Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/299

 PEER
 * Not too much fire;-and chiefly
 * the power of departing in safety and peace,-
 * the right, as the phrase goes, of freely withdrawing
 * should an opening offer for happier days.

THE LEAN ONE
 * My dear friend, I vow I'm sincerely distressed;
 * but you cannot imagine how many petitions
 * of similar purport good people send in
 * when they're quitting the scene of their earthly activity.

PEER
 * But now that I think of my past career,
 * I feel I've an absolute claim to admission-

THE LEAN ONE
 * 'Twas but trifles, you said-

PEER
 * In a certain sense;-
 * but, now I remember, I've trafficked in slaves-

THE LEAN ONE
 * There are men that have trafficked in wills and souls,
 * but who bungled it so that they failed to get in.

PEER
 * I've shipped Bramah-figures in plenty to China.

THE LEAN ONE
 * Mere fustian again! Why, we laugh at such thing