Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 6).djvu/105

 Stensgård.

No arguing, Aslaksen; that I can't and won't stand!

Aslaksen.

Do you know, Mr. Stensgård, that you are doing your best to take the bread out of my mouth? Do you know that?

Stensgård.

No; I know nothing of the sort.

Aslaksen.

But you are. Last winter, before you came here, my paper was looking up. I edited it myself, I must tell you, and I edited it on a principle.

Stensgård.

You?

Aslaksen.

Yes, I!—I said to myself: it's the great public that supports a paper; now the great public is the bad public—that comes of the local situation; and the bad public will have a bad paper. So you see I edited it

Stensgård.

Badly! Yes, that's undeniable.

Aslaksen.

Well, and I prospered by it. But then you came and brought ideas into the district. The paper took on a colour, and then Lundestad's supporters all fell away. The subscribers that are left won't pay their subscriptions

Stensgård.

Ah, but the paper has become a good one.