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ACT II SCENE II
(SCENE.-TJAELDE'S private office. On the left, a desk strewn with
ledgers and papers. On the right, a stove. An easy chair by the
stove. A table in the foreground to the right; on it an inkstand
and pens. Two armchairs; one at the table facing the audience, the
other at the side of the table. Windows on either side of the desk;
a door beyond the stove. A door in the background, leading to other
offices. A bell-pull hangs down the wall. A chair on either side of
the door. Quite at the back, on the left, a staircase leading
direct to TJAELDE'S bedroom. BERENT and TJAELDE come in from the
back.)
TJAELDE. You must excuse my receiving you here. But the other
rooms are all upside down; we have had some people to dinner.
BERENT. I heard you had guests.
TJAELDE. Yes, Mr. Lind from Christiana.
BERENT. Quite so.
TJAELDE. Won't you sit down? (BERENT lays down his hat and coat
on a chair by the door. He comes slowly forward, sits down at the
side of the table, and takes some papers from his breast-pocket.
TJAELDE sits down at the other chair by the table and watches him
indifferently.)
BERENT. What we now want is some fixed standard by which to make
our valuations, especially of real estate. Have you any objection
to our making your business a basis for arriving at that?
TJAELDE. None at all.
BERENT. Then may I make my comments on your own figures, and ask
you a few questions about them?
TJAELDE. By all means.
BERENT. Well, to begin with, let us take your properties
immediately round here; they will give us the best idea of local
values. For instance, take the Mjoelstad forest; you have put that
down, I see, at L16,500.
TJAELDE (indifferently). Have I?
BERENT. You bought it for L10,000.
TJAELDE. Yes, four years ago. Timber prices ruled low then.
BERENT. And since then you have cut down more than L20,000
worth of timber there.
TJAELDE. Who told you so?
BERENT. Mr. Holst.
TJAELDE. Holst knows nothing about it.
BERENT. We must try to be very accurate, you know.
TJAELDE. Well, of course, the whole valuation is not my concern;
but those whom it does concern will protest.
BERENT (taking no notice of his objection). So I think we will
reduce the L16,500 to L10,000.
TJAELDE. To L10,000! (Laughs.) As you please.
BERENT. Calculating by the same standard, we can scarcely put
down the Stav forest at more than L4000.
TJAELDE. Allow me to say that, if that is the way you are going to
make your valuation, everybody in the place will have to go
bankrupt!
BERENT (with a smile). We will risk that. You have put down your
wharf and its contents at L12,000.
TJAELDE. Including two ships in course of construction--
BERENT. --for which it would be difficult to find a purchaser, as
they are so far from completion.
TJAELDE. Indeed?
BERENT. So I think we cannot put down the wharf and its contents
at a higher figure than L8,000--and I believe even that will turn
out to be too high.
TJAELDE. If you can find me another wharf as well stocked, and
with the advantages that this one has, I will buy it whenever you
like for L8000; I am certain I should be more than L4000 to the
good over the bargain.
BERENT. May I go on?
TJAELDE. If you like! I even feel a certain curiosity to view my
possessions under such an entirely new light.
BERENT. As a matter of fact the items that are too highly valued
are just those that comprise this property that you live on--its
land, its gardens, its dwelling houses, warehouses, and quays-not
to mention the brewery and the factory, which I shall come to
later. Even regarded as business premises they seem to me to be
over-valued.
TJAELDE. Well?
BERENT, Moreover, the luxurious appointments of this house of
yours, which would very probably be superfluous for any one else,
cannot possibly be counted upon to realise their full value in a
sale. Suppose--as is indeed most likely--that it were a countryman
that bought the place?
TJAELDE. You are reckoning me as turned out of it already, then!
BERENT. I am obliged to base all my calculations on what the
property would fetch if sold now.
TJAELDE (getting up). What may you happen to value it at then?
BERENT. At less than half your valuation; that is to say at--
TJAELDE. You must really forgive me if I use an expression which
has been on the tip of my tongue for some time: this is scandalous!
You force yourself into a man's house, and then, under pretext of
asking for his opinion, you practically--on paper--rob him of his
possessions!
BERENT. I don't understand you. I am trying to arrive at a basis
for values hereabouts; and you said yourself, did you not, that it
is a matter that does not concern you alone?
TJAELDE. Certainly; but even in jest--if I may be allowed the
expression--one does not take the statement that an honourable
man has voluntarily offered and treat it as a mendacious document.
BERENT. There are many different points of view from which
valuations can be made, obviously. I see nothing more in it than
that.
TJAELDE. But don't you understand that this is like cutting into my
living flesh? Bit by bit, my property has been brought together
or created by my own work, and preserved by the most strenuous
exertions on my part under terribly trying conditions--it is bound
up with my family, with all that is dear to me--it has become a
part of my very life!
BERENT (with a bow). I understand that perfectly. You have put
down the Brewery at--
TJAELDE. No; I refuse to allow you to go on in this way. You must
find some one else's property as a basis for your calculations--
you must consult some one else, whose idea of business corresponds
somewhat closer to your own ridiculous one.
BERENT (leaning back in his chair). That is a pity. The banks were
anxious to be acquainted with your answers to my observations.
TJAELDE. Have you sent my statement to the banks?
BERENT. With my remarks and comments on it, and Mr. Holst's.
TJAELDE. This has been a trap, then? I believed I had to deal with
a gentleman!
BERENT. The banks or I, what is the difference? It comes to the
same thing, as I represent them unreservedly.
TJAELDE. Such impudent audacity is unpardonable!
BERENT. I would suggest that we avoid hard words--at all events,
for the moment--and rather consider the effect that will be
produced by the balance-sheet sent in.
TJAELDE. That some of us will see!
BERENT. The banking house of Lind & Co., for instance?
TJAELDE. Do you mean to say that my balance-sheet, ornamented with
marginal notes by you and Holst, is to be submitted to Mr. Lind's
firm too?
BERENT. When the cannon-salutes and noise of your festivities
enlightened me as to the situation, I took the liberty of making
some inquiries of the banks.
TJAELDE. So you have been spying here, too? You have been trying to
undermine my business connections?
BERENT. Is your position such, then, that you are afraid?
TJAELDE. The question is not my position, but your behaviour!
BERENT. I think we had better keep to the point. You have put
down the Brewery at--
TJAELDE. No; your conduct is so absolutely underhanded that, as an
honest man, I must refuse all further dealing with you. I am, as I
said before, accustomed to have to deal with gentlemen.
BERENT. I think you misunderstand the situation. Your indebtedness
to the banks is so considerable that a settlement of it may
reasonably be required of you. But to effect that you must work
with us in the matter.
TJAELDE (after a moment's thought). Very well! But, no more
details--let me know your conclusions, briefly.
BERENT. My conclusions, briefly, are that you have estimated
your assets at L90,800. I estimate them at L40,600.
TJAELDE (quietly). That is to say, you make me out to have a
deficit of about L30,000?
BERENT. As to that, I must point out that your estimate of your
liabilities does not agree with mine, either.
TJAELDE (quietly). Oh, of course not!
BERENT. For instance, the dividend that Moeller's estate is to
yield to you.
TJAELDE. No more details! What do you put my total liabilities at?
BERENT. Let me see. Your total liabilities amount, according to
your calculations, to L70,000. I estimate them at L80,000--to be
precise, at L79,372.
TJAELDE. That puts my deficit at about--
BERENT. At about L39,400--or, in round figures, L40,000.
TJAELDE. Oh, by all means let us stick to round figures!
BERENT. So that the difference between your views of your
balance-sheet and mine is that, whereas you give yourself a
surplus of about L20,000, I give you a deficit of about L40,000.
TJAELDE. Thank you very much.--Do you know my opinion of the whole
matter? (BERENT looks up at him.) That I am in this room with a
madman.
BERENT. I have had the same opinion for some time.--The stock of
timber you hold in France I have not been able to deal with; you
have forgotten to include it in your account. Perhaps it may make
a little difference.
TJAELDE. It is of no consequence! I have often enough heard people
speak of your callousness and your heartlessness; but their account
of you has come nowhere near the truth. I don't know why I have not
turned you out of my house long before this; but you will have the
goodness to leave it now!
BERENT. We shall both leave presently. But before we do, we must
discuss the question of handing over the house to the Receiver in
Bankruptcy.
TJAELDE. Ha, ha, ha! Allow me to inform you that at this very
moment a sum is being telegraphed to me which will be sufficient
not only to cover my present liabilities, but to set me straight in
every direction!
BERENT. The telegraph is a useful invention which is open to every
one.
TJAELDE (after a moment's thought). What do you mean by that?
BERENT. One effect of the noise of your festivities was that I used
the telegraph also. Mr. Lind will receive, on board the boat, a
telegram from his firm--and I doubt if the money you speak of will
be forthcoming.
TJAELDE. It is not true! You have not dared to do that!
BERENT. The facts are exactly as I state.
TJAELDE. Give me my balance-sheet; let me look at it again.
(Stretches out his hand to take it.)
BERENT (taking it up). Excuse me!
TJAELDE. Do you presume to keep back my own balance-sheet in
my own writing?
BERENT. Yes, and even to put it in my pocket. (Does so.) A
fraudulent balance-sheet, dated and signed, is a document of
some importance.
TJAELDE. You are determined to ruin my private and public
reputation?
BERENT. You have been working for that yourself for a long time. I
know your position. For a month past I have been in correspondence
with all the quarters in which you have business connections, both
here any I abroad.
TJAELDE. What underhanded deceitfulness an honest man is exposed
to! Here have I been surrounded by spies for the last month! A
plot between my business acquaintances and the banks! A snake
creeping into my house and crawling over my accounts! But I will
break up the conspiracy! And you will find out what it mean, to try
and ruin a reputable firm by underhand devices!
BERENT. This is no time for fine phrases. Do you propose to
surrender your property at once?
TJAELDE. Ha, ha! I am to surrender it because you have made me
out a bankrupt on your bit of paper!
BERENT. You might conceal the facts for a month, I know. But for
your own sake, and especially for the sake of others, I would
urgently advise you to end the matter at once. That was the reason
of my journey here.
TJAELDE. Ah, now the truth is out! And you came here pretending a
friendly concern that the tangle should be straightened out! We
were to distinguish between the sound and unsound firms, and you
requested me, most politely, to give you my assistance in the
matter!
BERENT. Exactly. But there is no question of anything unsound here
except your own business and what is bound up with it.
TJAELDE (when he has controlled himself). So you came into my house
with the hidden design of ruining me?
BERENT. I must repeat that it is not I that am responsible for your
bankruptcy; it is yourself.
TJAELDE. And I must repeat that my bankruptcy only exists in your
imagination! Much may happen in a month; and I have shown that I
can find a way out of difficulties before now!
BERENT. That is to say, by involving yourself deeper and deeper in
falsehood.
TJAELDE. Only a man of business can understand such things. But,
if you really understand them, I would say to you: "Give me
L20,000 and I will save the situation entirely." That would be
doing something worthy of your great powers; that would give
you a reputation for penetration in discerning the real state of
affairs; because by so doing you would safeguard the welfare of
more than a thousand people, and ensure a prosperous future for
the whole district!
BERENT. I don't rise to that bait.
TJAELDE (after a moment's reflection). Do you want me to explain to
you how L20,000 would be sufficient to set the whole complicated
situation straight? Within three months remittances would be coming
in. I can make it its clear as daylight to you--
BERENT. --that you would be falling from one disillusionment to
another! That is what you have been doing for the last three
years, from month to month.
TJAELDE. Because the last three years have been bad years--horrible
years! But we have reached the crisis; things must begin to improve
now!
BERENT. That is what every defaulter thinks.
TJAELDE. Do not drive me to despair! Have you any idea what I have
gone through in these three years? Have you any idea what I am
capable of?
BERENT. Of still further falsehood.
TJAELDE. Take care!--It is quite true that I am standing on the
edge of a precipice. It is true that for three years I have done
everything in mortal power to save the situation! I maintain that
there has been something heroic in the fight I have made. And that
deserves some reward. You have unrestricted powers; every one
trusts you. Realise for yourself what your mission is; do not let
it be necessary for me to teach it you! Let me tell you this,
emphatically: it will be a dreadful thing for _you_ if hundreds of
people are to be ruined unnecessarily now!
BERENT. Let us make an end of this.
TJAELDE. No, devil take me if I give up a fight like this with a
senseless surrender!
BERENT. How do you propose to end it, then?
TJAELDE. There is no issue to it that I have not turned over in my
thoughts--thousands of times. _I_ know what I shall do! I won't be
a mark for the jeers of this wretched little town, nor triumphed
over by those who have envied me all round the countryside!
BERENT. What will you do, then?
TJAELDE. You shall see! (Speaking more and more excitedly.) You
won't help me under any conditions?
BERENT. No.
TJAELDE. You insist that I shall surrender my estate, here and now?
BERENT. Yes.
TJAELDE. Hell and damnation! You dare do that?
BERENT. Yes.
TJAELDE (his agitation robbing him of his voice, which all at once
sinks to a hoarse whisper). You have never known what despair is!--
You don't know what an existence I have endured!-But if the
decisive moment has come, and I have a man here in my office
who _ought_ to save me but will not, then that man shall share
what is in store for me.
BERENT (leaning back in his chair). This is beginning to be
impressive.
TJAELDE. No more jesting; you might regret it! (Goes to all the
doors and locks them with a key which he takes out of his pocket;
then unlocks his desk, and takes a revolver out of it.) How long do
you suppose I have had this in here?
BERENT. Since you bought it, I suppose.
TJAELDE. And why do you suppose I bought it?--Do you suppose that
after I have been master of this town and the biggest man in the
district, I would endure the disgrace of bankruptcy?
BERENT. You have been enduring it for a long time.
TJAELDE. It is in your power now either to ruin me or to wave me.
You have behaved in such a way that you deserve no mercy--and you
shall have none! Report to the banks that they may give me the use
of L14,000 for a year--I need no more than that--and I will save
the situation for good and all. Think seriously, now! Remember my
family, remember how long my firm has been established, remember
the numbers that would be ruined if I were! And do not forget to
think of your own family! Because, if you _don't_ agree to what I
ask, neither of us shall leave this room alive!
BERENT (pointing to the revolver). Is it loaded?
TJAELDE (putting his finger on the trigger). You will find that out
in good time. You must answer me now!
BERENT. I have a suggestion to make. Shoot yourself first and me
afterwards.
TJAELDE (going up to him and holding the revolver to his head). I
will soon quiet your pretty wit.
BERENT (getting up, and taking out of his pocket a paper which he
unfolds). This is a formal surrender of your estate to the Receiver
in Bankruptcy. If you sign it, you will be doing your duty to your
creditors, to your family, and to yourself. Shooting yourself and
me would only be adding an acted lie to all your others. Put away
your revolver and take up your pen!
TJAELDE. Never! I had resolved on this long ago. But you shall
keep me company, now!
BERENT. Do what you please. But you cannot threaten me into a
falsehood.
TJAELDE (who has lowered the revolver, takes a step back, raises
the revolver and aims at BERENT). Very well!
BERENT (walking up to TJAELDE and looking him straight in the eyes,
while the latter reluctantly lowers the revolver). Do you suppose I
don't know that a man who has for so long shivered with falsehood
and terror in his inmost heart has lots of schemes but no courage?
You _dare_ not do it!
TJAELDE (furiously). I will show you! (Steps back and raises the
revolver again.)
BERENT (following him). Shoot, and you will hear a report--that is
what you are longing for, I suppose! Or, give up your plan of
shooting, think of what you have done, confess, and afterwards
hold your tongue!
TJAELDE. No; may the devil take both you and me--
BERENT. And the horse?
TJAELDE. The horse?
BERENT. I mean the magnificent charger on which you came galloping
home from the sale of Moeller's estate. You had better let some one
shoot you on horseback--on what was your last and greatest piece of
business duplicity! (Goes nearer to him and speaks more quietly.)
Or--strip yourself of the tissue of lies which enfolds you, and
your bankruptcy will bring you more blessing than your riches have
ever done. (TJAELDE lets the revolver drop out of his hand, and
sinks into a chair in an outburst of tears. There is silence for a
moment.) You have made an amazing fight of it for these last three
years. I do not believe I know any one who could have done what you
have done. But you have lost the fight this time. Do not shrink now
from a final settlement and the pain that it must cost you. Nothing
else will cleanse your soul for you.
TJAELDE (weeping unrestrainedly, with his face buried in his
hands). Oh, oh!
BERENT. You have blamed me for my method of proceeding in the
matter. My answer to that is that I forgive you for yours. (A
pause.) Try now to look the situation in the face, and take it
like a man.
TJAELDE (as before). Oh!
BERENT. At the bottom of your heart you must be weary of it all;
make an end of it all now!
TJAELDE (as before). Oh!
BERENT (sitting down beside him, after a moment's pause). Wouldn't
you like to feel your conscience clear again--to be able really to
live with your wife and children? Because I am sure you have not
done that for many a day.
TJAELDE (as before). Oh!
BERENT. I have known many speculators in my time and have received
many confessions. So I know what you have been robbed of for three
years--never a good night's rest, never a meal eaten with a light
heart. You have scarcely been conscious of what your children were
doing or saying, except when accident brought you together. And
your wife--
TJAELDE. My wife!
BERENT. Yes, she has slaved hard enough to prepare these banquets
that were to conceal the nakedness of the land. Indeed, she has
been the hardest worked servant in your house.
TJAELDE. My patient, good wife!
BERENT. I feel certain you would rather be the humblest labourer
earning your daily bread than live through such suffering again.
TJAELDE. A thousand times rather!
BERENT. Then can you hesitate to do what will give every man his
due, and bring you back to truthfulness again? Take the paper and
sign it!
TJAELDE (falling on his knees). Mercy, mercy! You do not know what
you are asking me. My own children will curse me. I have just heard
of a child doing that to her father! And my business friends, who
will be ruined with me--numbers of them--think of their families!
Oh! What is to become of my work-people? Do you know there are more
than four hundred of them? Think of them and their families, robbed
of their livelihood!--Be merciful! I cannot, I dare not, do it!
Save me, help me! It was horrible of me to try and threaten you;
but now I implore you, for the sake of all those that deserve more
than I, but to whom I shall devote the rest of my life in loyal
work!
BERENT. I cannot save you, least of all with money that belongs to
others. What you ask me to do would be disloyalty to them.
TJAELDE. No, no! Publish my accounts openly--put me under trustees,
if you like; but let me go on with the scheme that I believe will
succeed! Every clear-headed man will see that it must succeed!
BERENT. Come and sit down. Let us discuss it. (TJAELDE sits down.)
Isn't what you are now proposing exactly what you have been trying
to do for the last three years? You _have_ been able to borrow the
means; but what good has it done?
TJAELDE. Times have been so bad!
BERENT (shaking his head). You have mixed up falsehood and truth
for so long that you have forgotten the simplest laws of commerce.
To speculate during bad times, on the chance of their becoming
better, is all very well for those who can afford it. Others must
leave such things alone.
TJAELDE. But it is to the advantage of my creditors themselves, and
of the banks too, that my estate should hold together!
BERENT. It is of no advantage to sound firms to prop up unsound
ones.
TJAELDE. But, surely, to avoid losing their capital--?
BERENT, Oh, perhaps in the Receiver's hands the estate may--
TJAELDE (hopefully, half rising from his chair). Yes? Well?
BERENT. But not till you have been removed from the control of it.
TJAELDE (sinking down again). Not till I have been removed from the
control of it!
BERENT. On _its own_ resources I dare say the estate can hold out
until better times come, but not on borrowed money.
TJAELDE. Not on borrowed money--
BERENT. You understand the difference, of course?
TJAELDE. Oh, yes.
BERENT. Good. Then you must understand that there is nothing left
for you to do but to sign this.
TJAELDE. Nothing left but to sign--
BERENT. Here is the paper. Come, now!
TJAELDE (rousing himself). Oh, I cannot, I cannot!
BERENT. Very well. But in that case the crash will come of itself
in a short time, and everything will be worse than it is now.
TJAELDE (falling on his knees).Mercy, mercy! I cannot let go of all
hope! Think, after a fight like mine!
BERENT. Tell the truth and say: "I haven't the courage to face the
consequences."
TJAELDE. Yes, that is the truth.
BERENT. "I haven't the courage to begin an honest life."
TJAELDE. Yes.
BERENT. You don't know what you are saying, man!
TJAELDE. No, I don't. But spare me!
BERENT (getting up). This is nothing but despair! I am sorry for
you.
TJAELDE (getting up). Yes, surely you must be? Try me! Ask me to do
anything you like! Tell me what you--
BERENT. No, no! Before anything else, you must sign this.
TJAELDE (sinking back into his chair). Oh!--How shall I ever dare
to look any one in the face again?--I, who, have defied everything
and deceived every one!
BERENT. The man who has enjoyed the respect which he did not
deserve must some day undergo the humiliation which he has
deserved. That is a law; and I cannot save you from that.
TJAELDE. But they will be crueller to me than to any one else! I
deserve it, I know; but I shall not be able to endure it!
BERENT. Hm! You are remarkably tough; your fight, these last three
years, proves that.
TJAELDE. Be merciful! Surely your ingenuity--your influence--_must_
be able to find some way out for me?
BERENT. Yes. The way out is for you to sign this.
TJAELDE. Won't you even take it over from me by private contract?
If you did that, everything would come right.
BERENT. Sign! Here is the paper! Every hour is precious.
TJAELDE. Oh! (Takes up a pen; but turns to BERENT with a gesture of
supplication.) Daren't you test me, after what I have just gone
through?
BERENT. Yes, when you have signed. (TJAELDE signs the paper, and
sinks back in his chair with an expression of the keenest anguish.
BERENT takes the paper, folds it, and puts it in his pocket-book.)
Now I will go to the Bankruptcy Court with this, and afterwards to
the telegraph office. Probably the officials of the court will come
this evening to make their inventory. So you ought to warn your
family.
TJAELDE. How shall I be able to do that? Give me a little time! Be
merciful!
BERENT. The sooner the better for you--not to speak of the
interests of all concerned. Well, I have finished for the present.
TJAELDE. Don't desert me like this! Don't desert me!
BERENT. You would like your wife to come to you, wouldn't you?
TJAELDE (resignedly). Yes.
BERENT (taking up the revolver). And this--I will not take it with
me. There is no danger from it now. But I will put it in the desk,
for the sake of the others. Now, if you or yours should need me,
send word to me.
TJAELDE. Thank you.
BERENT. I shall not leave the town until the worst is over.--
Remember, night or day, if you need me, send word to me.
TJAELDE. Thank you.
BERENT. And now will you unlock the door for me?
TJAELDE (getting up). Ah, of course. Excuse me!
BERENT (taking his hat and coat). Won't you call your wife now?
TJAELDE. No. I must have a little time first. I have the worst part
of it before me now.
BERENT. I believe you have, and that is just why--. (Takes hold of
the bell-pull and rings the bell.)
TJAELDE. What are you doing?
BERENT. I want, before I go, to be sure of your wife's coming to
you.
TJAELDE. You should not have done that! (An office-boy comes in.
BERENT looks at TJAELDE.) Ask your mistress--ask my wife to come to
me.
BERENT. At once, please. (The boy goes out.) Good-bye! (Goes out.
TJAELDE sinks down on to a chair by the door.)
[The Curtain falls.]
Content of ACT II SCENE II [Bjornstjerne Bjornson's play/drama: The Bankrupt]
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