Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 2).djvu/196



Dreams forbode.

Ay, and tempt.

Not you, surely. In bygone days, that I could understand—but now, when you hold a third part of the kingdom, rule as the first man in the land, and are the Queen's father

Now most of all—now most of all.

Hide nothing! Confess; for verily I can see a great pain is gnawing you.

Now most of all, I say. This is the great curse that lies upon my whole life: to stand so near to the highest,—with an abyss between. One leap, and on the other side are the kingship, and the purple robe, the throne, the might, and all! I have it daily before my eyes—but can never reach it.

True, Earl, true.

When they made Guthorm Sigurdsson king, I was in the full strength of my youth; It was as though a voice cried aloud within me: Away with the child,—I am the man, the strong man!—