The Master Builder and Other Plays Page 7

  SOLNESS: Well, come on in then.

  MRS SOLNESS [to KAJA, who is turning down the desk lamp]: All done with that letter, young lady?

  KAJA [in confusion]: Letter –?

  SOLNESS: Yes, it was quite a short one.

  MRS SOLNESS: It must have been very short.

  SOLNESS: You may go now, Miss Fosli. And be here on time again tomorrow.

  KAJA: I will. – Goodnight, ma’am. [She leaves by the hall door.]

  MRS SOLNESS: It must be such a good thing for you, Halvard, to have found that young woman.

  SOLNESS: Yes indeed. She’s useful in all sorts of ways.

  MRS SOLNESS: She seems to be.

  DR HERDAL: A good bookkeeper, too?

  SOLNESS: Well – she’s had a fair bit of practice over the past two years. And she’s pleasant and willing to take on anything.

  MRS SOLNESS: Yes, that must be most agreeable –

  SOLNESS: That it is. Especially when one isn’t used to such indulgence.

  MRS SOLNESS [mildly reproachful]: Halvard, how can you say that?

  SOLNESS: Oh, no, no, dear Aline. I beg your pardon.

  MRS SOLNESS: No matter. – Now, doctor, you will come back later and have tea with us?

  DR HERDAL: I’ll just make that one house call, then I’ll be back.

  MRS SOLNESS: Many thanks. [She exits through the door on the right.]

  SOLNESS: Are you in a hurry, doctor?

  DR HERDAL: No, not at all.

  SOLNESS: In that case may I have a word with you?

  DR HERDAL: Yes, by all means.

  SOLNESS: Why don’t we sit down then?

  He motions the DOCTOR to the rocking-chair and sits down himself in the armchair.

  SOLNESS [giving the DOCTOR a searching glance]: Tell me – did you notice anything about Aline?

  DR HERDAL: When she was here just now, you mean?

  SOLNESS: Yes. In her manner towards me? Did you notice anything?

  DR HERDAL [smiling]: Yes, dammit – I couldn’t help but notice that your wife – er –

  SOLNESS: Well?

  DR HERDAL: – that your wife has no great liking for that Miss Fosli.

  SOLNESS: Nothing else? That much I can see for myself.

  DR HERDAL: And it’s not so strange really, is it?

  SOLNESS: What?

  DR HERDAL: That she’s not exactly happy about you having another woman around all the time.

  SOLNESS: No, no, you could be right about that. And Aline too. But that – well, that can’t be otherwise.

  DR HERDAL: Could you not take on a clerk instead?

  SOLNESS: The first man that comes along? No, thank you – that would not serve my purpose.

  DR HERDAL: But if your wife –? As she’s so delicate –. If she can’t bear to see this?

  SOLNESS: Well, by heavens, that’s just too bad – I might almost say. I have to keep Kaja Fosli. Can’t use anyone but her.

  DR HERDAL: No one but her?

  SOLNESS: No, no one but her.

  DR HERDAL [drawing his chair closer]: Look here, my dear Solness. May I ask you a question, in strictest confidence?

  SOLNESS: Yes, go ahead.

  DR HERDAL: Women, you see – they have a damned fine instinct for certain things.

  SOLNESS: That they have. That’s very true. But –?

  DR HERDAL: Right. Now just listen. If your wife simply cannot abide this Kaja Fosli –?

  SOLNESS: Yes, what of it –?

  DR HERDAL: – might she not have some – some small grounds for this instinctive aversion?

  SOLNESS [looks at him and gets to his feet]: Aha!

  DR HERDAL: Don’t take this the wrong way. But might she not?

  SOLNESS [curtly and emphatically]: No.

  DR HERDAL: Absolutely no grounds whatsoever?

  SOLNESS: None apart from her own suspicious nature.

  DR HERDAL: I realize that you have known a lot of women in your time.

  SOLNESS: Yes, I have.

  DR HERDAL: And been quite fond of a few of them, too.

  SOLNESS: Oh yes, that too.

  DR HERDAL: But as far as this Miss Fosli is concerned –? There’s nothing of that sort going on there, is there?

  SOLNESS: No. Nothing at all – on my part.

  DR HERDAL: But on hers?

  SOLNESS: I don’t think you have the right to ask that, doctor.

  DR HERDAL: It was your wife’s instinct we were talking about.

  SOLNESS: That’s right, it was. And as far as that goes –. [Lowering his voice] Aline’s instinct, as you call it – has, to some extent, been proved right.

  DR HERDAL: Well – there you are, then!

  SOLNESS [sitting down]: Dr Herdal – I’m going to tell you a strange story. If you would like to hear it, that is.

  DR HERDAL: I’m always happy to hear strange stories.

  SOLNESS: All right then. You remember, I’m sure, how I took Knut Brovik and his son into my service – that time when the old man was so down on his luck.

  DR HERDAL: I know something of it, yes.

  SOLNESS: Because they are in fact a couple of very able men, those two, you see. They’re both gifted, each in his own way. But then the son decided to get engaged. And then, of course, he was all set to marry – and start building himself. Because that’s how they all think nowadays, the young people.

  DR HERDAL [laughing]: Yes, they do have a bad habit of wanting to pair off.

  SOLNESS: Well, anyway, that would hardly have served me. Because I had need of Ragnar myself. And of the old man. He’s so good at calculating load-bearing capacity and cubic capacity – and all that devilish stuff, you see.

  DR HERDAL: Ah yes, that is all part of it, I suppose.

  SOLNESS: Indeed it is. But Ragnar, he was absolutely determined to start up on his own. There was nothing to be done about that.

  DR HERDAL: But he has stayed with you anyway.

  SOLNESS: Yes, now wait till you hear this. One day that girl, Kaja Fosli, came to see them on some errand. She’d never been here before. And when I saw how totally besotted with each other those two were the thought struck me: if I could bring her here to the office Ragnar might also stay on.

  DR HERDAL: A reasonable thought I would say.

  SOLNESS: Yes, but I didn’t utter a single word about any such possibility at the time. Merely stood and looked at her – and wished with all my heart that I had her here. Then I had a friendly little chat with her – about this and that. And off she went.

  DR HERDAL: Yes?

  SOLNESS: But the following day, sometime in the evening, after old Brovik and Ragnar had gone home, she came here to me again, acting as though I’d come to some arrangement with her.

  DR HERDAL: An arrangement? Regarding what?

  SOLNESS: Regarding exactly what I had stood here wishing for. But hadn’t said a single word about.

  DR HERDAL: How very odd.

  SOLNESS: Yes, wasn’t it? And now here she was, wanting to know what her duties would be. If she could start first thing the next day. And so on.

  DR HERDAL: Don’t you think she did this so she could be with her sweetheart?

  SOLNESS: That was also my first thought. But no, that wasn’t the case. She seemed to drift away from him entirely – once she was well settled in here with me.

  DR HERDAL: And drifted towards you?

  SOLNESS: Yes, completely and utterly. I can tell that she senses me looking at her when her back is turned. She shivers and shakes if I come anywhere near her. Now what do you make of that?

  DR HERDAL: Hm – there must be some explanation.

  SOLNESS: Ah, but what about the other part? That she thought I had mentioned to her something that I had merely wished for and hoped for – in silence, as it were. Inwardly. To myself. What do you say to that? Can you explain such a thing to me, Dr Herdal?

  DR HERDAL: No, that I would not venture to do.

  SOLNESS: I thought as much. That’s why I’ve never wanted to speak o
f it either. – But it’s such a damned nuisance for me in the long run, you see. Here am I, having to go around pretending day in, day out … that I –. And it’s so unfair on her, poor thing. [Fiercely] But I cannot do otherwise! Because if she runs out on me – then Ragnar will leave too.

  DR HERDAL: And you haven’t explained this situation to your wife?

  SOLNESS: No.

  DR HERDAL: Well, why on earth don’t you?

  SOLNESS [fixes his eyes on him and says softly]: Because I feel there is a kind of – kind of salutary self-torture for me in simply allowing Aline to think unjustly of me.

  DR HERDAL [shaking his head]: I don’t understand one blessed word of this.

  SOLNESS: Ah, but you see – it’s like paying off some small portion of a vast and bottomless debt –

  DR HERDAL: To your wife?

  SOLNESS: Yes. And it always eases my mind a little. I can breathe more freely for a while, if you know what I mean.

  DR HERDAL: No, by God, I don’t understand one word –

  SOLNESS [interrupting, jumping to his feet again]: Well, well – then we’ll say no more about it.

  He wanders across the room, comes back and stops by the desk.

  SOLNESS [looking up at the DOCTOR with a gentle smile on his face]: I suppose you think you’ve really got me going now, eh, doctor?

  DR HERDAL [rather irritably]: Got you going? Again, I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, Mr Solness.

  SOLNESS: Oh, why don’t you just say it? Because I’ve been so well aware of it, you know!

  DR HERDAL: Aware of what?

  SOLNESS [softly, slowly]: Of how you go around, keeping a quiet eye on me.

  DR HERDAL: I do? Why in the world would I do that?

  SOLNESS: Because you think – [flaring up] oh, dammit – you think the same of me as Aline does?

  DR HERDAL: Oh, and what does she think of you?

  SOLNESS [calm again]: She has begun to think that I’m – well, you know – sick.

  DR HERDAL: Sick! You! She’s never said one word about that to me. What could possibly ail you, my dear fellow?

  SOLNESS [leans over the back of the chair and whispers]: Aline has got it into her head that I’m mad. She has.

  DR HERDAL [rising]: But Solness, my dear good fellow –!

  SOLNESS: No, upon my soul –!7 It’s true. And she’s got you believing it as well! Oh, I tell you, doctor – I can see it, I can see it on you. Because I’m not that easily fooled, you know.

  DR HERDAL [staring at him in amazement]: Mr Solness, never – never has such a thought entered my head.

  SOLNESS [with an incredulous smile]: Really? Not ever?

  DR HERDAL: No, never! Nor your wife’s either, I’m sure. I think I could almost swear to that.

  SOLNESS: Oh, you’d better not do that. Because to some extent, you see, she – she might actually have reason to think such a thing.

  DR HERDAL: Oh, now really –!

  SOLNESS [interrupting with a wave of the hand]: Well, well, my dear doctor – let’s not pursue this matter any further. We’ll just have to agree to differ. [His mood switches to one of quiet jocularity.] But tell me, doctor – hm –

  DR HERDAL: Yes?

  SOLNESS: If you don’t, in fact, believe that I’m – you know – sick – and deranged – and mad and so on –

  DR HERDAL: Well, what of it?

  SOLNESS: Then you must surely imagine me to be a very happy man?

  DR HERDAL: Would that be mere imagining?

  SOLNESS [laughing]: No, no – of course not! God forbid! Just think – to be Solness the master builder! Halvard Solness! Oh, I’m grateful, I am!

  DR HERDAL: Well, I really must say that to me you seem to have been quite incredibly fortunate.

  SOLNESS [suppressing a sad smile]: So I have. Can’t complain about that.

  DR HERDAL: First that ghastly old baronial pile8 of yours burned down. And that certainly was a great stroke of luck.

  SOLNESS [gravely]: It was Aline’s family home that burned down. Don’t forget that.

  DR HERDAL: Yes, of course, for her it must have been a great sorrow.

  SOLNESS: She still hasn’t got over it. Even after all this time, these twelve – thirteen years –.

  DR HERDAL: But what came after, that must have been the hardest blow for her.

  SOLNESS: The one on top of the other.

  DR HERDAL: But you – you, Solness – you used it as a springboard. Started out as a poor boy from the country – and now here you are, the top man in your field. Oh, yes, Mr Solness, Fortune has certainly been on your side.

  SOLNESS [eyeing him warily]: Ah, but you see, that is what worries me so dreadfully.

  DR HERDAL: Worries you? That Fortune is on your side?

  SOLNESS: It makes me so afraid – so afraid, day and night. Because at some point the turn9 must come, you see.

  DR HERDAL: Oh, nonsense! Where will it come from, this turn?

  SOLNESS [positively and firmly]: It will come from the younger generation.

  DR HERDAL: Rubbish! The younger generation! I would hardly have said that you, sir, were past it. No, no – you must rest on a more solid foundation here now than you’ve ever done.

  SOLNESS: The turn will come. I can tell. And I feel it drawing closer. Someone is going to shout: Get out of my way! And then all the others will come charging after, shaking their fists and yelling: make way – make way – make way! Oh yes, you’d better watch out, doctor. One day the younger generation is going to come here and knock on that door –

  DR HERDAL [laughing]: Oh, good heavens, and what of it?

  SOLNESS: What of it? Why, then it’s all up with Solness the master builder.

  There is a knock on the door to the left.

  SOLNESS [flinching]: What was that? Did you hear something?

  DR HERDAL: There’s someone at the door.

  SOLNESS [calling out]: Come in!

  HILDE WANGEL enters through the hall door. She is of medium height, lithe and slender. Lightly suntanned. She is wearing a travelling costume10 with the skirt looped up and a wide sailor collar, and a little sailor cap on her head. A knapsack on her back, a rolled-up blanket fastened with a strap and an alpenstock.

  HILDE WANGEL [walking up to SOLNESS, her eyes merry and sparkling]: Good evening!

  SOLNESS [regarding her uncertainly]: Good evening –

  HILDE [laughing]: I almost believe you don’t recognize me!

  SOLNESS: No – I must honestly say that – just at this moment –

  DR HERDAL [moving closer]: But I recognize you, miss –

  HILDE [delighted]: Oh, aren’t you the gentleman who –!

  DR HERDAL: Yes, it’s me right enough. [To SOLNESS] We met up at one of the mountain lodges11 this summer. [To HILDE] So what became of the other ladies?

  HILDE: Oh, them – they went west.

  DR HERDAL: They didn’t much like all the rumpus we made in the evenings I suppose.

  HILDE: No, they didn’t seem to like that.

  DR HERDAL [wagging his finger at her]: And it cannot be denied that you did flirt with us a little.

  HILDE: Well, it was more fun than sitting knitting stockings with all those old grannies.

  DR HERDAL [laughing]: I couldn’t agree with you more!

  SOLNESS: Have you just come to town this evening?

  HILDE: Yes, I’ve only just arrived.

  DR HERDAL: All alone, Miss Wangel?

  HILDE: Yes indeed!

  SOLNESS: Wangel? Your name is Wangel?

  HILDE [regarding him with cheerful surprise]: Why yes, of course it is.

  SOLNESS: You wouldn’t happen to be the daughter of the county doctor up at Lysanger?

  HILDE [as before]: Yes, who else’s daughter would I be?

  SOLNESS: Ah, so that’s where we met. That summer when I was up there to build the tower on the old church.

  HILDE [more seriously]: Yes, of course that’s when it was.

  SOLNESS: My, that was a long time a
go.

  HILDE [eyeing him steadily]: It was exactly ten years ago.

  SOLNESS: And you would have been only a child back then, I suppose.

  HILDE [airily]: About twelve or thirteen at any rate.

  DR HERDAL: Is this your first visit to our town, Miss Wangel?

  HILDE: Yes, it certainly is.

  SOLNESS: Then you probably don’t know anyone here?

  HILDE: No one apart from you. Oh, and your wife.

  SOLNESS: So you know her too?

  HILDE: Only slightly. We spent some days together at the sanatorium –

  SOLNESS: Ah, up there –

  HILDE: She said I was welcome to call on her if I ever came to town. [Smiles] Not that she needed to tell me that.

  SOLNESS: Odd that she never mentioned it –

  HILDE props her stick against the stove, removes her knapsack and places it and the blanket on the sofa. DR HERDAL tries to help. SOLNESS stands and stares at her.

  HILDE [goes over to him]: And now I’d like to ask if I might stay the night here.

  SOLNESS: I’m sure that can be arranged.

  HILDE: I’ve only the clothes I stand up in, you see. Oh, and a change of underclothes in my knapsack. But they could do with a wash. Because they’re very dirty.

  SOLNESS: Oh, well, I’m sure that can be remedied. Let me just tell my wife –

  DR HERDAL: And in the meantime I’ll make that house call.

  SOLNESS: Yes, do that. And then you’ll come back here, won’t you?

  DR HERDAL [jovially, with a glance at HILDE]: Oh, you can be damn sure of that! [Laughing] Your prediction was right, after all, eh, Mr Solness?

  SOLNESS: How do you mean?

  DR HERDAL: The younger generation did come knocking at your door.

  SOLNESS [brightly]: Ah yes, but in a quite different way.

  DR HERDAL: Yes, indeed. Undeniably so.

  He leaves by the hall door. SOLNESS opens the door on the right and speaks into the room next door.

  SOLNESS: Aline! Could you come here, please? There’s someone here you know, a Miss Wangel.

  MRS SOLNESS [appearing in the doorway]: Who did you say it was? [Sees HILDE.] Oh, it’s you, Miss Wangel. [Coming closer and offering her hand] So you did come to town after all.

  SOLNESS: Miss Wangel has only just arrived. And she asks if she might stay the night here.

  MRS SOLNESS: Here with us? Yes, she’s most welcome to.

  SOLNESS: To freshen up her clothes a bit, you know.

  MRS SOLNESS: I’ll do the best I can for you. It’s no more than my duty. Your trunk will be coming later, I assume?