Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 6).djvu/311

 Aune.

[With a start.] Me! [Laughing.] Oh, that's only your joke, Consul.

Bernick.

I advise you not to trust to that.

Aune.

You can think of turning me away! Why, my father before me, and his father too, worked in the shipyard all their lives; and I myself

Bernick.

Who forces me to it?

Aune.

You want me to do things as can't be done, Consul.

Bernick.

Oh, where there's a will there's a way. Yes or no? Answer me definitely, or I dismiss you on the spot.

Aune.

[Coming nearer.] Consul Bernick, have you rightly bethought what it means to turn an old workman away? You say he can look about for another job. Ay, ay, maybe he can—but is that everything? Ah, you should just see what it looks like in a turned-off workman's house, the night when he comes home and puts his tool-chest behind the door.

Bernick.

Do you think I part with you willingly? Haven't I always been a good master to you?