Curtain

Same stage setting, but the day is cloudy and it is raining outside.

ALICE and CURT enter from the background, wearing rain coats and carrying umbrellas.

ALICE. At last I have got you to come here! But, I cannot be so cruel as to wish you welcome to your own home——

CURT. Oh, why not? I have passed through three forced sales—and worse than that—It doesn't matter to me.

ALICE. Did he call you?

CURT. It was a formal command, but on what basis I don't understand.

ALICE. Why, he is not your superior!

CURT. No, but he has made himself king of the island. And if there be any resistance, he has only to mention the Colonel's name, and everybody submits. Tell me, is it to-day the Colonel is coming?

ALICE. He is expected—but I know nothing with certainty—Sit down, please.

CURT. [Sitting down] Nothing has been changed here.

ALICE. Don't think of it! Don't renew the pain!

CURT. The pain? I find it merely a little strange. Strange as the man himself. Do you know, when I made his acquaintance as a boy, I fled him. But he was after me. Flattered, offered services, and surrounded me with ties—I repeated my attempt at escape, but in vain—And now I am his slave!

ALICE. And why? He owes you a debt, but you appear as the debtor.

CURT. Since I lost all I had, he has offered me help in getting Allan through his examinations——

ALICE. For which you will have to pay dearly! You are still a candidate for the Riksdag?

CURT. Yes, and, so far as I can see, there is nothing in my way. [Silence.

ALICE. Is Allan really going to leave to-day?

CURT. Yes, if I cannot prevent it.

ALICE. That was a short-lived happiness.

CURT. Short-lived as everything but life itself, which lasts all too long.

ALICE. Too long, indeed!—Won't you come in and wait in the sitting-room? Even if it does not trouble you, it troubles me—these surroundings!

CURT. If you wish it——

ALICE. I feel ashamed, so ashamed that I could wish to die—but I can alter nothing!

CURT. Let us go then—as you wish it.

ALICE. And somebody is coming too.

[They go out to the left.

The CAPTAIN and ALLAN enter from the background, both in uniform and wearing cloaks.

CAPTAIN. Sit down, my boy, and let me have a talk with you. [Sits down in the easy-chair.

[ALLAN sits down on the chair to the left.

CAPTAIN. It's raining to-day—otherwise I could sit here comfortably and look at the sea. [Silence] Well?—You don't like to go, do you?

ALLAN. I don't like to leave my father.

CAPTAIN. Yes, your father—he is rather an unfortunate man. [Silence] And parents rarely understand the true welfare of their children. That is to say—there are exceptions, of course. Hm! Tell me, Allan, have you any communication with your mother?

ALLAN. Yes, she writes now and then——

CAPTAIN. Do you know that she is your guardian?

ALLAN. Yes.

CAPTAIN. Now, Allan, do you know that your mother has authorised me to act in her place?

ALLAN. I didn't know that!

CAPTAIN. Well, you know it now. And, therefore, all discussions concerning your career are done with—And you are going to Norrland.

ALLAN. But I have no money.

CAPTAIN. I have arranged for what you need.

ALLAN. All I can do then is to thank you, Uncle.

CAPTAIN. Yes, you are grateful—which everybody is not. Hm!—[Raising his voice] The Colonel—do you know the Colonel?

ALLAN. [Embarrassed] No, I don't.

CAPTAIN. [With emphasis] The Colonel—is my special friend—[a little more hurriedly] as you know, perhaps. Hm! The Colonel has wished to show his interest in my family, including my wife's relatives. Through his intercession, the Colonel has been able to provide the means needed for the completion of your course. Now you understand the obligation under which you and your father are placed toward the Colonel. Have I spoken with sufficient plainness? [ALLAN bows] Go and pack your things now. The money will be handed to you at the landing. And now good-bye, my boy. [Holds out a finger to ALLAN] Good-bye then.

[Rises and goes out to the right.

[ALLAN, alone, stands still, looking sadly around the room.

JUDITH. [Enters from the background, wearing a hooded rain coat and carrying an umbrella; otherwise exquisitely dressed, in long skirt and with her hair put up] Is that you, Allan!

ALLAN. [Turning around, surveys JUDITH carefully] Is that you, Judith?

JUDITH. You don't know me any longer? Where have you been all this time? What are you looking at? My long dress—and my hair—You have not seen me like this before?

ALLAN. No-o——

JUDITH. Do I look like a married woman?

[ALLAN turns away from her.

JUDITH. [Earnestly] What are you doing here?

ALLAN. I am saying good-bye.

JUDITH. What? You are going—away?

ALLAN. I am transferred to Norrland.

JUDITH. [Dumfounded] To Norrland? When are you going?

ALLAN. To-day.

JUDITH. Whose doing is this?

ALLAN. Your father's.

JUDITH. That's what I thought! [Walks up and down the floor, stamping her feet] I wish you had stayed over to-day.

ALLAN. In order to meet the Colonel?

JUDITH. What do you know about the Colonel?—Is it certain that you are going?

ALLAN. There is no other choice. And now I want it myself. [Silence.

JUDITH. Why do you want it now?

ALLAN. I want to get away from here—out into the world!

JUDITH. It's too close here? Yes, Allan, I understand you—it's unbearable here—here, where they speculate—in soda and human beings! [Silence.

JUDITH. [With genuine emotion] As you know, Allan, I possess that fortunate nature which cannot suffer—but—now I am learning!

ALLAN. You?

JUDITH. Yes—now it's beginning! [She presses both hands to her breast] Oh, how it hurts—oh!

ALLAN. What is it?

JUDITH. I don't know—I choke—I think I'm going to die!

ALLAN. Judith?

JUDITH. [Crying out] Oh! Is this the way it feels? Is this the way—poor boys!

ALLAN. I should smile, if I were as cruel as you are.

JUDITH. I am not cruel, but I didn't know better—You must not go!

ALLAN. I have to!

JUDITH. Go then—but give me a keepsake!

ALLAN. What have I to give you?

JUDITH. [With all the seriousness of deepest suffering] You!—No, I can never live through this! [Cries out, pressing her breast with both hands] I suffer, I suffer—What have you done to me? I don't want to live any longer! Allan, don't go—not alone! Let us go together—we'll take the small boat, the little white one—and we'll sail far out, with the main sheet made fast—the wind is high—and we sail till we founder out there, way out, where there is no eelgrass and no jelly-fish—What do you say?—But we should have washed the sails yesterday—they should be white as snow—for I want to see white in that moment—and you swim with your arm about me until you grow tired—and then we sink—[Turning around] There would be style in that, a good deal more style than in going about here lamenting and smuggling letters that will be opened and jeered at by father—Allan! [She takes hold of both his arms and shakes him] Do you hear?

ALLAN. [Who has been watching her with shining eyes] Judith! Judith! Why were you not like this before?

JUDITH. I didn't know—how could I tell what I didn't know?

ALLAN. And now I must go away from you! But I suppose it is the better, the only thing! I cannot compete with a man—like——

JUDITH. Don't speak of the Colonel!

ALLAN. Is it not true?

JUDITH. It is true—and it is not true.

ALLAN. Can it become wholly untrue?

JUDITH. Yes, so it shall—within an hour!

ALLAN. And you keep your word? I can wait, I can suffer, I can work—Judith!

JUDITH. Don't go yet! How long must I wait?

ALLAN. A year.

JUDITH. [Exultantly] One? I shall wait a thousand years, and if you do not come then, I shall turn the dome of heaven upside down and make the sun rise in the west—Hush, somebody is coming! Allan, we must part—take me into your arms! [They embrace each other] But you must not kiss me. [Turns her head away] There, go now! Go now!

ALLAN goes toward the background and puts on his cloak. Then they rush into each other's arms so that JUDITH disappears beneath the cloak, and for a moment they exchange kisses. ALLAN rushes out. JUDITH throws herself face downward on the sofa and sobs.

ALLAN. [Comes back and kneels beside the sofa] No, I cannot go! I cannot go away from you—not now!

JUDITH. [Rising] If you could only see how beautiful you are now! If you could only see yourself!

ALLAN. Oh, no, a man cannot be beautiful. But you, Judith! You—that you—oh, I saw that, when you were kind, another Judith appeared—and she's mine!—But if you don't keep faith with me now, then I shall die!

JUDITH. I think I am dying even now—Oh, that I might die now, just now, when I am so happy——

ALLAN. Somebody is coming!

JUDITH. Let them come! I fear nothing in the world hereafter. But I wish you could take me along under your cloak. [She hides herself in play under his cloak] And then I should fly with you to Norrland. What are we to do in Norrland? Become a Fusilier—one of those that wear plumes on their hats? There's style in that, and it will be becoming to you.

[Plays with his hair.

ALLAN kisses the tips of her fingers, one by one—and then he kisses her shoe.

JUDITH. What are you doing, Mr. Madcap? Your lips will get black. [Rising impetuously] And then I cannot kiss you when you go! Come, and I'll go with you!

ALLAN. No, then I should be placed under arrest.

JUDITH. I'll go with you to the guard-room.

ALLAN. They wouldn't let you! We must part now!

JUDITH. I am going to swim after the steamer—and then you jump in and save me—and it gets into the newspapers, and we become engaged. Shall we do that?

ALLAN. You can still jest?

JUDITH. There will always be time for tears—Say good-bye now!——

They rush into each other's arms; then ALLAN withdraws slowly through the door in the background, JUDITH following him; the door remains open after them; they embrace again outside, in the rain.

ALLAN. You'll get wet, Judith.

JUDITH. What do I care!

They tear themselves away from each other. ALLAN leaves. JUDITH remains behind, exposing herself to the rain and to the wind, which strains at her hair and her clothes while she is waving her handkerchief. Then JUDITH runs back into the room and throws herself on the sofa, with her face buried in her hands.

ALICE. [Enters and goes over to JUDITH] What is this?—Get up and let me look at you.

[JUDITH sits up.

ALICE. [Scrutinising her] You are not sick—And I am not going to console you. [Goes out to the right.

The LIEUTENANT enters from the background.

JUDITH. [Gets up and puts on the hooded coat] Come along to the telegraph office, Lieutenant.

LIEUTENANT. If I can be of any service—but I don't think it's quite proper——

JUDITH. So much the better! I want you to compromise me—but without any illusions on your part—Go ahead, please! [They go out through the background.

The CAPTAIN and ALICE enter from the right; he is in undress uniform.

CAPTAIN. [Sits down in the easy-chair] Let him come in.

ALICE goes over to the door on the left and opens it, whereupon she sits down on the sofa.

CURT. [Enters from the left] You want to speak to me?

CAPTAIN. [Pleasantly, but somewhat condescendingly] Yes, I have quite a number of important things to tell you. Sit down.

CURT. [Sits down on the chair to the left] I am all ears.

CAPTAIN. Well, then!—[Bumptiously] You know that our quarantine system has been neglected during nearly a century—hm!

ALICE. [To CURT] That's the candidate for the Riksdag who speaks now.

CAPTAIN. But with the tremendous development witnessed by our own day in——

ALICE. [To CURT] The communications, of course!

CAPTAIN.—all kinds of ways the government has begun to consider improvements. And for this purpose the Board of Health has appointed inspectors—hm!

ALICE. [To CURT] He's giving dictation.

CAPTAIN. You may as well learn it now as later—I have been appointed an inspector of quarantines. [Silence.

CURT. I congratulate—and pay my respects to my superior at the same time.

CAPTAIN. On account of ties of kinship our personal relations will remain unchanged. However—to speak of other things—At my request your son Allan has been transferred to an infantry regiment in Norrland.

CURT. But I don't want it.

CAPTAIN. Your will in this case is subordinate to the mother's wishes—and as the mother has authorised me to decide, I have formed this decision.

CURT. I admire you!

CAPTAIN. Is that the only feeling you experience at this moment when you are to part from your son? Have you no other purely human feelings?

CURT. You mean that I ought to be suffering?

CAPTAIN. Yes.

CURT. It would please you if I suffered. You wish me to suffer.

CAPTAIN. You suffer?—Once I was taken sick—you were present and I can still remember that your face expressed nothing but undisguised pleasure.

ALICE. That is not true! Curt sat beside your bed all night and calmed you down when your qualms of conscience became too violent—but when you recovered you ceased to be thankful for it——

CAPTAIN. [Pretending not to hear Alice] Consequently Allan will have to leave us.

CURT. And who is going to pay for it?

CAPTAIN. I have done so already—that is to say, we—a syndicate of people interested in the young man's future.

CURT. A syndicate?

CAPTAIN. Yes—and to make sure that everything is all right you can look over these subscription lists.

[Hands him some papers.

CURT. Lists? [Reading the papers] These are begging letters?

CAPTAIN. Call them what you please.

CURT. Have you gone begging on behalf of my son?

CAPTAIN. Are you ungrateful again? An ungrateful man is the heaviest burden borne by the earth.

CURT. Then I am dead socially! And my candidacy is done for!

CAPTAIN. What candidacy?

CURT. For the Riksdag, of course.

CAPTAIN. I hope you never had any such notions—particularly as you might have guessed that I, as an older resident, intended to offer my own services, which you seem to underestimate.

CURT. Oh, well, then that's gone, too!

CAPTAIN. It doesn't seem to trouble you very much.

CURT. Now you have taken everything—do you want more?

CAPTAIN. Have you anything more? And have you anything to reproach me with? Consider carefully if you have anything to reproach me with.

CURT. Strictly speaking, no! Everything has been correct and legal as it should be between honest citizens in the course of daily life——

CAPTAIN. You say this with a resignation which I would call cynical. But your entire nature has a cynical bent, my dear Curt, and there are moments when I feel tempted to share Alice's opinion of you—that you are a hypocrite, a hypocrite of the first water.

CURT. [Calmly] So that's Alice's opinion?

ALICE. [To CURT] It was—once. But not now, for it takes true heroism to bear what you have borne—or it takes something else!

CAPTAIN. Now I think the discussion may be regarded as closed. You, Curt, had better go and say good-bye to Allan, who is leaving with the next boat.

CURT. [Rising] So soon? Well, I have gone through worse things than that.

CAPTAIN. You say that so often that I am beginning to wonder what you went through in America?

CURT. What I went through? I went through misfortunes. And it is the unmistakable right of every human being to suffer misfortune.

CAPTAIN. [Sharply] There are self-inflicted misfortunes—were yours of that kind?

CURT. Is not this a question of conscience?

CAPTAIN. [Brusquely] Do you mean to say you have a conscience?

CURT. There are wolves and there are sheep, and no human being is honoured by being a sheep. But I'd rather be that than a wolf!

CAPTAIN. You don't recognise the old truth, that everybody is the maker of his own fortune?

CURT. Is that a truth?

CAPTAIN. And you don't know that a man's own strength——

CURT. Yes, I know that from the night when your own strength failed you, and you lay flat on the floor.

CAPTAIN. [Raising his voice] A deserving man like myself —yes, look at me—For fifty years I have fought—against a world—but at last I have won the game, by perseverance, loyalty, energy, and—integrity!

ALICE. You should leave that to be said by others!

CAPTAIN. The others won't say it because they are jealous. However—we are expecting company—my daughter Judith will to-day meet her intended—Where is Judith?

ALICE. She is out.

CAPTAIN. In the rain? Send for her.

CURT. Perhaps I may go now?

CAPTAIN. No, you had better stay. Is Judith dressed—Properly?

ALICE. Oh, so-so—Have you definite word from the Colonel that he is coming?

CAPTAIN. [Rising] Yes—that is to say, he will take us by surprise, as it is termed. And I am expecting a telegram from him—any moment. [Goes to the right] I'll be back at once.

ALICE. There you see him as he is! Can he be called human?

CURT. When you asked that question once before, I answered no. Now I believe him to be the commonest kind of human being of the sort that possess the earth. Perhaps we, too, are of the same kind—making use of other people and of favourable opportunities?

ALICE. He has eaten you and yours alive—and you defend him?

CURT. I have suffered worse things. And this man-eater has left my soul unharmed—that he couldn't swallow!

ALICE. What "worse" have you suffered?

CURT. And you ask that?

ALICE. Do you wish to be rude?

CURT. No, I don't wish to—and therefore—don't ask again!

CAPTAIN. [Enters from the right] The telegram was already there, however—Please read it, Alice, for I cannot see—[Seats himself pompously in the easy-chair] Read it! You need not go, Curt.

ALICE glances through the telegram quickly and looks perplexed.

CAPTAIN. Well? Don't you find it pleasing?

[ALICE stares in silence at the CAPTAIN.

CAPTAIN. [Ironically] Who is it from?

ALICE. From the Colonel.

CAPTAIN. [With self-satisfaction] So I thought—and what does the Colonel say?

ALICE. This is what he says: "On account of Miss Judith's impertinent communication over the telephone, I consider the relationship ended—for ever!"

[Looks intently at the CAPTAIN.

CAPTAIN. Once more, if you please.

ALICE. [Reads rapidly] "On account of Miss Judith's impertinent communication over the telephone, I consider the relationship ended—for ever!"

CAPTAIN. [Turns pale] It is Judith!

ALICE. And there is Holofernes!

CAPTAIN. And what are you?

ALICE. Soon you will see!

CAPTAIN. This is your doing!

ALICE. No!

CAPTAIN. [In a rage] This is your doing!

ALICE. No! [The Captain tries to rise and draw his sabre, but falls back, touched by an apoplectic stroke] There you got what was coming to you!

CAPTAIN. [With senile tears in his voice] Don't be angry at me—I am very sick——

ALICE. Are you? I am glad to hear it.

CURT. Let us put him to bed.

ALICE. No, I don't want to touch him. [Rings.

CAPTAIN. [As before] You must not be angry at me! [To CURT] Look after my children!

CURT. This is sublime! I am to look after his children, and he has stolen mine!

ALICE. Always the same self-deception!

CAPTAIN. Look after my children! [Continues to mumble unintelligibly] Blub-blub-blub-blub.

ALICE. At last that tongue is checked! Can brag no more, lie no more, wound no more! You, Curt, who believe in God, give Him thanks on my behalf. Thank Him for my liberation from the tower, from the wolf, from the vampire!

CURT. Not that way, Alice!

ALICE. [With her face close to the CAPTAIN's] Where is your own strength now? Tell me? Where is your energy? [The CAPTAIN, speechless, spits in her face] Oh, you can still squirt venom, you viper—then I'll tear the tongue out of your throat! [Cuffs him on the ear] The head is off, but still it blushes!—O, Judith, glorious girl, whom I have carried like vengeance under my heart—you, you have set us free, all of us!—? If you have more heads than one, Hydra, we'll take them! [Pulls his beard] Think only that justice exists on the earth! Sometimes I dreamed it, but I could never believe it. Curt, ask God to pardon me for misjudging Him. Oh, there is justice! So I will become a sheep, too! Tell Him that, Curt! A little success makes us better, but adversity alone turns us into wolves.

The LIEUTENANT enters from the background.

ALICE. The Captain has had a stroke—will you please help us to roll out the chair?

LIEUTENANT. Madam——

ALICE. What is it?

LIEUTENANT. Well, Miss Judith——

ALICE. Help us with this first—then you can speak of Miss Judith afterward.

[The LIEUTENANT rolls out the chair to the right.

ALICE. Away with the carcass! Out with it, and let's open the doors! The place must be aired! [Opens the doors in the background; the sky has cleared] Ugh!

CURT. Are you going to desert him?

ALICE. A wrecked ship is deserted, and the crew save their lives—I'll not act as undertaker to a rotting beast! Drainmen and dissectors may dispose of him! A garden bed would be too good for that barrowful of filth! Now I am going to wash and bathe myself in order to get rid of all this impurity—if I can ever cleanse myself completely!

JUDITH is seen outside, by the balustrade, waving her handkerchief toward the sea.

CURT. [Toward the background] Who is there? Judith! [Calls out] Judith!

JUDITH.[Cries out as she enters] He is gone!

CURT. Who?

JUDITH. Allan is gone!

CURT. Without saying good-bye?

JUDITH. He did to me, and he sent his love to you, Uncle.

ALICE. Oh, that was it!

JUDITH. [Throwing herself into CURT's arms] He is gone!

CURT. He will come back, little girl.

ALICE. Or we will go after him!

CURT. [With a gesture indicating the door on the right] And leave him? What would the world——

ALICE. The world—bah! Judith, come into my arms! [JUDITH goes up to ALICE, who kisses her on the forehead] Do you want to go after him?

JUDITH. How can you ask?

ALICE. But your father is sick.

JUDITH. What do I care!

ALICE. This is Judith! Oh, I love you, Judith!

JUDITH. And besides, papa is never mean—and he doesn't like cuddling. There's style to papa, after all.

ALICE. Yes, in a way!

JUDITH. And I don't think he is longing for me after that telephone message—Well, why should he pester me with an old fellow? No, Allan, Allan! [Throws herself into CURT's arms] I want to go to Allan!

Tears herself loose again and runs out to wave her handkerchief

[CURT follows her and waves his handkerchief also.

ALICE. Think of it, that flowers can grow out of dirt!

The LIEUTENANT in from the right.

ALICE. Well?

LIEUTENANT. Yes, Miss Judith——

ALICE. Is the feeling of those letters that form her name so sweet on your lips that it makes you forget him who is dying?

LIEUTENANT. Yes, but she said——

ALICE. She? Say rather Judith then! But first of all—how goes it in there?

LIEUTENANT. Oh, in there—it's all over!

ALICE. All over? O, God, on my own behalf and that of all mankind, I thank Thee for having freed us from this evil! Your arm, if you please—I want to go outside and get a breath—breathe!

[The LIEUTENANT offers his arm.

ALICE. [Checks herself] Did he say anything before the end came?

LIEUTENANT. Miss Judith's father spoke a few words only.

ALICE. What did he say?

LIEUTENANT. He said: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

ALICE. Inconceivable!

LIEUTENANT. Yes, Miss Judith's father was a good and noble man.

ALICE. Curt!

CURT Enters.

ALICE. It is over!

CURT. Oh!

ALICE. Do you know what his last words were? No, you can never guess it. "Forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

CURT. Can you translate it?

ALICE. I suppose he meant that he had always done right and died as one that had been wronged by life.

CURT. I am sure his funeral sermon will be fine.

ALICE. And plenty of flowers—from the non-commissioned officers.

CURT. Yes.

ALICE. About a year ago he said something like this: "It looks to me as if life were a tremendous hoax played on all of us!"

CURT. Do you mean to imply that he was playing a hoax on us up to the very moment of death?

ALICE. No—but now, when he is dead, I feel a strange inclination to speak well of him.

CURT. Well, let us do so!

LIEUTENANT. Miss Judith's father was a good and noble man.

ALICE. [To CURT] Listen to that!

CURT. "They know not what they do." How many times did I not ask you whether he knew what he was doing? And you didn't think he knew. Therefore, forgive him!

ALICE. Riddles! Riddles! But do you notice that there is peace in the house now? The wonderful peace of death. Wonderful as the solemn anxiety that surrounds the coming of a child into the world. I hear the silence—and on the floor I see the traces of the easy-chair that carried him away—And I feel that now my own life is ended, and I am starting on the road to dissolution! Do you know, it's queer, but those simple words of the Lieutenant—and his is a simple mind—they pursue me, but now they have become serious. My husband, my youth's beloved—yes, perhaps you laugh!—he was a good and noble man—nevertheless!

CURT. Nevertheless? And a brave one—as he fought for his own and his family's existence!

ALICE. What worries! What humiliations! Which he wiped out—in order to pass on!

CURT. He was one who had been passed by! And that is to say much! Alice, go in there!

ALICE. No, I cannot do it! For while we have been talking here, the image of him as he was in his younger years has come back to me—I have seen him, I see him—now, as when he was only twenty—I must have loved that man!

CURT. And hated him!

ALICE. And hated!—Peace be with him!

Goes toward the right door and stops in front of it, folding her hands as if to pray.