TESMAN

  What?

  HEDDA [Going to the glass door.]

  Nothing.

  TESMAN

  Oh, all right. [He goes through the inner room, out to the right.]

  BRACK

  What bonnet were you talking about?

  HEDDA

  Oh, it was a little episode with Miss Tesman this morning. She

  had laid down her bonnet on the chair there—

  [Looks at him and smiles.]

  —and I pretended to think it was the servant’s.

  BRACK [Shaking his head.]

  Now my dear Mrs. Hedda, how could you do such a thing? To that excellent old lady, too!

  HEDDA [Nervously crossing the room.]

  Well, you see—these impulses come over me all of a sudden;

  and I cannot resist them.

  [Throws herself down in the easy-chair by the stove.]

  Oh, I don’t know how to explain it.

  BRACK [Behind the easy-chair.]

  You are not really happy—that is at the bottom of it.

  HEDDA [Looking straight before her.]

  I know of no reason why I should be—happy. Perhaps you can give me one?

  BRACK

  Well—amongst other things, because you have got exactly the home you had set your heart on.

  HEDDA [Looks up at him and laughs.]

  Do you too believe in that legend?

  BRACK

  Is there nothing in it, then?

  HEDDA

  Oh yes, there is something in it.

  BRACK

  Well?

  HEDDA

  There is this in it, that I made use of Tesman to see me home from evening parties last summer——

  BRACK

  I, unfortunately, had to go quite a different way.

  HEDDA

  That’s true. I know you were going a different way last summer.

  BRACK [Laughing.]

  Oh fie, Mrs. Hedda! Well, then—you and Tesman——?

  HEDDA

  Well, we happened to pass here one evening; Tesman, poor fellow, was writhing in the agony of having to find conversation; so I took pity on the learned man——

  BRACK [Smiles doubtfully.]

  You took pity? H’m——

  HEDDA

  Yes, I really did. And so—to help him out of his torment—I happened to say, in pure thoughtlessness, that I should like to live in this villa.

  BRACK

  No more than that?

  HEDDA

  Not that evening.

  BRACK

  But afterwards?

  HEDDA

  Yes, my thoughtlessness had consequences, my dear Judge.

  BRACK

  Unfortunately that too often happens, Mrs. Hedda.

  HEDDA

  Thanks! So you see it was this enthusiasm for Secretary Falk’s villa that first constituted a bond of sympathy between George Tesman and me. From that came our engagement and our marriage, and our wedding journey, and all the rest of it. Well, well, my dear Judge—as you make your bed so you must lie, I could almost say.

  BRACK

  This is exquisite! And you really cared not a rap about it all the time?

  HEDDA

  No, heaven knows I didn’t.

  BRACK

  But now? Now that we have made it so homelike for you?

  HEDDA

  Uh—the rooms all seem to smell of lavender and dried rose-leaves. —But perhaps it’s Aunt Julia that has brought that scent with her.

  BRACK [Laughing.]

  No, I think it must be a legacy from the late Mrs. Secretary Falk.

  HEDDA

  Yes, there is an odour of mortality about it. It reminds me of a bouquet—the day after the ball.

  [Clasps her hands behind her head, leans back in her chair and looks at him.]

  Oh, my dear Judge—you cannot imagine how horribly I shall bore myself here.

  BRACK

  Why should not you, too, find some sort of vocation in life, Mrs. Hedda?

  HEDDA

  A vocation—that should attract me?

  BRACK

  If possible, of course.

  HEDDA

  Heaven knows what sort of a vocation that could be. I often

  wonder whether——

  [Breaking off.]

  But that would never do either.

  BRACK

  Who can tell? Let me hear what it is.

  HEDDA

  Whether I might not get Tesman to go into politics, I mean.

  BRACK [Laughing.]

  Tesman? No really now, political life is not the thing for him—not at all in his line.

  HEDDA

  No, I daresay not.—But if I could get him into it all the same?

  BRACK

  Why—what satisfaction could you find in that? If he is not fitted for that sort of thing, why should you want to drive him into it?

  HEDDA

  Because I am bored, I tell you!

  [After a pause.]

  So you think it quite out of the question that Tesman should ever

  get into the ministry?

  BRACK

  H’m—you see, my dear Mrs. Hedda—to get into the ministry, he would have to be a tolerably rich man.

  HEDDA [Rising impatiently.]

  Yes, there we have it! It is this genteel poverty I have managed to

  drop into——!

  [Crosses the room.]

  That is what makes life so pitiable! So utterly ludicrous!—For

  that’s what it is.

  BRACK

  Now I should say the fault lay elsewhere.

  HEDDA

  Where, then?

  BRACK

  You have never gone through any really stimulating experience.

  HEDDA

  Anything serious, you mean?

  BRACK

  Yes, you may call it so. But now you may perhaps have one in store.

  HEDDA [Tossing her head.]

  Oh, you’re thinking of the annoyances about this wretched professorship! But that must be Tesman’s own affair. I assure you I shall not waste a thought upon it.

  BRACK

  No, no, I daresay not. But suppose now that what people call—in elegant language—a solemn responsibility were to come upon you?

  [Smiling.]

  A new responsibility, Mrs. Hedda?

  HEDDA [Angrily.]

  Be quiet! Nothing of that sort will ever happen!

  BRACK [Warily.]

  We will speak of this again a year hence—at the very outside.

  HEDDA [Curtly.]

  I have no turn for anything of the sort, Judge Brack. No responsibilities for me!

  BRACK

  Are you so unlike the generality of women as to have no turn for duties which——?

  HEDDA [Beside the glass door.]

  Oh, be quiet, I tell you!—I often think there is only one thing in the world I have any turn for.

  BRACK [Drawing near to her.]

  And what is that, if I may ask?

  HEDDA [Stands looking out.]

  Boring myself to death. Now you know it. [Turns, looks towards the inner room, and laughs.] Yes, as I thought! Here comes the Professor.

  BRACK [Softly, in a tone of warning.]

  Come, come, come, Mrs. Hedda!

  GEORGE TESMAN, dressed for the party, with his gloves and hat in his hand, enters from the right through the inner room.

  TESMAN

  Hedda, has no message come from Eilert Lövborg? Eh?

  HEDDA

  No.

  TESMAN

  Then you’ll see he’ll be here presently.

  BRACK

  Do you really think he will come?

  TESMAN

  Yes, I am almost sure of it. For what you were telling us this morning must have been a mere floating rumour.

  BRACK

  You think so?

  TESMAN

  At any rate, Aunt Julia said she did not believe for a moment that he would ever stand in my way again. Fancy that!

  BRACK

  Well then, that’s all right.

  TESMAN [Placing his hat and gloves on a chair on the right.]

  Yes, but you must really let me wait for him as long as possible.

  BRACK

  We have plenty of time yet. None of my guests will arrive before seven or half-past.

  TESMAN

  Then meanwhile we can keep Hedda company, and see what happens. Eh?

  HEDDA [Placing BRACK’s hat and overcoat upon the corner settee.]

  And at the worst Mr. Lövborg can remain here with me.

  BRACK [Offering to take his things.]

  Oh, allow me, Mrs. Tesman!—What do you mean by “At the worst”?

  HEDDA

  If he won’t go with you and Tesman.

  TESMAN. [Looks dubiously at her.]

  But, Hedda dear—do you think it would quite do for him to remain with you? Eh? Remember, Aunt Julia can’t come.

  HEDDA

  No, but Mrs. Elvsted is coming. We three can have a cup of tea together.

  TESMAN

  Oh, yes that will be all right.

  BRACK [Smiling.]

  And that would perhaps be the safest plan for him.

  HEDDA

  Why so?

  BRACK

  Well, you know, Mrs. Tesman, how you used to gird at my little bachelor parties. You declared they were adapted only for men of the strictest principles.

  HEDDA

  But no doubt Mr. Lövborg’s principles are strict enough now. A converted sinner——[BERTA appears at the hall door.]

  BERTA

  There’s a gentleman asking if you are at home, ma’am——

  HEDDA

  Well, show him in.

  TESMAN [Softly.]

  I’m sure it is he! Fancy that!

  EILERT LÖVBORG enters from the hall. He is slim and lean; of the same age as TESMAN, but looks older and somewhat worn-out. His hair and beard are of a blackish brown, his face long and pale, but with patches of colour on the cheek-bones. He is dressed in a well-cut black visiting suit, quite new. He has dark gloves and a silk hat. He stops near the door, and makes a rapid bow, seeming somewhat embarrassed.

  TESMAN [Goes up to him and shakes him warmly by the hand.]

  Well, my dear Eilert—so at last we meet again!

  EILERT LÖVBORG [Speaks in a subdued voice.]

  Thanks for your letter, Tesman.

  [Approaching HEDDA]

  Will you too shake hands with me, Mrs. Tesman?

  HEDDA [Taking his hand.]

  I am glad to see you, Mr. Lövborg.

  [With a motion of her hand.]

  I don’t know whether you two gentlemen——?

  LÖVBORG [Bowing slightly.]

  Judge Brack, I think.

  BRACK [Doing likewise.]

  Oh yes,—in the old days——

  TESMAN [To LÖVBORG, with his hands on his shoulders.]

  And now you must make yourself entirely at home, Eilert!

  Mustn’t he, Hedda?—For I hear you are going to settle in town again? Eh?

  LÖVBORG

  Yes, I am.

  TESMAN

  Quite right, quite right. Let me tell you, I have got hold of your new book; but I haven’t had time to read it yet.

  LÖVBORG

  You may spare yourself the trouble.

  TESMAN

  Why so?

  LÖVBORG

  Because there is very little in it.

  TESMAN

  Just fancy—how can you say so?

  BRACK

  But it has been very much praised, I hear.

  LÖVBORG

  That was what I wanted; so I put nothing into the book but what every one would agree with.

  BRACK

  Very wise of you.

  TESMAN

  Well but, my dear Eilert——!

  LÖVBORG

  For now I mean to win myself a position again—to make a fresh start.

  TESMAN [A little embarrassed.]

  Ah, that is what you wish to do? Eh?

  LÖVBORG [Smiling, lays down his hat, and draws a packet, wrapped in paper, from his coat pocket.]

  But when this one appears, George Tesman, you will have to read it. For this is the real book—the book I have put my true self into.

  TESMAN

  Indeed? And what is it?

  LÖVBORG

  It is the continuation.

  TESMAN

  The continuation? Of what?

  LÖVBORG

  Of the book.

  TESMAN

  Of the new book?

  LÖVBORG

  Of course.

  TESMAN

  Why, my dear Eilert—does it not come down to our own days?

  LÖVBORG

  Yes, it does; and this one deals with the future.

  TESMAN

  With the future! But, good heavens, we know nothing of the future!

  LÖVBORG

  No; but there is a thing or two to be said about it all the

  same.

  [Opens the packet.]

  Look here——

  TESMAN

  Why, that’s not your handwriting.

  LÖVBORG

  I dictated it.

  [Turning over the pages.]

  It falls into two sections. The first deals with the civilising forces

  of the future. And here is the second—

  [running through the pages towards the end]

  —forecasting the probable line of development.

  TESMAN

  How odd now! I should never have thought of writing anything of that sort.

  HEDDA [At the glass door, drumming on the pane.]

  H’m——. I daresay not.

  LÖVBORG [Replacing the manuscript in its paper and laying the packet on the table.]

  I brought it, thinking I might read you a little of it this evening.

  TESMAN

  That was very good of you, Eilert. But this evening——?

  [Looking at BRACK.]

  I don’t quite see how we can manage it——

  LÖVBORG

  Well then, some other time. There is no hurry.

  BRACK

  I must tell you, Mr. Lövborg—there is a little gathering at my house this evening—mainly in honour of Tesman, you know——

  LÖVBORG [Looking for his hat.]

  Oh—then I won’t detain you——

  BRACK

  No, but listen—will you not do me the favour of joining us?

  LÖVBORG [Curtly and decidedly.]

  No, I can’t—thank you very much.

  BRACK

  Oh, nonsense—do! We shall be quite a select little circle. And I assure you we shall have a “lively time,” as Mrs. Hed—as Mrs. Tesman says.

  LÖVBORG

  I have no doubt of it. But nevertheless——

  BRACK

  And then you might bring your manuscript with you, and read it to Tesman at my house. I could give you a room to yourselves.

  TESMAN

  Yes, think of that, Eilert,—why shouldn’t you? Eh?

  HEDDA [Interposing.]

  But, Tesman, if Mr. Lövborg would really rather not! I am sure Mr. Lövborg is much more inclined to remain here and have supper with me.

  LÖVBORG [Looking at her.]

  With you, Mrs. Tesman?

  HEDDA

  And with Mrs. Elvsted.

  LÖVBORG

  Ah——

  [Lightly.]

  I saw her for a moment this morning.

  HEDDA

  Did you? Well, she is coming this evening. So you see you are almost bound to remain, Mr. Lövborg, or she will have no one to see her home.

  LÖVBORG

  That’s true. Many thanks, Mrs. Tesman—in that case I will remain.

  HEDDA

  Then I have one or two orders to give the servant——[She goes to the hall door and rings. BERTA enters. HEDDA talks to her in a whisper, and points towards the inner room. BERTA nods and goes out again.]

  TESMAN [At the same time, to LÖVBORG.]

  Tell me, Eilert—is it this new subject—the future—that you are going to lecture about?

  LÖVBORG

  Yes.

  TESMAN

  They told me at the bookseller’s that you are going to deliver a course of lectures this autumn.

  LÖVBORG

  That is my intention. I hope you won’t take it ill, Tesman.

  TESMAN

  Oh no, not in the least! But——?

  LÖVBORG

  I can quite understand that it must be disagreeable to you.

  TESMAN [Cast down.]

  Oh, I can’t expect you, out of consideration for me, to——

  LÖVBORG