A Doll's House Page 2

  MRS LINDE: I believe he was quite well off. But his business was a precarious one; and, when he died, it all went to pieces and there was nothing left.

  NORA: And then—?

  MRS LINDE: Well, I had to turn my hand to anything I could find—first a small shop, then a small school, and so on. The last three years have seemed like one long working-day, with no rest. Now it is at an end, Nora. My poor mother needs me no more, for she is gone; and the boys do not need me either; they have got situations and can shift for themselves.

  NORA: What a relief you must feel if—

  MRS LINDE: No, indeed; I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for anymore. [Gets up restlessly.] That was why I could not stand the life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here to find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts. If only I could have the good luck to get some regular work—office work of some kind—

  NORA: But, Christine, that is so frightfully tiring, and you look tired out now. You had far better go away to some watering-place.

  MRS LINDE: [Walking to the window.] I have no father to give me money for a journey, Nora.

  NORA: [Rising.] Oh, don’t be angry with me!

  MRS LINDE: [Going up to her.] It is you that must not be angry with me, dear. The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter. No one to work for, and yet obliged to be always on the lookout for chances. One must live, and so one becomes selfish. When you told me of the happy turn your fortunes have taken—you will hardly believe it—I was delighted not so much on your account as on my own.

  NORA: How do you mean?—Oh, I understand. You mean that perhaps Torvald could get you something to do.

  MRS LINDE: Yes, that was what I was thinking of.

  NORA: He must, Christine. Just leave it to me; I will broach the subject very cleverly—I will think of something that will please him very much. It will make me so happy to be of some use to you.

  MRS LINDE: How kind you are, Nora, to be so anxious to help me! It is doubly kind of you, for you know so little of the burdens and troubles of life.

  NORA: I—? I know so little of them?

  MRS LINDE: [Smiling.] My dear! Small household cares and that sort of thing!—You are a child, Nora.

  NORA: [Tosses her head and crosses the stage.] You ought not to be so superior.

  MRS LINDE: No?

  NORA: You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of anything serious—

  MRS LINDE: Come, come—

  NORA:—that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares.

  MRS LINDE: But, my dear Nora, you have just told me all your troubles.

  NORA: Pooh!—Those were trifles. [Lowering her voice.] I have not told you the important thing.

  MRS LINDE: The important thing? What do you mean?

  NORA: You look down upon me altogether, Christine—but you ought not to. You are proud, aren’t you, of having worked so hard and so long for your mother?

  MRS LINDE: Indeed, I don’t look down on anyone. But it is true that I am both proud and glad to think that I was privileged to make the end of my mother’s life almost free from care.

  NORA: And you are proud to think of what you have done for your brothers?

  MRS LINDE: I think I have the right to be.

  NORA: I think so, too. But now, listen to this; I too have something to be proud and glad of.

  MRS LINDE: I have no doubt you have. But what do you refer to?

  NORA: Speak low. Suppose Torvald were to hear! He mustn’t on any account—no one in the world must know, Christine, except you.

  MRS LINDE: But what is it?

  NORA: Come here. [Pulls her down on the sofa beside her.] Now I will show you that I too have something to be proud and glad of. It was I who saved Torvald’s life.

  MRS LINDE: “Saved”? How?

  NORA: I told you about our trip to Italy. Torvald would never have recovered if he had not gone there—

  MRS LINDE: Yes, but your father gave you the necessary funds.

  NORA: [Smiling.] Yes, that is what Torvald and all the others think, but—

  MRS LINDE: But—

  NORA: Papa didn’t give us a shilling. It was I who procured the money.

  MRS LINDE: You? All that large sum?

  NORA: Two hundred and fifty pounds. What do you think of that?

  MRS LINDE: But, Nora, how could you possibly do it? Did you win a prize in the Lottery?

  NORA: [Contemptuously.] In the Lottery? There would have been no credit in that.

  MRS LINDE: But where did you get it from, then?

  NORA: [Humming and smiling with an air of mystery.] Hm, hm! Aha!

  MRS LINDE: Because you couldn’t have borrowed it.

  NORA: Couldn’t I? Why not?

  MRS LINDE: No, a wife cannot borrow without her husband’s consent.

  NORA: [Tossing her head.] Oh, if it is a wife who has any head for business—a wife who has the wit to be a little bit clever—

  MRS LINDE: I don’t understand it at all, Nora.

  NORA: There is no need you should. I never said I had borrowed the money. I may have got it some other way. [Lies back on the sofa.] Perhaps I got it from some other admirer. When anyone is as attractive as I am—

  MRS LINDE: You are a mad creature.

  NORA: Now, you know you’re full of curiosity, Christine.

  MRS LINDE: Listen to me, Nora dear. Haven’t you been a little bit imprudent?

  NORA: [Sits up straight.] Is it imprudent to save your husband’s life?

  MRS LINDE: It seems to me imprudent, without his knowledge, to—

  NORA: But it was absolutely necessary that he should not know! My goodness, can’t you understand that? It was necessary he should have no idea what a dangerous condition he was in. It was to me that the doctors came and said that his life was in danger, and that the only thing to save him was to live in the south. Do you suppose I didn’t try, first of all, to get what I wanted as if it were for myself? I told him how much I should love to travel abroad like other young wives; I tried tears and entreaties with him; I told him that he ought to remember the condition I was in, and that he ought to be kind and indulgent to me; I even hinted that he might raise a loan. That nearly made him angry, Christine. He said I was thoughtless, and that it was his duty as my husband not to indulge me in my whims and caprices—as I believe he called them. Very well, I thought, you must be saved—and that was how I came to devise a way out of the difficulty—

  MRS LINDE: And did your husband never get to know from your father that the money had not come from him?

  NORA: No, never. Papa died just at that time. I had meant to let him into the secret and beg him never to reveal it. But he was so ill then—alas, there never was any need to tell him.

  MRS LINDE: And since then have you never told your secret to your husband?

  NORA: Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful happy home would no longer be what it is now.

  MRS LINDE: Do you mean never to tell him about it?

  NORA: [Meditatively, and with a half smile.] Yes—someday, perhaps, after many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as I am now. Don’t laugh at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have palled on him; then it may be a good thing to have something in reserve— [Breaking off.] What nonsense! That time will never come. Now, what do you think of my great secret, Christine? Do you still think I am of no use? I can tell you, too, that this affair has caused me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy for me to mee
t my engagements punctually. I may tell you that there is something that is called, in business, quarterly interest, and another thing called payment in installments, and it is always so dreadfully difficult to manage them. I have had to save a little here and there, where I could, you understand. I have not been able to put aside much from my housekeeping money, for Torvald must have a good table. I couldn’t let my children be shabbily dressed; I have felt obliged to use up all he gave me for them, the sweet little darlings!

  MRS LINDE: So it has all had to come out of your own necessaries of life, poor Nora?

  NORA: Of course. Besides, I was the one responsible for it. Whenever Torvald has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent more than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things. Thank Heaven, any clothes look well on me, and so Torvald has never noticed it. But it was often very hard on me, Christine—because it is delightful to be really well dressed, isn’t it?

  MRS LINDE: Quite so.

  NORA: Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night. Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.

  MRS LINDE: How much have you been able to pay off in that way?

  NORA: I can’t tell you exactly. You see, it is very difficult to keep an account of a business matter of that kind. I only know that I have paid every penny that I could scrape together. Many a time I was at my wits’ end. [Smiles.] Then I used to sit here and imagine that a rich old gentleman had fallen in love with me—

  MRS LINDE: What! Who was it?

  NORA: Be quiet!—that he had died; and that when his will was opened it contained, written in big letters, the instruction: “The lovely Mrs Nora Helmer is to have all I possess paid over to her at once in cash.”

  MRS LINDE: But, my dear Nora—who could the man be?

  NORA: Good gracious, can’t you understand? There was no old gentleman at all; it was only something that I used to sit here and imagine, when I couldn’t think of any way of procuring money. But it’s all the same now; the tiresome old person can stay where he is, as far as I am concerned; I don’t care about him or his will either, for I am free from care now. [Jumps up.] My goodness, it’s delightful to think of, Christine! Free from care! To be able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have everything just as Torvald likes it! And, think of it, soon the spring will come and the big blue sky! Perhaps we shall be able to take a little trip—perhaps I shall see the sea again! Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to be alive and be happy. [A bell is heard in the hall.]

  MRS LINDE: [Rising.] There is the bell; perhaps I had better go.

  NORA: No, don’t go; no one will come in here; it is sure to be for Torvald.

  SERVANT: [At the hall door.] Excuse me, ma’am—there is a gentleman to see the master, and as the doctor is with him—

  NORA: Who is it?

  KROGSTAD: [At the door.] It is I, Mrs Helmer. [MRS LINDE starts, trembles, and turns to the window.]

  NORA: [Takes a step towards him, and speaks in a strained, low voice.] You? What is it? What do you want to see my husband about?

  KROGSTAD: Bank business—in a way. I have a small post in the bank, and I hear your husband is to be our chief now—

  NORA: Then it is—

  KROGSTAD: Nothing but dry business matters, Mrs Helmer; absolutely nothing else.

  NORA: Be so good as to go into the study, then. [She bows indifferently to him and shuts the door into the hall; then comes back and makes up the fire in the stove.]

  MRS LINDE: Nora—who was that man?

  NORA: A lawyer, by the name of Krogstad.

  MRS LINDE: Then it really was he.

  NORA: Do you know the man?

  MRS LINDE: I used to—many years ago. At one time he was a solicitor’s clerk in our town.

  NORA: Yes, he was.

  MRS LINDE: He is greatly altered.

  NORA: He made a very unhappy marriage.

  MRS LINDE: He is a widower now, isn’t he?

  NORA: With several children. There now, it is burning up. [Shuts the door of the stove and moves the rocking-chair aside.]

  MRS LINDE: They say he carries on various kinds of business.

  NORA: Really! Perhaps he does; I don’t know anything about it. But don’t let us think of business; it is so tiresome.

  DOCTOR RANK: [Comes out of HELMER’S study. Before he shuts the door he calls to him.] No, my dear fellow, I won’t disturb you; I would rather go in to your wife for a little while. [Shuts the door and sees MRS LINDE.] I beg your pardon; I am afraid I am disturbing you two.

  NORA: No, not at all. [Introducing him.] Doctor Rank, Mrs Linde.

  RANK: I have often heard Mrs Linde’s name mentioned here. I think I passed you on the stairs when I arrived, Mrs Linde?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, I go up very slowly; I can’t manage stairs well.

  RANK: Ah! Some slight internal weakness?

  MRS LINDE: No, the fact is I have been overworking myself.

  RANK: Nothing more than that? Then I suppose you have come to town to amuse yourself with our entertainments?

  MRS LINDE: I have come to look for work.

  RANK: Is that a good cure for overwork?

  MRS LINDE: One must live, Doctor Rank.

  RANK: Yes, the general opinion seems to be that it is necessary.

  NORA: Look here, Doctor Rank—you know you want to live.

  RANK: Certainly. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible. All my patients are like that. And so are those who are morally diseased; one of them, and a bad case too, is at this very moment with Helmer—

  MRS LINDE: [Sadly.] Ah!

  NORA: Whom do you mean?

  RANK: A lawyer of the name of Krogstad, a fellow you don’t know at all. He suffers from a diseased moral character, Mrs Helmer; but even he began talking of its being highly important that he should live.

  NORA: Did he? What did he want to speak to Torvald about?

  RANK: I have no idea; I only heard that it was something about the bank.

  NORA: I didn’t know this—what’s his name—Krogstad had anything to do with the bank.

  RANK: Yes, he has some sort of appointment there. [To MRS LINDE.] I don’t know whether you find also in your part of the world that there are certain people who go zealously snuffing about to smell out moral corruption, and, as soon as they have found some, put the person concerned into some lucrative position where they can keep their eye on him. Healthy natures are left out in the cold.

  MRS LINDE: Still I think the sick are those who most need taking care of.

  RANK: [Shrugging his shoulders.] Yes, there you are. That is the sentiment that is turning Society into a sick-house.

  [NORA, who has been absorbed in her thoughts, breaks out into smothered laughter and claps her hands.]

  RANK: Why do you laugh at that? Have you any notion what Society really is?

  NORA: What do I care about tiresome Society? I am laughing at something quite different, something extremely amusing. Tell me, Doctor Rank, are all the people who are employed in the bank dependent on Torvald now?

  RANK: Is that what you find so extremely amusing?

  NORA: [Smiling and humming.] That’s my affair! [Walking about the room.] It’s perfectly glorious to think that we have—that Torvald has so much power over so many people. [Takes the packet from her pocket.] Doctor Rank, what do you say to a macaroon?

  RANK: What, macaroons? I thought they were forbidden here.

  NORA: Yes, but these are some Christine gave me.

 
MRS LINDE: What! I—?

  NORA: Oh, well, don’t be alarmed! You couldn’t know that Torvald had forbidden them. I must tell you that he is afraid they will spoil my teeth. But, bah!—once in a way—That’s so, isn’t it, Doctor Rank? By your leave! [Puts a macaroon into his mouth.] You must have one too, Christine. And I shall have one, just a little one—or at most two. [Walking about.] I am tremendously happy. There is just one thing in the world now that I should dearly love to do.

  RANK: Well, what is that?

  NORA: It’s something I should dearly love to say, if Torvald could hear me.

  RANK: Well, why can’t you say it?

  NORA: No, I daren’t; it’s so shocking.

  MRS LINDE: Shocking?

  RANK: Well, I should not advise you to say it. Still, with us you might. What is it you would so much like to say if Torvald could hear you?

  NORA: I should just love to say—Well, I’m damned!

  RANK: Are you mad?

  MRS LINDE: Nora, dear—!

  RANK: Say it, here he is!

  NORA: [Hiding the packet.] Hush! Hush! Hush! [HELMER comes out of his room, with his coat over his arm and his hat in his hand.]

  NORA: Well, Torvald dear, have you got rid of him?

  HELMER: Yes, he has just gone.

  NORA: Let me introduce you—this is Christine, who has come to town.

  HELMER: Christine—? Excuse me, but I don’t know—

  NORA: Mrs Linde, dear; Christine Linde.

  HELMER: Of course. A school friend of my wife’s, I presume?

  MRS LINDE: Yes, we have known each other since then.

  NORA: And just think, she has taken a long journey in order to see you.

  HELMER: What do you mean?

  MRS LINDE: No, really, I—

  NORA: Christine is tremendously clever at book-keeping, and she is frightfully anxious to work under some clever man, so as to perfect herself—

  HELMER: Very sensible, Mrs Linde.

  NORA: And when she heard you had been appointed manager of the bank—the news was telegraphed, you know—she travelled here as quick as she could. Torvald, I am sure you will be able to do something for Christine, for my sake, won’t you?