Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 6).djvu/327

 Bernick

True, true, true; but

JOHAN.

And was it not just for Betty's sake that you broke off the entanglement with Madam Dorf? It was for the very purpose of putting an end to it that you were up at her house that night

Bernick.

Yes, the fatal night when that drunken brute came home? Yes, Johan, it was for Betty's sake; but yet—that you should have the generosity to turn appearances against yourself and go away

Johan.

You need have no qualms, my dear Karsten. We agreed that it should be so; you had to be saved, and you were my friend. I can tell you I was proud of that friendship! Here was I, poor stay-at-home, plodding along, when you came back like a very prince from your great foreign tour—from London and Paris, no less! Then what should you do but choose me for your bosom friend, though I was four years younger than you. Well, that was because you were making love to Betty; now I understand it well enough. But how proud I was of it then! And who would not have been proud! Who would not gladly have served as your scapegoat, especially when it only meant a month's town-talk, and an excuse for making a dash into the wide world.

Bernick.

H'm—my dear Johan, I must tell you frankly that the story is not so entirely forgotten yet.