Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 6).djvu/260

 that is enough. Now you had better go down to the yard again; you're sure to be wanted; I shall be down myself presently.—I beg your pardon, ladies!

[He bows, and goes out through the garden and down the street. Aune goes quietly out to the right. Doctor Rörlund, who during the whole of the foregoing conversation has continued reading, presently closes the book with a bang.

Rörlund.

There, my dear ladies, that is the end.

Mrs. Rummel.

Oh, what an instructive tale!

Mrs. Holt.

And so moral!

Mrs. Bernick.

Such a book really gives one a great deal to think over.

Rörlund.

Yes; it forms a refreshing contrast to what we unhappily see every day, both in newspapers and magazines. The rouged and gilded exterior flaunted by the great communities—what does it really conceal? Hollowness and rottenness, if I may say so. They have no moral foundation under their feet. In one word—they are whited sepulchres, these great communities of the modern world.

Mrs. Holt.

Too true! too true!