Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/166

 My fame flew wide from port to port,
 * and fortune sailed on board my vessels-

MR. COTTON
 * What did you trade in?

PEER
 * I did most
 * in Negro slaves for Carolina,
 * and idol-images for China.

MONSIEUR BALLON
 * Fi donc!

TRUMPETERSTRALE
 * The devil, Uncle Gynt!

PEER
 * You think, no doubt, the business hovered
 * on the outer verge of the allowable?
 * Myself I felt the same thing keenly.
 * It struck me even as odious.
 * But, trust me, when you've once begun,
 * it's hard to break away again.
 * At any rate it's no light thing,
 * in such a vast trade-enterprise,
 * that keeps whole thousands in employ,
 * to break off wholly, once for all.
 * That "once for all" I can't abide,
 * but own, upon the other side,
 * that I have always felt respect
 * for what are known as consequences;
 * and that to overstep the bounds
 * has ever somewhat daunted me.
 * Besides, I had begun to age,