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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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MRS. LINDEN No? NORA You’re like the rest. You all think I’m fit for nothing really seriousMRS. LINDEN Well, wellNORA You think I’ve had no troubles in this weary world. MRS. LINDEN My dear Nora, you’ve just told me all your troubles. NORA Pooh-those trifles! [Softly.] I haven’t told you the great thing. MRS. LINDEN The great thing? What do you mean? NORA I know you look down upon me, Christina; but you have no right to. You are proud of having worked so hard and so long for your mother. MRS. LINDEN I am sure I don’t look down upon any one; but it’s true I am both proud and glad when I remember that I was able to keep my mother’s last days free from care. NORA And you’re proud to think of what you have done for your brothers, too. MRS. LINDEN Have I not the right to be? NORA Yes indeed. But now let me tell you, Christina-I, too, have something to be proud and glad of. MRS. LINDEN I don’t doubt it. But what do you mean? NORA Hush! Not so loud. Only think, if Torvald were to hear! He mustn’t-not for worlds! No one must know about it, Christina-no one but you. MRS LINDEN. Why, what can it be? NORA Come over here. [Draws her down beside her on the sofa.] Yes, Christina-I, too, have something to be proud and glad of. I saved Torvald’s life. MRS. LINDEN Saved his life? How? NORA I told you about our going to Italy. Torvald would have died but for that. MRS. LINDEN Well-and your father gave you the money. NORA [Smiling.] Yes, so Torvald and every one believes; butMRS. LINDEN But-? NORA Papa didn’t give us one penny. It was I that found the money. MRS. LINDEN You? All that money? NORA Twelve hundred dollars. Four thousand eight hundred crowns. What do you say to that? MRS. LINDEN My dear Nora, how did you manage it? Did you win it in the lottery? NORA [Contemptuosly.] In the lottery? Pooh! Any one could have done that! MRS. LINDEN Then wherever did you get it from? NORA [Hums and smiles mysteriously.] H’m; tra-la-la-la! MRS. LINDEN Of course you couldn’t borrow it. NORA No? Why not? MRS. LINDEN Why, a wife can’t borrow without her husband’s consent. NORA[Tossing her head.] Oh! when the wife has some idea of business, and knows how to set about thingsMRS. LINDEN But, Nora, I don’t understandNORA Well, you needn’t. I never said I borrowed the money. There are many ways I may have got it. [Throws herself back on the sofa.] I may have got it from some admirer. When one is so-attractive as I amMRS. LINDEN You’re too silly, Nora. |
