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Page 27
MOTHER. Spera in Deo. ...
(The Maid comes in, and signs to the MOTHER, who goes over to her.
They whisper together and the maid goes out again.)
OLD MAN. I heard what you said. O God! Must I bear that too!
MOTHER. You needn't see them. You can go up to your room.
OLD MAN. No. It shall be a penance. But why come like this: as
vagabonds?
MOTHER. Perhaps they lost their way and have had much to endure.
OLD MAN. But to bring her husband! Is she lost to shame?
MOTHER. You know Ingeborg's queer nature. She thinks all she does
is fitting, if not right. Have you ever seen her ashamed, or suffer
from a rebuff? I never have. Yet she's not without shame; on the
contrary. And everything she does, however questionable, seems
natural when she does it.
OLD MAN. I've always wondered why one could never be angry with
her. She doesn't feel herself responsible, or think an insult's
directed at her. She seems impersonal; or rather two persons, one
who does nothing but ill whilst the other gives absolution. ... But
this man! There's no one I've hated from afar so much as he. He
sees evil everywhere; and of no one have I heard so much ill.
MOTHER. That's true. But it may be Ingeborg's found some mission in
this man's life; and he in hers. Perhaps they're meant to torture
each other into atonement.
OLD MAN. Perhaps. But I'll have nothing to do with at seems to me
shameful. This man, under my roof! Yet I must accept it, like
everything else. For I've deserved no less.
MOTHER. Very well then. (The LADY and the STRANGER come in.) You're
welcome.
LADY. Thank you, Mother. (She looks over to the OLD MAN, who rises
and looks at the STRANGER.) Peace, Grandfather. This is my husband.
Give him your hand.
OLD MAN. First let me look at him. (He goes to the STRANGER, puts
his hands on his shoulders and looks him in the eyes.) What motives
brought you here?
STRANGER (simply). None, but to keep my wife company, at her
earnest desire.
OLD MAN. If that's true, you're welcome! I've a long and stormy
life behind me, and at last I've found a certain peace in solitude.
I beg you not to trouble it.
STRANGER. I haven't come here to ask favours. I'll take nothing
with me when I go.
OLD MAN. That's not the answer I wanted; for we all need one
another. I perhaps need you. No one can know, young man.
LADY. Grandfather!
OLD MAN. Yes, my child. I shan't wish you happiness, for there's no
such thing; but I wish you strength to bear your destiny. Now I'll
leave you for a little. Your mother will look after you. (He goes
out.)
LADY (to her mother). Did you lay that table for us, Mother?
MOTHER. No, it's a mistake, as you can imagine.
LADY. I know we look wretched. We were lost in the mountains, and
if grandfather hadn't blown his horn...
MOTHER. Your grandfather gave up hunting long ago.
LADY. Then it was someone else. ... Listen, Mother, I'll go up now
to the 'rose' room, and get it straight.
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