Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 8).djvu/145

 Burgomaster.

[Taking them both.] Your term of office has come to an untimely end.

Dr. Stockmann.

The end is not yet. [To Hovstad.] So you are quite determined not to print my article in the Messenger?

Hovstad.

Quite; for the sake of your family, if for no other reason.

Mrs. Stockmann.

Oh, be kind enough to leave his family out of the question, Mr. Hovstad.

Burgomaster.

[Takes a manuscript from his pocket.] When this appears, the public will be in possession of all necessary information; it is an authentic statement. I place it in your hands.

Hovstad.

[Taking the MS.] Good. It shall appear in due course.

Dr. Stockmann.

And not mine! You imagine you can kill me and the truth by a conspiracy of silence! But it won't be so easy at you think. Mr. Aslaksen, will you be good enough to print my article at once, as a pamphlet? I'll pay for it myself, and be my own publisher. I'll have four hundred copies—no, five—six hundred.

Aslaksen. No. If you offered me its weight in gold, I dare