Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 5).djvu/82

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The murderer in the purple robe; my father's murderer, my step-mother's, my eldest brother's

Oh, you are calling down destruction upon us!

Eleven heads in one single night; eleven bodies; our whole house.—Ah, but be sure conscience is torturing him; it shivers through the marrow of his bones like a swarm of serpents.

Do not listen to him! Away, away!

[Seizes by the shoulder.] Stay;—you look pale and disordered; is it you that have betrayed me?

I! Your own brother!

What matter for that! Brotherhood protects no one in our family. Confess that you have secretly spied upon my doings! Who else should it be? Think you I do not know what people are whispering? The Emperor designs to make you his successor.

Never! I swear to you, my beloved Gallus, it shall never be! I will not. One mightier than he has chosen me.—Oh, trust me, Gallus: my path