Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 11).djvu/349



It remained a dream, yes. [Listening.] And hark, down by the river, dear! The factories are working! My factories! All those that I would have created! Listen! Do you hear them humming? The night shift is on—so they are working night and day. Hark! hark! the wheels are whirling and the bands are flashing—round and round and round. Can't you hear, Ella?

No.

I can hear it.

[Anxiously.] I think you are mistaken, John.

[More and more fired.] Oh, but all these—they are only like the outworks around the kingdom, I tell you!

The kingdom, you say? What kingdom?

My kingdom, of course! The kingdom I was on the point of conquering when I—when I died.

[Shaken, in a low voice.] Oh, John, John!