. [Throwing her arms round her neck.] Thanks for everything, Rita!
(Goes up to ALLMERS and grasps his hand.) Alfred-good-bye! A thousand times, good-bye!
ALLMERS. [Softly and eagerly.] What is this, Asta? It seems as though you were taking flight.
ASTA. [In subdued anguish.] Yes, Alfred--I am taking flight.
ALLMERS. Flight--from me!
ASTA. [Whispering.] From you--and from myself.
ALLMERS. [Shrinking back.] Ah--!
[ASTA rushes down the steps at the back. BORGHEIM waves his hat and follows her. RITA leans against the entrance to the summer-house.
ALLMERS goes, in strong inward emotion, up to the railing, and stands there gazing downwards. A pause.]
ALLMERS. [Turns, and says with hard-won composure.] There comes the steamer. Look, Rita.
RITA. I dare not look at it.
ALLMERS. You dare not?
RITA. No. For it has a red eye--and a green one, too. Great, glowing eyes.
ALLMERS. Oh, those are only the lights, you know.
RITA. Henceforth they are eyes--for me. They stare and stare out of the darkness--and into the darkness.
ALLMERS. Now she is putting in to sh.o.r.e.
RITA. Where are they mooring her this evening, then?
ALLMERS. [Coming forward.] At the pier, as usual--
RITA. [Drawing herself up.] How can they moor her there!
ALLMERS. They must.
RITA. But it was there that Eyolf--! How can they moor her there!
ALLMERS. Yes, life is pitiless, Rita.
RITA. Men are heartless. They take no thought--whether for the living or for the dead.
ALLMERS. There you are right. Life goes its own way--just as if nothing in the world had happened.
RITA. [Gazing straight before her.] And nothing has happened, either.
Not to others. Only to us two.
ALLMERS. [The pain re-awakening.] Yes, Rita--so it was to no purpose that you bore him in sorrow and anguish. For now he is gone again--and has left no trace behind him.
RITA. Only the crutch was saved.
ALLMERS. [Angrily.] Be silent! Do not let me hear that word!
RITA. [Plaintively.] Oh, I cannot bear the thought that he is gone from us.
ALLMERS. [Coldly and bitterly.] You could very well do without him while he was with us. Half the day would often pa.s.s without your setting eyes on him.
RITA. Yes, for I knew that I could see him whenever I wanted to.
ALLMERS. Yes, that is how we have gone and squandered the short time we had with Little Eyolf.
RITA. [Listening, in dread.] Do you hear, Alfred! Now it is ringing again!
ALLMERS. [Looking over the fiord.] It is the steamer's bell that is ringing. She is just starting.
RITA. Oh, it's not that bell I mean. All day I have heard it ringing in my ears.--Now it is ringing again!
ALLMERS. [Going up to her.] You are mistaken, Rita.
RITA. No, I hear it so plainly. It sounds like a knell. Slow. Slow. And always the same words.
ALLMERS. Words? What words?
RITA. [Nodding her head in the rhythm.] "The crutch is--floating. The crutch is--floating." Oh, surely you must hear it, too!
ALLMERS. [Shaking his head.] I hear nothing. And there is nothing to hear.
RITA. Oh, you may say what you will--I hear it so plainly.
ALLMERS. [Looking out over the railing.] Now they are on board, Rita.
Now the steamer is on her way to the town.
RITA. Is it possible you do not hear it? "The crutch is--floating. The crutch is ------"
ALLMERS. [Coming forward.] You shall not stand there listening to a sound that does not exist. I tell You, Asta and Borgheim are on board.
They have started already. Asta is gone.
RITA. [Looks timidly at him.] Then I suppose you will soon be gone, too, Alfred?
ALLMERS. [Quickly.] What do you mean by that?
RITA. That you will follow your sister.
