Have you had great fun? That’s splendid! Oh, really! You’ve been

  giving Emmy and Bob a ride on your sledge!—both at once, only

  think! Why, you’re quite a man, Ivar. Oh, give her to me a little,

  Anna. My sweet little dolly!

  [Takes the smallest from the nurse and dances with her.]

  Yes, yes; mother will dance with Bob too. What! Did you have a

  game of snowballs? Oh, I wish I’d been there. No; leave them,

  Anna; I’ll take their things off. Oh, yes, let me do it; it’s such

  fun. Go to the nursery; you look frozen. You’ll find some hot

  coffee on the stove.

  [The NURSE goes into the room on the left. NORA takes off the children’s

  things and throws them down anywhere, while the children talk all

  together.]

  Really! A big dog ran after you? But he didn’t bite you? No; dogs

  don’t bite dear little dolly children. Don’t peep into those

  parcels, Ivar. What is it? Wouldn’t you like to know? Take care—

  it’ll bite! What? Shall we have a game? What shall we play at?

  Hide-and-seek? Yes, let’s play hide-and-seek. Bob shall hide first.

  Am I to? Yes, let me hide first.

  [She and the children play, with laughter and shouting, in the room and

  the adjacent one to the right. At last NORA hides under the table; the

  children come rushing in, look for her, but cannot find her, hear her half

  choked laughter, rush to the table, lift up the cover and see her. Loud

  shouts. She creeps out, as though to frighten them. Fresh shouts. Meanwhile

  there has been a knock at the door leading into the hall. No one has heard

  it. Now the door is half opened and KROGSTAD appears. He waits a lit

  tle; the game is renewed.]

  KROGSTAD

  I beg your pardon, Mrs. Helmer——

  NORA [With a suppressed cry, turns round and half jumps up.]

  Ah! What do you want?

  KROGSTAD

  Excuse me; the outer door was ajar—somebody must have forgotten to shut it——

  NORA [Standing up.]

  My husband is not at home, Mr. Krogstad.

  KROGSTAD

  I know it.

  NORA

  Then what do you want here?

  KROGSTAD

  To say a few words to you.

  NORA

  To me?

  [To the children, softly.]

  Go in to Anna. What? No, the strange man won’t hurt mamma.

  When he’s gone we’ll go on playing.

  [She leads the children into the left-hand room, and shuts the door behind

  them. Uneasy, in suspense.]

  It is to me you wish to speak?

  KROGSTAD

  Yes, to you.

  NORA

  To-day? But it’s not the first yet——

  KROGSTAD

  No, to-day is Christmas Eve. It will depend upon yourself whether you have a merry Christmas.

  NORA

  What do you want? I’m not ready to-day——

  KROGSTAD

  Never mind that just now. I have come about another matter. You have a minute to spare?

  NORA

  Oh, yes, I suppose so; although——

  KROGSTAD

  Good. I was sitting in the restaurant opposite, and I saw your husband go down the street——

  NORA

  Well?

  KROGSTAD

  ——with a lady.

  NORA

  What then?

  KROGSTAD

  May I ask if the lady was a Mrs. Linden?

  NORA

  Yes.

  KROGSTAD

  Who has just come to town?

  NORA

  Yes. To-day.

  KROGSTAD

  I believe she is an intimate friend of yours.

  NORA

  Certainly. But I don’t understand——

  KROGSTAD

  I used to know her too.

  NORA

  I know you did.

  KROGSTAD

  Ah! You know all about it. I thought as much. Now, frankly, is

  Mrs. Linden to have a place in the Bank?

  NORA

  How dare you catechise me in this way, Mr. Krogstad—you, a

  subordinate of my husband’s? But since you ask, you shall know.

  Yes, Mrs. Linden is to be employed. And it is I who recom

  mended her, Mr. Krogstad. Now you know.

  KROGSTAD

  Then my guess was right.

  NORA [Walking up and down.]

  You see one has a wee bit of influence, after all. It doesn’t follow

  because one’s only a woman——When people are in a

  subordinate position, Mr. Krogstad, they ought really to be

  careful how they offend anybody who—h’m——

  KROGSTAD

  ——who has influence?

  NORA

  Exactly.

  KROGSTAD [Taking another tone.]

  Mrs. Helmer, will you have the kindness to employ your

  influence on my behalf?

  NORA

  What? How do you mean?

  KROGSTAD

  Will you be so good as to see that I retain my subordinate position in the Bank?

  NORA

  What do you mean? Who wants to take it from you?

  KROGSTAD

  Oh, you needn’t pretend ignorance. I can very well understand that it cannot be pleasant for your friend to meet me; and I can also understand now for whose sake I am to be hounded out.

  NORA

  But I assure you——

  KROGSTAD

  Come come now, once for all: there is time yet, and I advise you to use your influence to prevent it.

  NORA

  But, Mr. Krogstad, I have no influence—absolutely none.

  KROGSTAD

  None? I thought you said a moment ago——

  NORA

  Of course not in that sense. I! How can you imagine that I should have any such influence over my husband?

  KROGSTAD

  Oh, I know your husband from our college days. I don’t think he is any more inflexible than other husbands.

  NORA

  If you talk disrespectfully of my husband, I must request you to leave the house.

  KROGSTAD

  You are bold, madam.

  NORA

  I am afraid of you no longer. When New Year’s Day is over, I shall soon be out of the whole business.

  KROGSTAD [Controlling himself.]

  Listen to me, Mrs. Helmer. If need be, I shall fight as though for my life to keep my little place in the Bank.

  NORA

  Yes, so it seems.

  KROGSTAD

  It’s not only for the salary: that is what I care least about. It’s

  something else——Well, I had better make a clean breast of it.

  Of course you know, like every one else, that some years ago I—

  got into trouble.

  NORA

  I think I’ve heard something of the sort.

  KROGSTAD

  The matter never came into court; but from that moment all

  paths were barred to me. Then I took up the business you know

  about. I had to turn my hand to something; and I don’t think I’ve

  been one of the worst. But now I must get clear of it all. My

  sons are growing up; for their sake I must try to recover my

  character as well as I can. This place in the Bank was the first

  step; and now your husband wants to kick me off the ladder,

  back into the mire.

  NORA

  But I assure you, Mr. Krogstad, I haven’t the least power to help you.

  KROGSTAD

  That is because you have not the will; but I can compel you.

  NORA

  You won’t tell my husband that I owe you money?

  KROGSTAD

  H’m; suppose I were to?

  NORA

  It would be shameful of you.

  [With tears in her voice.]

  The secret that is my joy and my pride—that he should learn it

  in such an ugly, coarse way—and from you. It would involve me

  in all sorts of unpleasantness——

  KROGSTAD

  Only unpleasantness.

  NORA [Hotly.]

  But just do it. It’s you that will come off worst, for then my hus

  band will see what a bad man you are, and then you certainly

  won’t keep your place.

  KROGSTAD

  I asked whether it was only domestic unpleasantness you feared?

  NORA

  If my husband gets to know about it, he will of course pay you off at once, and then we shall have nothing more to do with you.

  KROGSTAD [Coming a pace nearer.]

  Listen, Mrs. Helmer: either your memory is defective, or you

  don’t know much about business. I must make the position a lit

  tle clearer to you.

  NORA

  How so?

  KROGSTAD

  When your husband was ill, you came to me to borrow twelve hundred dollars.

  NORA

  I knew of nobody else.

  KROGSTAD

  I promised to find you the money——

  NORA

  And you did find it.

  KROGSTAD

  I promised to find you the money, on certain conditions. You were so much taken up at the time about your husband’s illness, and so eager to have the wherewithal for your journey, that you probably did not give much thought to the details. Allow me to remind you of them. I promised to find you the amount in exchange for a note of hand, which I drew up.

  NORA

  Yes, and I signed it.

  KROGSTAD

  Quite right. But then I added a few lines, making your father security for the debt. Your father was to sign this.

  NORA

  Was to——? He did sign it!

  KROGSTAD

  I had left the date blank. That is to say, your father was himself to date his signature. Do you recollect that?

  NORA

  Yes, I believe——

  KROGSTAD

  Then I gave you the paper to send to your father, by post. Is not that so?

  NORA

  Yes.

  KROGSTAD

  And of course you did so at once; for within five or six days you brought me back the document with your father’s signature; and I handed you the money.

  NORA

  Well? Have I not made my payments punctually?

  KROGSTAD

  Fairly—yes. But to return to the point: You were in great trouble at the time, Mrs. Helmer.

  NORA

  I was indeed!

  KROGSTAD

  Your father was very ill, I believe?

  NORA

  He was on his death-bed.

  KROGSTAD

  And died soon after?

  NORA

  Yes.

  KROGSTAD

  Tell me, Mrs. Helmer: do you happen to recollect the day of his death? The day of the month, I mean?

  NORA

  Father died on the 29th of September.

  KROGSTAD

  Quite correct. I have made inquiries. And here comes in the

  remarkable point—

  [Produces a paper]

  which I cannot explain.

  NORA

  What remarkable point? I don’t know——

  KROGSTAD

  The remarkable point, madam, that your father signed this paper three days after his death!

  NORA

  What! I don’t understand——

  KROGSTAD

  Your father died on the 29th of September. But look here: he has

  dated his signature October 2nd! Is not that remarkable, Mrs.

  Helmer?

  [NORA is silent.]

  Can you explain it?

  [NORA continues silent.]

  It is noteworthy, too, that the words “October 2nd” and the year

  are not in your father’s handwriting, but in one which I believe I

  know. Well, this may be explained; your father may have

  forgotten to date his signature, and somebody may have added

  the date at random, before the fact of your father’s death was

  known. There is nothing wrong in that. Everything depends on

  the signature. Of course it is genuine, Mrs. Helmer? It was really

  your father himself who wrote his name here?

  NORA [After a short silence, throws her head back and looks defiantly at him.]

  No, it was not. I wrote father’s name.

  KROGSTAD

  Ah!—Are you aware, madam, that that is a dangerous admission?

  NORA

  How so? You will soon get your money.

  KROGSTAD

  May I ask you one more question? Why did you not send the paper to your father?

  NORA

  It was impossible. Father was ill. If I had asked him for his signature, I should have had to tell him why I wanted the money; but he was so ill I really could not tell him that my husband’s life was in danger. It was impossible.

  KROGSTAD

  Then it would have been better to have given up your tour.

  NORA

  No, I couldn’t do that; my husband’s life depended on that journey. I couldn’t give it up.

  KROGSTAD

  And did it never occur to you that you were playing me false?

  NORA

  That was nothing to me. I didn’t care in the least about you. I couldn’t endure you for all the cruel difficulties you made, although you knew how ill my husband was.

  KROGSTAD

  Mrs. Helmer, you evidently do not realise what you have been guilty of. But I can assure you it was nothing more and nothing worse that made me an outcast from society.

  NORA

  You! You want me to believe that you did a brave thing to save your wife’s life?

  KROGSTAD

  The law takes no account of motives.

  NORA

  Then it must be a very bad law.

  KROGSTAD

  Bad or not, if I produce this document in court, you will be condemned according to law.

  NORA

  I don’t believe that. Do you mean to tell me that a daughter has no right to spare her dying father trouble and anxiety?—that a wife has no right to save her husband’s life? I don’t know much about the law, but I’m sure you’ll find, somewhere or another, that that is allowed. And you don’t know that—you, a lawyer! You must be a bad one, Mr. Krogstad.

  KROGSTAD

  Possibly. But business—such business as ours—I do understand.

  You believe that? Very well; now do as you please. But this I may

  tell you, that if I am flung into the gutter a second time, you

  shall keep me company.

  [Bows and goes out through hall.]

  NORA [Stands a while thinking, then tosses her head.]

  Oh nonsense! He wants to frighten me. I’m not so foolish as that.

  [Begins folding the children’s clothes. Pauses.]

  But——? No, it’s impossible! Why, I did it for love!

  CHILDREN [At the door, left.]

  Mamma, the strange man has gone now.

  NORA

  Yes, yes, I know. But don’t tell any one about the strange man.

  Do you hear? Not even papa!

  CHILDREN

  No, mamma; and now will you play with us again?

  NORA

  No, no; not now.

  CHILDREN

  Oh, do, mamma; you know you promised.

  NORA

  Yes, but I can’t just now. Run to the nursery; I have so much to

  do. Run along, run along, and be good, my darlings!

  [She pushes them gently into the inner room, and closes the door behind

  them. Sits on the sofa, embroiders a few stitches, but soon pauses.]

  No!

  [Throws down the work, rises, goes to the hall door and calls out.]

  Ellen, bring in the Christmas-tree!

  [Goes to table, left, and opens the drawer; again pauses.]

  No, it’s quite impossible!

  ELLEN [With Christmas-tree.] Where shall I stand it, ma’am?

  NORA

  There, in the middle of the room.

  ELLEN

  Shall I bring in anything else?

  NORA

  No, thank you, I have all I want.

  [ELLEN, having put down the tree, goes out.]

  NORA [Busy dressing the tree.]

  There must be a candle here—and flowers there.—That horrible

  man! Nonsense, nonsense! there’s nothing to be afraid of. The

  Christmas-tree shall be beautiful. I’ll do everything to please

  you, Torvald; I’ll sing and dance, and——

  Enter HELMER by the hall door, with a bundle of documents.

  NORA

  Oh. You’re back already?