[_Throws her arms round him._
DR. HERDAL.
What the deuce! Miss w.a.n.gel, you _mustn"t_. I"m a married man! There"s my wife!
[MRS. HERDAL _enters_.
HILDA.
As if _that_ mattered--it"s only dear, sweet Mrs. Solness. _She_ doesn"t mind--_do_ you, dear Mrs. Solness?
MRS. HERDAL.
It does not seem to be of much _use_ minding, Miss w.a.n.gel. I presume you have come to stay?
HILDA.
[_In amused surprise._] Why, of course--what else should I come for? I _always_ come to stay, until--h"m!
[_Nods slowly, and sits down at table._
DR. HERDAL.
[_Involuntarily._] She"s drinking my punch! If she thinks I"m going to stand this sort of thing, she"s mistaken. I"ll soon show her a pill-doctor is a very different kind of person from a mere Master Builder!
[HILDA _finishes the punch with an indefinable expression in her eyes, and_ Dr. HERDAL _looks on gloomily as the Curtain falls_.
* * * * *
ACT SECOND
Dr. HERDAL"S _drawing-room and dispensary, as before. It is early in the day._ Dr. HERDAL _sits by the little table, taking his own temperature with a clinical thermometer. By the door stands the_ NEW BOOK-KEEPER; _he wears blue spectacles and a discoloured white tie, and seems slightly nervous_.
DR. HERDAL.
Well, now you understand what is necessary. My late book-keeper, Miss Blakdraf, used to keep my accounts very cleverly--she charged every visit twice over.
THE NEW BOOK-KEEPER.
I am familiar with book-keeping by double entry. I was once employed at a bank.
DR. HERDAL.
I am discharging my a.s.sistant, too; he was always trying to push me out with his pills. Perhaps you will be able to dispense?
THE NEW BOOK-KEEPER.
[_Modestly._] With an additional salary, I should be able to do that too.
DR. HERDAL.
Capital! You _shall_ dispense with an additional salary. Go into the dispensary, and see what you can make of it. You may mistake a few drugs at first--but everything must have a beginning.
[_As the_ NEW BOOK-KEEPER _retires_, MRS. HERDAL _enters in a hat and cloak with a watering-pot, noiselessly_.
MRS. HERDAL.
Miss w.a.n.gel got up early, before breakfast, and went for a walk. She is so wonderfully vivacious!
DR. HERDAL.
So I should say. But tell me, Aline, is she _really_ going to stay with us here?
[_Nervously._
MRS. HERDAL.
[_Looks at him._] So she tells me. And, as she has brought nothing with her except a tooth-brush and a powder-puff, I am going into the town to get her a few articles. We _must_ make her feel at home.
DR. HERDAL.
[_Breaking out._] I _will_ make her not only _feel_ but _be_ at home, wherever that is, this very day! I will _not_ have a perambulating Allegory without a portmanteau here on an indefinite visit. I say, she shall go--do you hear, Aline? Miss w.a.n.gel will go!
[_Raps with his fist on table._
MRS. HERDAL.
[_Quietly._] If you say so, Haustus, no doubt she will _have_ to go. But you must tell her so yourself.
[_Puts the watering pot on the console table, and goes out, as_ HILDA _enters, sparkling with pleasure._
HILDA.
[_Goes up straight to him._] Good morning, Dr. Herdal. I have just seen a pig killed. It was _ripping_--I mean, gloriously thrilling! And your wife has taken a tremendous fancy to me. Fancy _that_!
DR. HERDAL.
[_Gloomily._] It _is_ eccentric certainly. But my poor dear wife was always a little----
HILDA.
[_Nods her head slowly several times._] So _you_ have noticed that too?
I have had a long talk with her. She can"t get over your discharging Mr.
Kalomel--he is the only man who ever _really_ understood her.
DR. HERDAL.
If I could only pay her off a little bit of the huge, immeasurable debt I owe her--but I can"t!