Ghosts

epub:type="z3998:persona">Mrs. Alving Starts in terror. Ah⁠—! She stares wildly towards the half-open door. Oswald is heard laughing and humming. A bottle is uncorked. Manders Agitated. What can be the matter? What is it, Mrs. Alving? Mrs. Alving Hoarsely. Ghosts! The couple from the conservatory⁠—risen again! Manders Is it possible! Regina⁠—? Is she⁠—? Mrs. Alving Yes. Come. Not a word⁠—! She seizes Pastor Manders by the arm, and walks unsteadily towards the dining room.

Act II

The same room. The mist still lies heavy over the landscape.

	Manders and Mrs. Alving enter from the dining room.
Mrs. Alving	Still in the doorway. Velbekomme4 Mr. Manders. Turns back towards the dining room. Aren’t you coming too, Oswald?
Oswald	From within. No, thank you. I think I shall go out a little.
Mrs. Alving	Yes, do. The weather seems a little brighter now. She shuts the dining room door, goes to the hall door, and calls: Regina!
Regina	Outside. Yes, Mrs. Alving?
Mrs. Alving	Go down to the laundry, and help with the garlands.
Regina	Yes, Mrs. Alving.
	Mrs. Alving assures herself that Regina goes; then shuts the door.
Manders	I suppose he cannot overhear us in there?
Mrs. Alving	Not when the door is shut. Besides, he’s just going out.
Manders	I am still quite upset. I don’t know how I could swallow a morsel of dinner.
Mrs. Alving	Controlling her nervousness, walks up and down. Nor I. But what is to be done now?
Manders	Yes; what is to be done? I am really quite at a loss. I am so utterly without experience in matters of this sort.
Mrs. Alving	I feel sure that, so far, no mischief has been done.
Manders	No; heaven forbid! But it is an unseemly state of things, nevertheless.
Mrs. Alving	It is only an idle fancy on Oswald’s part; you may be sure of that.
Manders	Well, as I say, I am not accustomed to affairs of the kind. But I should certainly think⁠—
Mrs. Alving	Out of the house she must go, and that immediately. That is as clear as daylight⁠—
Manders	Yes, of course she must.
Mrs. Alving	But where to? It would not be right to⁠—
Manders	Where to? Home to her father, of course.
Mrs. Alving	To whom did you say?
Manders	To her⁠—But then, Engstrand is not⁠—? Good God, Mrs. Alving, it’s impossible! You must be mistaken after all.
Mrs. Alving	Unfortunately there is no possibility of mistake. Johanna confessed everything to me; and Alving could not deny it. So there was nothing to be done but to get the matter hushed up.
Manders	No, you could do nothing else.
Mrs. Alving	The girl left our service at once, and got a good sum of money to hold her tongue for the time. The rest she managed for herself when she got to town. She renewed her old acquaintance with Engstrand, no doubt let him see that she had money in her purse, and told him some tale about a foreigner who put in here with a yacht that summer. So she and Engstrand got married in hot haste. Why, you married them yourself.
Manders	But then how to account for⁠—? I recollect distinctly Engstrand coming to give notice of the marriage. He was quite overwhelmed with contrition, and bitterly reproached himself for the misbehaviour he and his sweetheart had been guilty of.
Mrs. Alving	Yes; of course he had to take the blame upon himself.
Manders	But such a piece of duplicity on his part! And towards me too! I never could have believed it of Jacob Engstrand. I shall not fail to take him seriously to task; he may be sure of that.⁠—And then the immorality of such a connection! For money⁠—! How much did the girl receive?
Mrs. Alving	Three hundred dollars.
Manders	Just think of it⁠—for a miserable three hundred dollars, to go and marry a fallen woman!
Mrs. Alving	Then what have you to say of me? I went and married a fallen man.
Manders	Why⁠—good heavens!⁠—what are you talking about! A fallen man!
Mrs. Alving	Do you think Alving was any purer when I went with him to the altar than Johanna was when Engstrand married her?
Manders	Well, but there is a world of difference between the two cases⁠—
Mrs. Alving	Not so much difference after all⁠—except in the price:⁠—a miserable three hundred dollars and a whole fortune.
Manders	How can you compare such absolutely dissimilar cases? You had taken counsel with your own heart and with your natural advisers.
Mrs. Alving	Without looking at him. I thought you understood where what you call my heart had strayed to at the time.
Manders	Distantly. Had I understood anything of the kind, I should not have been a daily guest in your husband’s house.
Mrs. Alving	At any rate, the fact remains that with myself I took no counsel whatever.
Manders	Well then, with your nearest relatives⁠—as your duty bade you⁠—with your mother and your two aunts.
Mrs. Alving	Yes, that is true. Those three cast up the account for me. Oh, it’s marvellous how clearly they made out that it would be downright madness to refuse such an offer. If Mother could only see me now, and know what all that grandeur has come to!
Manders	Nobody can be held responsible for the result. This, at least, remains clear: your marriage was in full accordance with law and order.
Mrs. Alving	At the window. Oh, that perpetual law and order! I often think that is what does all the mischief in this world of ours.
Manders	Mrs. Alving, that is a sinful way of talking.
Mrs. Alving	Well, I can’t help it; I must have done with all this constraint and insincerity. I can endure it no longer. I must work my way out to freedom.
Manders	What do you mean by that?
Mrs. Alving	Drumming on the window frame. I ought never to have concealed the facts of Alving’s life. But at that time I dared not do anything else⁠—I was afraid, partly on my own account. I was such a coward.
Manders	A coward?
Mrs. Alving	If people had come to know anything, they would have said⁠—“Poor man! with a runaway wife, no wonder he kicks over the traces.”
Manders	Such remarks might have been made with a certain