MRS. HAMMELEV

Now we’ll have a talk, we two--it is necessary. You may take off your things--the large hat--the coat. (_Louise takes her coat and hat off and puts them away. She is dressed in a plain, simple dress_.) Yes--I like you so much better without those things on. Now sit down here at the table--right here in front of me. (_They both of them sit down_.) What I am going to tell you now may hurt you. But I trust you understand that nobody could love Anton any more than his mother. Therefore I want to speak openly to you.

LOUISE (_bows down her head_)

I suppose you want me to call it off with him.

MRS. HAMMELEV

I had meant to ask you whether you yourself think that you are the kind of wife he ought to have. I don’t know you, of course. But I know him, and I know that he deserves to have a good woman and a woman who is pure. Can you stand before the face of God and say that you are that? You need not answer me. It is God who awaits your answer.

LOUISE (_slowly_)

I know very well I haven’t always been what I should have been.

MRS. HAMMELEV (_mildly_)

None of us have. But you must let your own conscience decide whether you can stand with raised head as my son’s bride. If you can not, I beg of you to give him up. Yes, in such a case you _must_. Could you expect me to ask anything else of you?

LOUISE (_rocking back and forth in great agony_)

I have been so fond of Anton.

MRS. HAMMELEV

Yes, poor girl! You mustn’t think I am so hard-hearted that I don’t feel sorry for you. But life puts its mark on each one of us. And you have received yours. I saw it on you at once.

LOUISE

I have often regretted that I gave Anton my promise. I am sorry for his sake. I have often thought that perhaps it would dawn on him some day that I wasn’t fit for him. And I promised myself solemnly--if such a day should come--he should be free from me at once.

MRS. HAMMELEV

Perhaps--if you had enough strength left. But what about all the years you had taken away from him in the meantime?

LOUISE

I felt that way because he cared for me and wanted to have me near him.

MRS. HAMMELEV

But you have no right to think anything like that. We have no right to masquerade, to pretend we are what we are not. And you must remember that my son can’t form an opinion for himself of human beings in the same way that we can.

LOUISE (_bravely_)

You mustn’t think, Mrs. Hammelev, that I have hidden anything from Anton.

MRS. HAMMELEV

Hidden! To leave things untold is the same as to hide.

LOUISE

I have told him everything that I have been--that I was once--

MRS. HAMMELEV (_sharply_)

A fallen woman!

LOUISE (_bending herself down in silence, as if being struck_)

That is a word which is not used by oneself about oneself. (_With strong emotion_.) Yet on the very first day we met I told him I should bring shame and sorrow to him. I told him I had done things that I couldn’t even tell him about, and that I wasn’t worthy of walking by his side in the street.

MRS. HAMMELEV

You did tell him that?

LOUISE

As true as there is a God! I have told him everything. Oh, but he--he only smiled. He understood so well, he said, that I had gone through so many things. But when a woman had the strength to rise again, it tended to prove that she had the real stuff in her--that’s what he said. Then it seemed to him also as if it, in a way, was a sort of counter-balance to his being such a wretched human being. In a way, you understand. For we each had our own misfortune to bear.

MRS. HAMMELEV (_passionately_)

Don’t you dare to compare his misfortune with yours! God knows my poor boy can not be blamed for what has befallen him. Whereas you have been a bad and weak woman. You have brought your sin and shame upon yourself, and you can not wash yourself clean of it now. I am not judging you--don’t think that! But how could you come out here with him? How could you think that we, his parents, could look on quietly and see him throw himself away on a--a woman who--who was unworthy of him?

LOUISE

Oh, God! I didn’t think so. I didn’t think so. I begged him again and again to go alone. But he wouldn’t listen to me; he wasn’t satisfied until I promised to go with him. And he kept on saying: “When they only see how much you are to me, they will have to like you as much as I do.” And then--then--I don’t know--then there were moments when I hoped myself it would be as he hoped it would.

MRS. HAMMELEV

You ought to have known that, in spite of telling him about your life, you are still deceiving him; that everybody else can see with their eyes what he can’t! You also have a bad conscience. It is for that reason you have tried to fix yourself up. But can’t you understand that you are thus holding up my poor little boy as a target for fun-making and mockery and pity?

LOUISE (_struggling with her tears_)

He told me to fix myself up so that you might like me. I never thought--(_suddenly taking hold of Mrs. Hammelev’s hand_.) You must believe me! I did it all with the best of intentions.

MRS. HAMMELEV

I readily believe that. But if you really loved Anton, I do not understand why you couldn’t see that you would drag him down with you. But there must be an end to this now. You must give him up.

LOUISE (_in a low voice_)

Give up! Yes, I suppose I must--I wouldn’t think of standing between him and his parents. Yes, I’ll--I’ll tell him we must part.

MRS. HAMMELEV

No. You shan’t do that. You need but leave quietly. I’ll speak myself to my son.

LOUISE

You speak to him! Yes--if you could only get him to listen. But I know him. He’ll want me back, anyway. Do you know that I left him once? No--how could you know that!--

MRS. HAMMELEV

You were--you were going to--leave him!

LOUISE

I wanted to give him back his liberty, as you want me to give it to him now. I explained my reasons for doing it in a letter to him--I have learned the alphabet of the blind. Then I moved to some relatives of mine that I had never spoken to him of. The next day he had found out where I was and came to me.

MRS. HAMMELEV

Yes, I realize that you have understood how to make him attached to you. It will be a blow to him--yes, I don’t reproach you.

LOUISE

Reproach me!

MRS. HAMMELEV

I tell you, I don’t blame you. And if I could give you a helping hand, so that both you and my son could become happy and contented, I would do so. But it wouldn’t be right for me to think of anything else but my son’s future. Remember that I am so much older than you are and have had so many more years’ experience of life. And I have learned that one cannot build a house on sand or dirt.

LOUISE (_rising_)

Anton’s future shan’t be built on such a foundation. It is better for us--it is better for him to have the sorrow of losing me now. And this time it shall be for ever. There are places where he won’t be able to find me.

MRS. HAMMELEV

Are you going upstairs to talk to him now?

LOUISE (_nods_)

Yes, that is one of the conditions I want to make.

MRS. HAMMELEV

You must believe me--I am doing this with the best of intentions. It is only because I love Anton so much.

LOUISE (_with a sorrowful nod_)

I know. When one loves some one--

MRS. HAMMELEV (_takes Louise’s hand_)

But one thing you must promise me. You must be sensible. You mustn’t do anything rash or foolish. Think of Anton. His life is dark enough as it is.

LOUISE

I have already taken into consideration everything. Almost as long as I have known Anton have I had on my mind to do what I am going to do now. I shall go--far away--that’s all. And then neither you nor Anton will have to see me any more. (_She goes out to the right. Mrs. Hammelev walks about the room restlessly for a moment; then she seats herself at the table in deep thought_.)