Chapter 21

_Enter, CLARA._

CARL.

At last!--You should not kiss so much! Whenever four red lips meet a bridge for the devil is built!--What have you there?

CLARA.

Where? What?

CARL.

Where? What?--In your hand!

CLARA.

Nothing!

CARL.

Nothing? Is it a secret?

[_He snatches LEONARD'S letter._]

Give me that! When the father is not here the brother is guardian!

CLARA.

I held fast to the scrap of paper, and yet the evening wind is so strong that it blows the tiles off the roofs. As I was passing the church one fell right in front of me, so that my foot struck against it. Oh, God! I thought--one more! And I stood still. That would have been fine; they would have buried me and said: "She met with an accident!"--But I waited in vain for the second.

CARL (_has read the letter_).

Thunder and--I'll lame the hand that wrote that!--Bring me a bottle of wine! Or is your savings box empty?

CLARA.

There is one more in the house. I had bought it secretly for mother's birthday and put it aside. Tomorrow would have been the day--[_She turns away._]

CARL.

Give it to me!

CLARA (_brings the wine_).

CARL (_drinks quickly_).

Now we can start in again--planing, sawing, hammering, and, in between, eating, drinking, and sleeping, so that we can go on planing, sawing, and hammering, and on Sundays do a bit of praying into the bargain! I thank Thee, O Lord, that I may plane, saw, and hammer!

[_Drinks._]

Long live every good dog that is tied to a chain, and yet does not snap at everything around him!

[_He drinks again._]

And once more: Here's to his health!

CLARA.

Carl, do not drink so much! Father says the devil lurks in wine!

CARL.

And the priest says God lurks in wine! [_He drinks._] Let us see who is right! The bailiff was here at the house--how did he behave himself?

CLARA.

As if he had been in a den of thieves. No sooner had he opened his mouth than mother fell over and was dead!

CARL.

Good! If you hear tomorrow that the fellow has been found dead, then do not curse the murderer!

CLARA.

Surely you are not going to--

CARL.

Am I his only enemy? Has he not been often attacked already? Among so many it might be difficult to find the right man to attribute the deed to, unless he left his cane or hat on the spot! [_He drinks._] Whoever it is: Good success to him!

CLARA.

Brother, you talk--

CARL.

Don't you like it? Never mind! You will not see me very much longer!

CLARA (_shudders with terror_).

No!

CARL.

No? So you know already that I am going to sea? Do my thoughts crawl around on my forehead, that you can read them so easily? Or did the old man fly into a passion in his old way and threaten to shut me out of the house? Bah! That would be very much the same thing as if the jailer had sworn to me: You shall not stay in prison any longer--I am going to shove you out into the open again!

CLARA.

You do not understand me!

CARL (_sings_).

A ship lies in the offing, A-sporting with the winds.

Yes indeed, there is nothing to bind me to the bench here any longer! Mother is dead, there is no longer any one to stop eating fish after every storm, and that has been my wish from boyhood. Away! I shall not prosper here--at least not until I know for sure that luck no longer favors the brave fellow who stakes his life on the game, who throws back onto the table the copper coin that he has received from the great treasure, in order to see whether luck will pocket it or return it to him gilded!

CLARA.

And are you going away to leave your father all alone? He is sixty years old!

CARL.

Alone? Aren't you going to be left?

CLARA.

I?

CARL.

You! His pet child! What sort of weeds are growing in your head that you ask me that? By going, I leave his joy with him and free him of his everlasting annoyance! Why shouldn't I do it? Once and for all we cannot get along together. He can't get things contracted enough to suit him. He would like to close his fist and creep inside it. I would like to strip off my skin like a baby's coat--if it were only practicable!

[_Sings_]

The anchor they are heaving, I trow they'll soon be leaving, Now look! Away she spins.

Tell me yourself: Did he doubt my guilt for a single instant? And did he not find the usual consolation in his over-wise: "Just as I expected!" "I have always thought so!" "It could not end in any other way!" If it had been you, he would have killed himself! I should like to see him if you were to suffer a woman's fate! It would be to him as if he himself had become pregnant--and by the devil besides!

CLARA.

Oh, what anguish! Yes, I must go! Away!

CARL.

What do you mean by that?

CLARA.

I must go into the kitchen! What else should I mean?

[_Clasping her forehead._]

Yes! That too! Just to hear that I came home again!

[_Exit._]

CARL.

She acts very strangely!

[_Sings_]

A bold and saucy sea-gull Sweeps round, as if possessed--

CLARA. [_Reënters._]

The last thing is done! Father's supper is on the fire! As I closed the kitchen door behind me, I thought to myself: You are never to enter there again! I shuddered in my very soul! Thus I shall go out of the room too, thus out of the house, thus out of the world!

CARL. [_Sings; he continues to walk back and forth; CLARA remains in the background._]

Aloft the sun is burning, The fishes, glancing, turning, Circle about their guest.

CLARA.

Why do I not do it then? Shall I never do it? Am I going to continue putting it off from day to day, as I am now doing from one minute to the next, until--certainly! Then, away! Away! And yet I stand still! I have a feeling as if imploring hands were raised in my womb, as if eyes--[_She sits down on a chair._] What does it mean? Am I too weak to do it? Then ask yourself if you are strong enough to see your father with his throat cut!--[_She rises._] No! No!--Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name--God! God! My poor head! I cannot even pray! Brother! Brother! Help me!

CARL.

What's the matter with you

CLARA.

The Lord's Prayer!

[_She bethinks herself._]

It seemed to me as if I were already lying in the water and sinking, and had not yet prayed! I [_suddenly_]--Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us! That is it! Yes! Yes! Certainly I forgive him! I shall think no more of him!--Good night, Carl!

CARL.

Are you going to bed so soon? Good night!

CLARA. [_Like a child, repeating the Lord's Prayer._]

Forgive us--

CARL.

You might bring me a glass of water first--but it must be absolutely fresh!

CLARA (_quickly_).

I will bring it to you from the well!

CARL.

All right! If you want to. It is not far, you know.

CLARA.

Thank you! Thank you! That was the last thing that still troubled me! The deed itself would have betrayed me! Now people will say: She had an accident! She fell in!

CARL.

Be careful of yourself! The board has probably not been nailed down yet!

CLARA.

It is bright moonlight!--Oh, God, I am coming only because otherwise my father would come! Forgive me, as I--have mercy on me--mercy--[_Exit._]