Part 85

Thea said that what I had done seemed to her like a child-murder.

HEDDA.

Yes, so she said.

LOVBORG.

But to kill his child--that is not the worst thing a father can do to it.

HEDDA.

Not the worst?

LOVBORG.

Suppose now, Hedda, that a man--in the small hours of the morning--came home to his child's mother after a night of riot and debauchery, and said: "Listen--I have been here and there--in this place and in that. And I have taken our child with--to this place and to that. And I have lost the child--utterly lost it. The devil knows into what hands it may have fallen--who may have had their clutches on it."

HEDDA.

Well--but when all is said and done, you know--this was only a book--

LOVBORG.

Thea's pure soul was in that book.

HEDDA.

Yes, so I understand.

LOVBORG.

And you can understand, too, that for her and me together no future is possible.

HEDDA.

What path do you mean to take then?

LOVBORG.

None. I will only try to make an end of it all--the sooner the better.

HEDDA.

LOVBORG.

Beautifully? [Smiling.] With vine-leaves in my hair, as you used to dream in the old days--?

HEDDA.

No, no. I have lost my faith in the vine-leaves. But beautifully nevertheless! For once in a way!--Good-bye! You must go now--and do not come here any more.

LOVBORG.

Good-bye, Mrs. Tesman. And give George Tesman my love.