Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 7).djvu/279

 no definite images; everything swam before me—whirling round and round. Oh, it was an awful state! At last I sent for a doctor—and from him I learned the truth.

Mrs. Alving.

How do you mean?

Oswald.

He was one of the first doctors in Paris. I told him my symptoms; and then he set to work asking me a string of questions which I thought had nothing to do with the matter. I couldn't imagine what the man was after

Mrs. Alving.

Well?

Oswald.

At last he said: "There has been something worm-eaten in you from your birth." He used that very word—vermoulu.

Mrs. Alving.

[Breathlessly.] What did he mean by that?

Oswald.

I didn't understand either, and begged him to explain himself more clearly. And then the old cynic said—[Clenching his fist] Oh!

Mrs. Alving.

What did he say?

Oswald.

He said, "The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children."