Hedda Gabler - novelonlinefull.com
You’re read light novel Hedda Gabler Part 13 online at NovelOnlineFull.com. Please use the follow button to get notification about the latest chapter next time when you visit NovelOnlineFull.com. Use F11 button to read novel in full-screen(PC only). Drop by anytime you want to read free – fast – latest novel. It’s great if you could leave a comment, share your opinion about the new chapters, new novel with others on the internet. We’ll do our best to bring you the finest, latest novel everyday. Enjoy
TESMAN.
Oh, not at all. How could you think such a thing of Aunt Julia? Just fancy-! The fact is, Aunt Rina is very ill.
HEDDA.
She always is.
TESMAN.
Yes, but to-day she is much worse than usual, poor dear.
HEDDA.
Oh, then it's only natural that her sister should remain with her. I must bear my disappointment.
TESMAN.
And you can't imagine, dear, how delighted Aunt Julia seemed to be- because you had come home looking so flourishing!
HEDDA.
[Half aloud, rising.] Oh, those everlasting Aunts!
TESMAN.
What?
HEDDA.
[Going to the gla.s.s 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 the 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 pa.s.s 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 const.i.tuted 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.
