Kroll. You are a simple-minded creature, Rosmer--an inexperienced creature. You have no suspicion of the violence of the storm that will burst upon you. (MRS. HELSETH slightly opens the door on the left.)Mrs. Helseth. Miss West wishes me to ask you, sir Rosmer. What is it?
Mrs. Helseth. There is some one downstairs that wishes to speak to you for a minute, sir.
Rosmer. Is it the gentleman that was here yesterday afternoon, by any chance?
Mrs. Helseth. No, it is that Mr. Mortensgaard.
Rosmer. Mortensgaard?
Kroll. Aha! So matters have got as far as that already, have they!
Rosmer. What does he want with me? Why did you not send him away ?
Mrs. Helseth. Miss West told me to ask you if he might come up.
Rosmer. Tell him I am engaged, and--
Kroll (to MRS. HELSETH). No; show him up, please. (MRS. HELSETHgoes out. KROLL takes up his hat.) I quit the field--temporarily.
But we have not fought the decisive action yet.
Rosmer. As truly as I stand here, Kroll, I have absolutely nothing to do with Mortensgaard.
Kroll. I do not believe you any longer on any point. Under no circumstances shall I have any faith in you after this. It is war to the knife now. We shall try if we cannot make you powerless to do any harm.
Rosmer. Oh, Kroll--how you have sunk! How low you have sunk!
Kroll. I? And a man like you has the face to say so? Remember Beata!
Rosmer. Are you harking back to that again!
Kroll. No. You must solve the riddle of the millrace as your conscience will allow you--if you have any conscience still left.
(PETER MORTENSGAARD comes in softly and quietly, by the door on the left. He is a short, slightly built man with sparse reddish hair and beard. KROLL gives him a look of hatred.) The "Searchlight" too, I see. Lighted at Rosmersholm! (Buttons up his coat.) That leaves me no doubt as to the course I should steer.
Mortensgaard (quietly). The "Searchlight" will always be ready burning to light Mr. Kroll home.
Kroll. Yes, you have shown me your goodwill for a long time. To be sure there is a Commandment that forbids us to bear false witness against our neighbour--Mortensgaard. Mr. Kroll has no need to instruct me in the Commandments.
Kroll. Not even in the sixth?
Rosmer. Kroll--!
Mortensgaard. If I needed such instruction, Mr. Rosmer is the most suitable person to give it me.
Kroll (with scarcely concealed scorn). Mr. Rosmer? Oh yes, the Reverend Mr. Rosmer is undoubtedly the most suitable man for that! I hope you will enjoy yourselves, gentlemen. (Goes out and slams the door after him.)Rosmer (stands looking at the door, and says to himself). Yes, yes--it had to be so. (Turns round.) Will you tell me, Mr.
Mortensgaard, what has brought you out here to see me?
Mortensgaard. It was really Miss West I wanted to see. I thought I ought to thank her for the kind letter I received from her yesterday.
Rosmer. I know she has written to you. Have you had a talk with her?
Mortensgaard. Yes, a little. (Smiles slightly.) I hear that there has been a change of views in certain respects at Rosmersholm.
Rosmer. My views have changed to a very considerable extent; Imight almost say entirely.
Mortensgaard. That is what Miss West said. And that was why she thought I ought to come up and have a little chat with you about this.
Rosmer. About what, Mr. Mortensgaard?
Mortensgaard. May I have your permission to announce in the "Searchlight" that you have altered your opinions, and are going to devote yourself to the cause of free thought and progress?
Rosmer. By all means. I will go so far as to ask you to make the announcement.
Mortensgaard. Then it shall appear to-morrow. It will be a great and weighty piece of news that the Reverend Mr. Rosmer of Rosmersholm has made up his mind to join the forces of light in that direction too.
Rosmer. I do not quite understand you.
Mortensgaard. What I mean is that it implies the gain of strong moral support for our party every time we win over an earnest, Christian-minded adherent.
Rosmer (with some astonishment). Then you don't know--? Did Miss West not tell you that as well?
Mortensgaard. What, Mr. Rosmer? Miss West was in a considerable hurry. She told me to come up, and that I would hear the rest of it from yourself.
Rosmer. Very well, then; let me tell you that I have cut myself free entirely--on every side. I have now, no connection of any kind with the tenets of the Church. For the future such matters have not the smallest signification for me.
Mortensgaard (looking at him in perplexity). Well, if the moon had fallen down from the sky, I could not be more--! To think that I should ever hear you yourself renounce--!
Rosmer. Yes, I stand now where you have stood for a long time.
You can announce that in the "Searchlight" to-morrow too.
Mortensgaard. That, too? No, my dear Mr. Rosmer--you must excuse me--but it is not worth touching on that side of the matter.
Rosmer. Not touch on it?
Mortensgaard. Not at first, I think.
Rosmer. But I do not understand--
Mortensgaard. Well, it is like this, Mr. Rosmer. You are not as familiar with all the circumstances of the case as I am, Iexpect. But if you, too, have joined the forces of freedom--and if you, as Miss West says you do, mean to take part in the movement--I conclude you do so with the desire to be as useful to the movement as you possibly can, in practice as well as, in theory.
Rosmer. Yes, that is my most sincere wish.
Mortensgaard. Very well. But I must impress on you, Mr. Rosmer, that if you come forward openly with this news about your defection from the Church, you will tie your own hands immediately.
Rosmer. Do you think so?
Mortensgaard. Yes, you may be certain that there is not much that you would be able to do hereabouts. And besides, Mr. Rosmer, we have quite enough freethinkers already--indeed, I was going to say we have too many of those gentry. What the party needs is a Christian element--something that every one must respect. That is what we want badly. And for that reason it is most advisable that you should hold your tongue about any matters that do not concern the public. That is my opinion.
