Plays by August Strindberg Volume II Part 34

Suppose all three of us should leave--go abroad--go to Switzerland and start a hotel together--I have money, you know--and Jean and I could run the whole thing--and you, I thought, could take charge of the kitchen--Wouldn't that be fine!--Say yes, now! And come along with us! Then everything is fixed!--Oh, say yes!

[She puts her arms around CHRISTINE and pats her.]

CHRISTINE. [Coldly and thoughtfully] Hm, hm!

JULIA. [Presto tempo] You have never travelled, Christine--you must get out and have a look at the world. You cannot imagine what fun it is to travel on a train--constantly new people--new countries?- and then we get to Hamburg and take in the Zoological Gardens in pa.s.sing--that's what you like--and then we go to the theatres and to the opera--and when we get to Munich, there, you know, we have a lot of museums, where they keep Rubens and Raphael and all those big painters, you know--Haven't you heard of Munich, where King Louis used to live--the king, you know, that went mad--And then we'll have a look at his castle--he has still some castles that are furnished just as in a fairy tale--and from there it isn't very far to Switzerland--and the Alps, you know--just think of the Alps, with snow on top of them in the middle of the summer--and there you have orange trees and laurels that are green all the year around--

[JEAN is seen in the right wing, sharpening his razor on a strop which he holds between his teeth and his left hand; he listens to the talk with a pleased mien and nods approval now and then.]

JULIA. [Tempo prestissimo] And then we get a hotel--and I sit in the office, while Jean is outside receiving tourists--and goes out marketing--and writes letters--That's a life for you--Then the train whistles, and the 'bus drives up, and it rings upstairs, and it rings in the restaurant--and then I make out the bills--and I am going to salt them, too--You can never imagine how timid tourists are when they come to pay their bills! And you--you will sit like a queen in the kitchen. Of course, you are not going to stand at the stove yourself. And you'll have to dress neatly and nicely in order to show yourself to people--and with your looks--yes, I am not flattering you--you'll catch a husband some fine day--some rich Englishman, you know-?for those fellows are so easy [slowing down]

to catch--and then we grow rich--and we build us a villa at Lake Como--of course, it is raining a little in that place now and then?- but [limply] the sun must be s.h.i.+ning sometimes--although it looks dark--and--then--or else we can go home again--and come back--here?- or some other place--

CHRISTINE. Tell me, Miss Julia, do you believe in all that yourself?

JULIA. [Crushed] Do I believe in it myself?

CHRISTINE. Yes.

JULIA. [Exhausted] I don't know: I believe no longer in anything.

[She sinks down on the bench and drops her head between her arms on the table] Nothing! Nothing at all!

CHRISTINE. [Turns to the right, where JEAN is standing] So you were going to run away!

JEAN. [Abashed, puts the razor on the table] Run away? Well, that's putting it rather strong. You have heard what the young lady proposes, and though she is tired out now by being up all night, it's a proposition that can be put through all right.

CHRISTINE. Now you tell me: did you mean me to act as cook for that one there--?

JEAN. [Sharply] Will you please use decent language in speaking to your mistress! Do you understand?

CHRISTINE. Mistress!

JEAN. Yes!

CHRISTINE. Well, well! Listen to him!

JEAN. Yes, it would be better for you to listen a little more and talk a little less. Miss Julia is your mistress, and what makes you disrespectful to her now should snake you feel the same way about yourself.

CHRISTINE. Oh, I have always had enough respect for myself--

JEAN. To have none for others!

CHRISTINE. --not to go below my own station. You can't say that the count's cook has had anything to do with the groom or the swineherd. You can't say anything of the kind!

JEAN. Yes, it's your luck that you have had to do with a gentleman.

CHRISTINE. Yes, a gentleman who sells the oats out of the count's stable!

JEAN. What's that to you who get a commission on the groceries and bribes from the butcher?

CHRISTINE. What's that?

JEAN. And so you can't respect your master and mistress any longer!

You--you!

CHRISTINE. Are you coming with me to church? I think you need a good sermon on top of such a deed.

JEAN. No, I am not going to church to-day. You can go by yourself and confess your own deeds.

CHRISTINE. Yes, I'll do that, and I'll bring back enough forgiveness to cover you also. The Saviour suffered and died on the cross for all our sins, and if we go to him with a believing heart and a repentant mind, he'll take all our guilt on himself.

JULIA. Do you believe that, Christine?

CHRISTINE. It is my living belief, as sure as I stand here, and the faith of my childhood which I have kept since I was young, Miss Julia. And where sin abounds, grace abounds too.

JULIA. Oh, if I had your faith! Oh, if?-

CHRISTINE. Yes, but you don't get it without the special grace of G.o.d, and that is not bestowed on everybody--

JULIA. On whom is it bestowed then?

CHRISTINE. That's just the great secret of the work of grace, Miss Julia, and the Lord has no regard for persons, but there those that are last shall be the foremost--

JULIA. Yes, but that means he has regard for those that are last.

CHRISTINE. [Going right on] --and it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to get into heaven.

That's the way it is, Miss Julia. Now I am going, however-?alone?- and as I pa.s.s by, I'll tell the stableman not to let out the horses if anybody should like to get away before the count comes home.

Good-bye! [Goes out.]

JEAN. Well, ain't she a devil!--And all this for the sake of a finch!

JULIA. [Apathetically] Never mind the finch!--Can you see any way out of this, any way to end it?

JEAN. [Ponders] No!

JULIA. What would you do in my place?

JEAN. In your place? Let me see. As one of gentle birth, as a woman, as one who has--fallen. I don't know--yes, I do know!

JULIA. [Picking up the razor with a significant gesture] Like this?

JEAN. Yes!--But please observe that I myself wouldn't do it, for there is a difference between us.

JULIA. Because you are a man and I a woman? What is the difference?

JEAN. It is the same--as--that between man and woman.

JULIA. [With the razor in her hand] I want to, but I cannot!--My father couldn't either, that time he should have done it.

JEAN. No, he should not have done it, for he had to get his revenge first.