Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 9).djvu/206

 Ballested.

But I haven't put in the figure yet. There is no such thing as a model to be had in the town.

Lyngstrand.

There is to be a figure, is there?

Ballested.

Yes. By the rock in the foreground here, I mean to have a half-dead mermaid lying.

Lyngstrand.

Why half-dead?

Ballested.

She has strayed in from the sea, and can't find her way out again. So she lies here dying by inches in the brackish water, you understand.

Lyngstrand.

Oh, that is the idea?

Ballested.

It was the lady of this house that suggested it to me.

Lyngstrand.

What will you call the picture when it is finished?

Ballested.

I think of calling it "The Mermaid's End."

Lyngstrand.

Capital.—You are sure to make something good out of this.

Ballested.

[Looking at him.] An artist yourself, perhaps?