Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 11).djvu/390

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Are your dogs your nearest friends?

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I have none nearer. My honest, trusty, absolutely loyal comrades—. When one of them turns sick and miserable—bang!—and there's my friend sent packing—to the other world.

[The ''comes out of the hotel with a tray on which is bread and milk. She places it on the table outside the pavilion, which she enters.''

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[Laughs scornfully.] That stuff there—is that what you call food for human beings! Milk and water and soft, clammy bread. Ah, you should see my comrades feeding. Should you like to see it?

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[Smiling across to the and rising.] Yes, very much.

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[Also rising.] Spoken like a woman of spirit, madam! Come with me, then! They swallow whole great thumping meat-bones—gulp them up and then gulp them down again. Oh, it's a regular treat to see them. Come along and I'll show you—and while we're about it, we can talk over this trip to the mountains

[He goes out by the corner of the hotel, following him.