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it, and carries the whole into the inner room, to the left.
TESMAN lays the scraps of paper on the writing-table, and moves
the lamp there from the corner table. He and Mrs. Elvsted sit
down and proceed with their work. HEDDA returns.
HEDDA.
[Behind Mrs. Elvsted's chair, gently ruffling her hair.] Well, my
sweet Thea,--how goes it with Eilert Lovborg's monument?
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Looks dispiritedly up at her.] Oh, it will be terribly hard to put
in order.
TESMAN.
We must manage it. I am determined. And arranging other people's
papers is just the work for me.
[HEDDA goes over to the stove, and seats herself on one of the
footstools. BRACK stands over her, leaning on the arm-chair.
HEDDA.
[Whispers.] What did you say about the pistol?
BRACK.
[Softly.] That he must have stolen it.
HEDDA.
Why stolen it?
BRACK.
Because every other explanation ought to be impossible, Mrs. Hedda.
HEDDA.
Indeed?
BRACK.
[Glances at her.] Of course Eilert Lovborg was here this morning.
Was he not?
HEDDA.
Yes.
BRACK.
Were you alone with him?
HEDDA.
Part of the time.
BRACK.
Did you not leave the room whilst he was here?
HEDDA.
No.
BRACK.
Try to recollect. Were you not out of the room a moment?
HEDDA.
Yes, perhaps just a moment--out in the hall.
BRACK.
And where was you pistol-case during that time?
HEDDA.
I had it locked up in---
BRACK.
Well, Mrs. Hedda?
HEDDA.
The case stood there on the writing-table.
BRACK.
Have you looked since, to see whether both the pistols are there?
HEDDA.
No.
BRACK.
Well, you need not. I saw the pistol found in Lovborg's pocket, and
I knew it at once as the one I had seen yesterday--and before, too.
HEDDA.
Have you it with you?
BRACK.
No; the police have it.
HEDDA.
What will the police do with it?
BRACK.
Search till they find the owner.
HEDDA.
Do you think they will succeed?
BRACK.
[Bends over her and whispers.] No, Hedda Gabler--not so long as I
say nothing.
HEDDA.
[Looks frightened at him.] And if you do not say nothing,--what then?
BRACK.
[Shrugs his shoulders.] There is always the possibility that the
pistol was stolen.
HEDDA.
[Firmly.] Death rather than that.
BRACK.
[Smiling.] People say such things--but they don't do them.
HEDDA.
[Without replying.] And supposing the pistol was not stolen, and the
owner is discovered? What then?
BRACK.
Well, Hedda--then comes the scandal!
HEDDA.
The scandal!
BRACK.
Yes, the scandal--of which you are so mortally afraid. You will, of
course, be brought before the court--both you and Mademoiselle Diana.
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