Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 8).djvu/213

 Aslaksen.

[Bewildered.] If one only knew the local situation![1] [He slinks out by the sitting-room door.

Mrs. Stockmann.

[Holding back the Doctor.] Now, do restrain yourself, Thomas!

Dr. Stockmann.

[Throwing down the umbrella.] I'll be hanged if they haven't got off after all.

Mrs. Stockmann.

Why, what can they have wanted with you?

Dr. Stockmann.

I'll tell you afterwards; I have other things to think of now. [Goes to the table and writes on a visiting-card.] Look here, Katrina: what's written here?

Mrs. Stockmann.

Three big Noes; what does that mean?

Dr. Stockmann.

That I'll tell you afterwards, too. [Handing the card.] There, Petra; let smudgy-face run to the Badger's with this as fast as she can. Be quick! [Petra goes out through the hall with the card.

Dr. Stockmann. Well, if I haven't had visits to-day from all the

1 "De lokale forholde"—the local conditions, or the circumstances of the locality, a phrase constantly in Aslaksen's mouth in The League of Youth. In the present context it is about equivalent to "the lie of the land."