Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 7).djvu/66

 character. But even he began by announcing, as a matter of vast importance, that he must live.

Nora.

Indeed? And what did he want with Torvald?

Rank.

I haven't an idea; I only gathered that it was some bank business.

Nora.

I didn't know that Krog—that this Mr. Krogstad had anything to do with the Bank?

Rank.

Yes. He has got some sort of place there.

[To Mrs. Linden.] I don't know whether, in your part of the country, you have people who go grubbing and sniffing around in search of moral rottenness—and then, when they have found a "case," don't rest till they have got their man into some good position, where they can keep a watch upon him. Men with a clean bill of health they leave out in the cold. Mrs. Linden. Well, I suppose the—delicate characters require most care. Rank. [Shrugs his shoulders.] There we have it! It's that notion that makes society a hospital. [Nora, deep in her own thoughts, breaks into half-stifled laughter and claps her hands.

Rank.

Why do you laugh at that? Have you any idea what "society" is?