Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 6).djvu/305

 then he throws his stick away from him.] To think of their coming home just at this time, when so much depends on unmixed good-feeling, both in the press and in the town! There will be paragraphs in the papers all over the country-side. Whether I receive them well or ill, my action will be discussed, my motives turned inside out. People will rip up all those old stories—just as you do. In a society like ours [Tosses down his gloves upon the table.] And there isn't a soul here that I can confide in, or that can give me any support.

Mrs. Bernick.

No one at all, Karsten?

Bernick.

No; you know there is not.—That they should descend upon me just at this moment! They are certain to make a scandal in one way or another—especially she. It is nothing less than a calamity to have such people in one's family.

Mrs. Bernick.

Well, it's not my fault that

Bernick.

What is not your fault? That you are related to them? No; that's true enough.

Mrs. Bernick.

And it wasn't I that asked them to come home.

Bernick.

Aha, there we have it! "I didn't ask them to come home; I didn't write for them; I didn't drag them home by the hair of their heads." Oh, I know the whole story off by heart.