Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 6).djvu/257

 PILLARS OF SOCIETY.

ACT FIRST.

A spacious garden-room in Consul Bernick's house. In front, to the left, a door lends into the Consul's office; farther back, in the same wall, a similar door. In the middle of the opposite wall is a large entrance door. The back wall is almost entirely composed of plate-glass, with an open doorway leading to a broad flight of steps,[1] over which a sun-shade is let down. Beyond the steps a part of the garden can be seen, enclosed by a railing with a little gate. Beyond the railing, and running parallel with it, is a street of small, brightly painted wooden houses. It is summer, and the sun shines warmly. Now and then people pass along the street: they stop and speak to each other: customers come and go at the little corner shop, and so forth.

In the garden-room a number of ladies are gathered round a table. At the head of the table sits Mrs. Bernick. On her left sit Mrs. Holt and her daughter; next to them, Mrs. and Miss Rummel. On Mrs. Bernick's right sit Mrs.

1 "Havetrappe" here seems to imply a flight of steps with so wide a landing at the top as practically to form a verandah, under the sun-shade. In subsequent stage directions, the word is rendered by "verandah."