Ghosts
MRS. ALVING. Oh, you will get through it somehow.
MANDERS. [Softly, so as not to be heard in the dining-room.] Yes; it would not do to provoke scandal.
MRS. ALVING. [Under her breath, but firmly.] No. But then this long, hateful comedy will be ended. From the day after to-morrow, I shall act in every way as though he who is dead had never lived in this house. There shall be no one here but my boy and his mother.
[From the dining-room comes the noise of a chair overturned, and at the same moment is heard:]
REGINA. [Sharply, but in a whisper.] Oswald! take care! are you mad? Let me go!
MRS. ALVING. [Starts in terror.] Ah--
[She stares wildly towards the half-open door. OSWALD is heard laughing and humming. A bottle is uncorked.]
MANDERS. [Agitated.] What can be the matter? What is it, Mrs. Alving?
MRS. ALVING. [Hoarsely.] Ghosts! The couple from the conservatory--risen again!
MANDERS. Is it possible! Regina--? Is she--?
MRS. ALVING. Yes. Come. Not a word--
[She seizes PASTOR MANDERS by the arm, and walks unsteadily towards the dining-room.]
ACT SECOND.
[The same room. The mist still lies heavy over the landscape.]
[MANDERS and MRS. ALVING enter from the dining-room.]
MRS. ALVING. [Still in the doorway.] _Velbekomme_ [Note: A phrase equivalent to the German _Prosit die Mahlzeit_--May good digestion wait on appetite.], Mr. Manders. [Turns back towards the dining-room.] Aren't you coming too, Oswald?
OSWALD. [From within.] No, thank you. I think I shall go out a little.
MRS. ALVING. Yes, do. The weather seems a little brighter now. [She shuts the dining-room door, goes to the hall door, and calls:] Regina!
REGINA. [Outside.] Yes, Mrs. Alving?
MRS. ALVING. Go down to the laundry, and help with the garlands.
REGINA. Yes, Mrs. Alving.
[MRS. ALVING assures herself that REGINA goes; then shuts the door.]
MANDERS. I suppose he cannot overhear us in there?
MRS. ALVING. Not when the door is shut. Besides, he's just going out.
MANDERS. I am still quite upset. I don't know how I could swallow a morsel of dinner.
MRS. ALVING. [Controlling her nervousness, walks up and down.] Nor I. But what is to be done now?
MANDERS. Yes; what is to be done? I am really quite at a loss. I am so utterly without experience in matters of this sort.
MRS. ALVING. I feel sure that, so far, no mischief has been done.
MANDERS. No; heaven forbid! But it is an unseemly state of things, nevertheless.
MRS. ALVING. It is only an idle fancy on Oswald's part; you may be sure of that.
MANDERS. Well, as I say, I am not accustomed to affairs of the kind. But I should certainly think--
MRS. ALVING. Out of the house she must go, and that immediately. That is as clear as daylight--
MANDERS. Yes, of course she must.
MRS. ALVING. But 
 Prev. P 28/81 next 
Back Top
Privacy Statement Terms of Service Contact