NORA
That letter is from Krogstad.
MRS. LINDE
Nora—it was Krogstad who lent you the money!
NORA
Yes, and now Torvald will know all about it.
MRS. LINDE
Believe me, Nora, that’s the best thing for both of you.
NORA
You don’t know all. I forged a name.
MRS. LINDE
Good heavens—!
NORA
I only want to say this to you, Christine—you must be my witness.
MRS. LINDE
Your witness? What do you mean? What am I to—?
NORA
If I should go out of my mind—and it might easily happen—
MRS. LINDE
Nora!
NORA
Or if anything else should happen to me—anything, for instance, that might prevent my being here—
MRS. LINDE
Nora! Nora! you are quite out of your mind.
NORA
And if it should happen that there were some one who wanted to take all the responsibility, all the blame, you understand—
MRS. LINDE
Yes, yes—but how can you suppose—?
NORA
Then you must be my witness, that it is not true, Christine. I am not out of my mind at all; I am in my right senses now, and I tell you no one else has known anything about it; I, and I alone, did the whole thing. Remember that.
MRS. LINDE
I will, indeed. But I don’t understand all this.
NORA
How should you understand it? A wonderful thing is going to happen!
MRS. LINDE
A wonderful thing?
NORA
Yes, a wonderful thing!—But it is so terrible, Christine; it mustn’t happen, not for all the world.
MRS. LINDE
I will go at once and see Krogstad.
NORA
Don’t go to him; he will do you some harm.
MRS. LINDE
There was a time when he would gladly do anything for my sake.
NORA
He?
MRS. LINDE
Where does he live?
NORA
How should I know—? Yes (feeling in her pocket), here is his card. But the letter, the letter—!
HELMER
(Calls from his room, knocking at the door.) Nora!
NORA
(Cries out anxiously). Oh, what’s that? What do you want?
HELMER
Don’t be so frightened. We are not coming in; you have locked the door. Are you trying on your dress?
NORA
Yes, that’s it. I look so nice, Torvald.
MRS. LINDE
(Who has read the card.) I see he lives at the corner here.
NORA
Yes, but it’s no use. It is hopeless. The letter is lying there in the box.
MRS. LINDE
And your husband keeps the key?
NORA
Yes, always.
MRS. LINDE
Krogstad must ask for his letter back unread, he must find some pretence—
NORA
But it is just at this time that Torvald generally—
MRS. LINDE
You must delay him. Go in to him in the meantime. I will come back as soon as I can. (She goes out hurriedly through the hall door.)
Nora.
(Goes to HELMER’S door, opens it and peeps in.) Torvald!
HELMER
(From the inner room.) Well? May I venture at last to come into my own room again? Come along, Rank, now you will see—(Halting in the doorway.) But what is this?
NORA
What is what, dear?
HELMER
Rank led me to expect a splendid transformation.
RANK
(In the doorway.) I understood so, but evidently I was mistaken.
NORA
Yes, nobody is to have the chance of admiring me in my dress until tomorrow.
HELMER
But, my dear Nora, you look so worn out. Have you been practising too much?
NORA
No, I have not practised at all.
HELMER
But you will need to—
NORA
Yes, indeed I shall, Torvald. But I can’t get on a bit without you to help me; I have absolutely forgotten the whole thing.
HELMER
Oh, we will soon work it up again.
NORA
Yes, help me, Torvald. Promise that you will! I am so nervous about it—all the people. . . . You must give yourself up to me entirely this evening. Not the tiniest bit of business—you mustn’t even take a pen in your hand. Will you promise, Torvald dear?
HELMER
I promise. This evening I will be wholly and absolutely at your service, you helpless little mortal. Ah, by the way, first of all I will just—(Goes towards the hall door.)
NORA
What are you going to do there?
HELMER
Only see if any letters have come.
NORA
No, no! don’t do that, Torvald!
HELMER
Why not?
NORA
Torvald, please don’t. There is nothing there.
HELMER
Well, let me look. (Turns to go to the letter box. NORA, at the piano, plays the first bars of the Tarantella. HELMER stops in the doorway.) Aha!
NORA
I can’t dance tomorrow if I don’t practise with you.
Helmer.
(Going up to her.) Are you really so afraid of it, dear?
NORA
Yes, so dreadfully afraid of it. Let me practise at once; there is time now, before we go to dinner. Sit down and play for me, Torvald dear; criticise me, and correct me as you play.
HELMER
With great pleasure, if you wish me to. (Sits down at the piano.)
NORA
(Takes out of the box a tambourine and a long variegated shawl. She hastily drapes the shawl round her. Then she springs to the front of the stage and calls out.). Now play for me! I am going to dance!
(HELMER plays and NORA dances. RANK stands by the piano behind HELMER, and looks on.)
HELMER
(As he plays.) Slower, slower!
NORA
I can’t do it any other way.
HELMER
Not so violently, Nora!
NORA
This is the way.
HELMER
(Stops playing.) No, no—that is not a bit right.
NORA
(Laughing and swinging the tambourine.). Didn’t I tell you so?
RANK
Let me play for her.
HELMER
(Getting up). Yes, do. I can correct her better then.
(RANK sits down at the piano and plays. NORA dances more and more wildly. HELMER has taken up a position beside the stove, and during her dance gives her frequent instructions. She does not seem to hear him; her hair comes down and falls over her shoulders; she pays no attention to it, but goes on dancing. Enter MRS. LINDE)
MRS. LINDE
(Standing as if spellbound in the doorway.) Oh!—
NORA
(As she dances.) Such fun, Christine!
HELMER
My dear darling Nora, you are dancing as if your life depended on it.
NORA
So it does.
HELMER
Stop, Rank; this is sheer madness. Stop, I tell you! (RANK stops playing, and NORA suddenly stands still. HELMER goes up to her.) I could never have be
lieved it. You have forgotten everything I taught you.
NORA
(Throwing away the tambourine.) There, you see.
HELMER
You will want a lot of coaching.
NORA
Yes, you see how much I need it. You must coach me up to the last minute. Promise me that, Torvald!
HELMER
You can depend on me.
NORA
You must not think of anything but me, either today or tomorrow; you mustn’t open a single letter—not even open the letter box—
HELMER
Ah, you are still afraid of that fellow—
NORA
Yes, indeed I am.
HELMER
Nora, I can tell from your looks that there is a letter from him lying there.
NORA
I don’t know; I think there is; but you must not read anything of that kind now. Nothing horrid must come between us until this is all over.
RANK
(Whispers to HELMER) You mustn’t contradict her.
HELMER
(Taking her in his arms.) The child shall have her way. But tomorrow night, after you have danced—
NORA
Then you will be free. (The MAID appears in the doorway to the right.)
MAID
Dinner is served, ma’am.
NORA
We will have champagne, Helen.
MAID
Very good, ma’am. (Exit.)
HELMER
Hullo!—are we going to have a banquet?
NORA
Yes, a champagne banquet until the small hours. (Calls out.) And a few macaroons, Helen—lots, just for once!
HELMER
Come, come, don’t be so wild and nervous. Be my own little skylark, as you used.
NORA
Yes, dear, I will. But go in now and you too, Doctor Rank. Christine, you must help me to do up my hair.
Rank.
(Whispers to HELMER as they go out.) I suppose there is nothing—she is not expecting anything?
HELMER
Far from it, my dear fellow; it is simply nothing more than this childish nervousness I was telling you of. (They go into the right-hand room.)
NORA
Well!
MRS. LINDE
Gone out of town.
NORA
I could tell from your face.
MRS. LINDE
He is coming home tomorrow evening. I wrote a note for him.
NORA
You should have let it alone; you must prevent nothing. After all, it is splendid to be waiting for a wonderful thing to happen.
MRS. LINDE
What is it that you are waiting for?
NORA
Oh, you wouldn’t understand. Go in to them, I will come in a moment. (MRS. LINDE goes into the dining room. NORA stands still for a little while, as if to compose herself. Then she looks at her watch.) Five o’clock. Seven hours until midnight; and then four-and-twenty hours until the next midnight. Then the Tarantella will be over. Twenty-four and seven? Thirty-one hours to live.
HELMER
(From the doorway on the right.) Where’s my little skylark?
NORA
(Going to him with her arms outstretched.) Here she is!
Act III
Scene
The same scene. The table has been placed in the middle of the stage, with chairs around it. A lamp is burning on the table. The door into the hall stands open. Dance music is heard in the room above. MRS. LINDE is sitting at the table idly turning over the leaves of a book; she tries to read, but does not seem able to collect her thoughts. Every now and then she listens intently for a sound at the outer door.)
MRS. LINDE
(Looking at her watch.) Not yet—and the time is nearly up. If only he does not. . . . (Listens again.) Ah, there he is. (Goes into the hall and opens the outer door carefully. Light footsteps are heard on the stairs. She whispers.) Come in. There is no one here.
KROGSTAD
(In the doorway.) I found a note from you at home. What does this mean?
MRS. LINDE
It is absolutely necessary that I should have a talk with you.
KROGSTAD
Really? And is it absolutely necessary that it should be here?
MRS. LINDE
It is impossible where I live; there is no private entrance to my rooms. Come in; we are quite alone. The maid is asleep, and the Helmers are at the dance upstairs.
KROGSTAD
(Coming into the room.) Are the Helmers really at a dance tonight?
MRS. LINDE
Yes, why not?
KROGSTAD
Certainly—why not?
MRS. LINDE
Now, Nils, let us have a talk.
KROGSTAD
Can we two have anything to talk about?
MRS. LINDE
We have a great deal to talk about.
KROGSTAD
I shouldn’t have thought so.
MRS. LINDE
No, you have never properly understood me.
KROGSTAD
Was there anything else to understand except what was obvious to all the world—a heartless woman jilts a man when a more lucrative chance turns up?
MRS. LINDE
Do you believe I am as absolutely heartless as all that? And do you believe that I did it with a light heart?
KROGSTAD
Didn’t you?
MRS. LINDE
Nils, did you really think that?
KROGSTAD
If it were as you say, why did you write to me as you did at the time?
MRS. LINDE
I could do nothing else. As I had to break with you, it was my duty also to put an end to all that you felt for me.
KROGSTAD
(Wringing his hands.) So that was it. And all this—only for the sake of money!
MRS. LINDE
You must not forget that I had a helpless mother and two little brothers. We couldn’t wait for you, Nils; your prospects seemed hopeless then.
KROGSTAD
That may be so, but you had no right to throw me over for anyone else’s sake.
MRS. LINDE
Indeed, I don’t know. Many a time did I ask myself if I had the right to do it.
KROGSTAD
(More gently.) When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground went from under my feet. Look at me now—I am a shipwrecked man clinging to a bit of wreckage.
MRS. LINDE
But help may be near.
KROGSTAD
It was near; but then you came and stood in my way.
MRS. LINDE
Unintentionally, Nils. It was only today that I learned it was your place I was going to take in the Bank.
KROGSTAD
I believe you, if you say so. But now that you know it, are you not going to give it up to me?
MRS. LINDE
No, because that would not benefit you in the least.
KROGSTAD
Oh, benefit, benefit—I would have done it whether or no.
MRS. LINDE
I have learned to act prudently. Life, and hard, bitter necessity have taught me that.
KROGSTAD
And life has taught me not to believe in fine speeches.
MRS. LINDE
Then life has taught you something very reasonable. But deeds you must believe in?
KROGSTAD
What do you mean by that?
MRS. LINDE
You said you were like a shipwrecked man clinging to some wreckage.
KROGSTAD
I had good reason to say so.
Well, I am like a shipwrecked woman clinging to some wreckage—no one to mourn for, no one to care for.
KROGSTAD
It was your own choice.
MRS. LINDE
There was no other choice—then.
KROGSTAD
Well, what now?
MRS. LINDE
Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people could join forces?
KROGSTAD
What are you saying?
MRS. LINDE
Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a better chance than each on their own.
KROGSTAD
Christine I . . .
MRS. LINDE
What do you suppose brought me to town?
KROGSTAD
Do you mean that you gave me a thought?
MRS. LINDE
I could not endure life without work. All my life, as long as I can remember, I have worked, and it has been my greatest and only pleasure. But now I am quite alone in the world—my life is so dreadfully empty and I feel so forsaken. There is not the least pleasure in working for one’s self. Nils, give me someone and something to work for.
KROGSTAD
I don’t trust that. It is nothing but a woman’s overstrained sense of generosity that prompts you to make such an offer of yourself.
MRS. LINDE
Have you ever noticed anything of the sort in me?
KROGSTAD
Could you really do it? Tell me—do you know all about my past life?
MRS. LINDE
Yes.
KROGSTAD
And do you know what they think of me here?
MRS. LINDE
You seemed to me to imply that with me you might have been quite another man.
KROGSTAD
I am certain of it.
MRS. LINDE
Is it too late now?
KROGSTAD
Christine, are you saying this deliberately? Yes, I am sure you are. I see it in your face. Have you really the courage, then—?
MRS. LINDE
I want to be a mother to someone, and your children need a mother. We two need each other. Nils, I have faith in your real character—I can dare anything together with you.
KROGSTAD
(Grasps her hands.) Thanks, thanks, Christine! Now I shall find a way to clear myself in the eyes of the world. Ah, but I forgot—
MRS. LINDE
(Listening.) Hush! The Tarantella! Go, go!
KROGSTAD
Why? What is it?
MRS. LINDE
Do you hear them up there? When that is over, we may expect them back.
KROGSTAD
Yes, yes—I will go. But it is all no use. Of course you are not aware what steps I have taken in the matter of the Helmers.
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