HEDDA.

There I agree with you.

BRACK.
Well, now I have said all I had to say; and I had better be getting back to town. Good-bye, Mrs.
Hedda. [He goes towards the glass door.
HEDDA.
[Rising.] Are you going through the garden?
BRACK.
Yes, it's a short cut for me.
HEDDA.
And then it is a back way, too.
BRACK.
Quite so. I have no objection to back ways. They may be piquant enough at times.
HEDDA.
When there is ball practice going on, you mean?
BRACK.
[In the doorway, laughing to her.] Oh, people don't shoot their tame poultry, I fancy.
HEDDA.
[Also laughing.] Oh no, when there is only one cock in the basket—
[They exchange laughing nods of farewell. He goes. She closes
the door behind him.

[HEDDA, who has become quite serious, stands for a moment

looking out. Presently she goes and peeps through the
curtain over the middle doorway. Then she goes to the
writing-table, takes LOVBORG'S packet out of the bookcase,
and is on the point of looking through its contents. BERTA
is heard speaking loudly in the hall. HEDDA turns and
listens. Then she hastily locks up the packet in the drawer,
and lays the key on the inkstand.
Look at it contemplatingly, put
it in drawer, lock it. Final. L
EILERT LOVBORG, with his greatcoat on and his hat in his enters immediately after it’s
hand, tears open the hall door. He looks somewhat confused put away
and irritated.

LOVBORG.
[Looking towards the hall.] and I tell you I must and will come in! There!
[He closes the door, turns, sees HEDDA, at once regains his self-
control, and bows.
Hear voice, right
HEDDA. after locking, jump
up in front of desk,
[At the writing-table.] Well, Mr Lovborg, this is rather a late hour to call for Thea. as if guarding it
from him
LOVBORG.
You mean rather an early hour to call on you. Pray pardon me.
HEDDA. L tries to get to bedroom, H step in his way

How do you know that she is still here?

LOVBORG.
They told me at her lodgings that she had been out all night.
 HEDDA.
[Going to the oval table.] Did you notice anything about the people of the house when they said
that? H lead L to couch

LOVBORG.
[Looks inquiringly at her.] Notice anything about them?
HEDDA.
I mean, did they seem to think it odd?
LOVBORG.
[Suddenly understanding.] Oh yes, of course! I am dragging her down with me! However, I didn't
notice anything.—I suppose Tesman is not up yet.
Tries to get up to get him,
HEDDA. H pull him back down

No—I think not—

LOVBORG.
When did he come home?
HEDDA.
Very late.
LOVBORG.
Did he tell you anything?
HEDDA.
Yes, I gathered that you had had an exceedingly jolly evening at Judge Brack's.
LOVBORG.
Nothing more?
HEDDA.
I don't think so. However, I was so dreadfully sleepy—
dramatic
MRS. ELVSTED enters through the curtains of the middle doorway.

MRS. ELVSTED.
[Going towards him.] Ah, Lovborg! At last—!
LOVBORG.
Yes, at last. And too late! Get up
walk to drawing table
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Looks anxiously at him.] What is too late?
LOVBORG.
Everything is too late now. It is all over with me.
MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh no, no—don't say that!
LOVBORG.
You will say the same when you hear—
MRS. ELVSTED.
E walk to him, H also but ahead so she’s still
I won't hear anything! between them. Acknowledge E to establish
HEDDA. relationship

Perhaps you would prefer to talk to her alone? If so, I will leave you.
 LOVBORG.
No, stay—you too. I beg you to stay.
MRS. ELVSTED.
Yes, but I won't hear anything, I tell you.
LOVBORG.
It is not last night's adventures that I want to talk about. walk forward

MRS. ELVSTED.
What is it then—?
LOVBORG.
I want to say that now our ways must part. look at her or some change

MRS. ELVSTED.
Part!
HEDDA.
[Involuntarily.] I knew it!
LOVBORG.
You can be of no more service to me, Thea.
MRS. ELVSTED.
How can you stand there and say that! No more service to you! Am I not to help you now, as
before? Are we not to go on working together?
LOVBORG.
Henceforward I shall do no work.
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Despairingly.] Then what am I to do with my life? h take a step back but still in between. Gesture.
LOVBORG.
You must try to live your life as if you had never know me.
MRS. ELVSTED.
But you know I cannot do that!
LOVBORG.
pass hedda
Try if you cannot, Thea. You must go home again—
MRS. ELVSTED.
[In vehement protest.] Never in this world! Where you are, there will I be also! I will not let
myself be driven away like this! I will remain here! I will be with you when the book appears.
stomach, unconsciously
HEDDA.
[Half aloud, in suspense.] Ah yes—the book! step forward back between them
LOVBORG.
[Looks at her.] My book and Thea's; for that is what it is.
MRS. ELVSTED.
Yes, I feel that it is. And that is why I have a right to be with you when it appears! I will see with
my own eyes how respect and honour pour in upon you afresh. And the happiness—the happiness—
oh, I must share it with you!
LOVBORG.
E stumble,
Thea—our book will never appear. stomach
 HEDDA.
Ah!
MRS. ELVSTED.
Never appear!
LOVBORG.
Can never appear.
MRS. ELVSTED.
[In agonised foreboding.] Lovborg—what have you done with the manuscript?
HEDDA.
[Looks anxiously at him.] Yes, the manuscript—? back up to desk

MRS. ELVSTED.
Where is it?
LOVBORG.
sit in desk chair, avoid eye
The manuscript—. Well then—I have torn the manuscript into a thousand pieces. contact
MRS. ELVSTED.
sit
[Shrieks.] Oh no, no—!
HEDDA.
[Involuntarily.] But that's not—
LOVBORG.
[Looks at her.] Not true, you think?
HEDDA.
[Collecting herself.] Oh well, of course—since you say so. But it sounded so improbable—
LOVBORG.
It is true, all the same.
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Wringing her hands.] Oh God—oh God, Hedda—torn his own work to pieces! h - sarcastic dramatic reaction
LOVBORG.
I have torn my own life to pieces. So why should I not tear my life-work too—?
rise & step
MRS. ELVSTED. toward
And you did this last night? him/ [feel
out]
LOVBORG.
Yes, I tell you! Tore it into a thousand pieces—and scattered them on the fiord—far out. There
there is cool sea-water at any rate—let them drift upon it—drift with the current and the wind. And
then presently they will sink—deeper and deeper—as I shall, Thea. Stand, look at her for first sentence,
MRS. ELVSTED. out for the rest & instinct

Do you know, Lovborg, that what you have done with the book—I shall think of it to my dying
day as though you had killed a little child. tummy
LOVBORG.
Yes, you are right. It is a sort of child-murder. spiraling or make her hate you?
MRS. ELVSTED.
How could you, then—! Did not the child belong to me too?
HEDDA.
 [Almost inaudibly.] Ah, the child— (make sure E & L don’t listen)
MRS. ELVSTED.
[Breathing heavily.] It is all over then. Well well, now I will go, Hedda.
HEDDA.
But you are not going away from town? look (fake) genuine and comforting

MRS. ELVSTED.
Oh, I don't know what I shall do. I see nothing but darkness before me. [She goes out by the hall
door.
HEDDA.
[Stands waiting for a moment.] So you are not going to see her home, Mr. Lovborg?
LOVBORG.
I? Through the streets? Would you have people see her walking with me? Sit on couch

HEDDA.
Of course I don't know what else may have happened last night. But is it so utterly irretrievable?
LOVBORG. Behind couch, look down

It will not end with last night—I know that perfectly well. And the thing is that now I have no
taste for that sort of life either. I won't begin it anew. She has broken my courage and my power of
braving life out.
HEDDA.
[Looking straight before her.] So that pretty little fool has had her fingers in a man's destiny.
[Looks at him.] But all the same, how could you treat her so heartlessly.
LOVBORG.
Oh, don't say that I was heartless!
HEDDA.
To go and destroy what has filled her whole soul for months and years! You do not call that
heartless! walk to other side of couch
LOVBORG.
pause To you I can tell the truth, Hedda.

HEDDA.
The truth?
LOVBORG.
First promise me—give me your word—that what I now confide in you Thea shall never know.
HEDDA.
sit
I give you my word.
LOVBORG.
Good. Then let me tell you that what I said just now was untrue.
HEDDA.
About the manuscript?
LOVBORG.
Yes. I have not torn it to pieces—nor thrown it into the fiord.
HEDDA.
No, no—. But—where is it then?
 LOVBORG.
I have destroyed it none the less—utterly destroyed it, Hedda!
HEDDA.
I don't understand.
LOVBORG.
Thea said that what I had done seemed to her like a child-murder.
HEDDA.
Yes, so she said.
LOVBORG.
But to kill his child—that is not the worst thing a father can do to it.
HEDDA.
Not the worst?
LOVBORG. get up, end in front of desk
Suppose now, Hedda, that a man—in the small hours of the morning—came home to his child's
mother after a night of riot and debauchery, and said: "Listen—I have been here and there—in this
place and in that. And I have taken our child with—to this place and to that. And I have lost the child
—utterly lost it. The devil knows into what hands it may have fallen—who may have had their
clutches on it."
HEDDA.
Well—but when all is said and done, you know—this was only a book— meet him
LOVBORG.
Thea's pure soul was in that book.
HEDDA.
Yes, so I understand.
LOVBORG.
And you can understand, too, that for her and me together no future is possible.
HEDDA.
What path do you mean to take then?
LOVBORG.
None. I will only try to make an end of it all—the sooner the better.
HEDDA.
[A step nearer him.] Eilert Lovborg—listen to me.—Will you not try to—to do it beautifully?
LOVBORG.
Beautifully? [Smiling.] With vine-leaves in my hair, as you used to dream in the old days—?
HEDDA.
No, no. I have lost my faith in the vine-leaves. But beautifully nevertheless! For once in a way!—
Good-bye! You must go now—and do not come here any more.
LOVBORG.
Good-bye, Mrs. Tesman. And give George Tesman my love.
[He is on the point of going.

HEDDA.
No, wait! I must give you a memento to take with you. pause mid shuffle & look at him
 [She goes to the writing-table and opens the drawer and the
pistol-case; then returns to LOVBORG with one of the pistols.

LOVBORG. take time, make aud think its manu

[Looks at her.] This? Is this the memento?

HEDDA.
[Nodding slowly.] Do you recognise it? It was aimed at you once.
LOVBORG.
You should have used it then.
HEDDA.
Take it—and do you use it now.
LOVBORG.
pistol is beautiful
[Puts the pistol in his breast pocket.] Thanks!
HEDDA.
And beautifully, Eilert Lovborg. Promise me that! once he leaves, walk to the
door and check to make
LOVBORG. sure he’s gone. look at
writing table, walk to it,
Good-bye, Hedda Gabler. [He goes out by the hall door. taking time. Pull out
manuscript, look at it. Flip
[HEDDA listens for a moment at the door. Then she goes up to through, see something
the writing-table, takes out the packet of manuscript, peeps about Mrs. E, see change
under the cover, draws a few of the sheets half out, and in face & rip. look over at
looks at them. Next she goes over and seats herself in the fire, walk over, sit, throw
arm-chair beside the stove, with the packet in her lap. it in.
Presently she opens the stove door, and then the packet.

HEDDA.
[Throws one of the quires into the fire and whispers to herself.] Now I am burning your child,
Thea!—Burning it, curly-locks! [Throwing one or two more quires into the stove.] Your child and
Eilert Lovborg's. [Throws the rest in.] I am burning—I am burning your child.

ACT FOURTH.
The same rooms at the TESMANS'. It is evening. The drawing-
room is in darkness. The back room is light by the hanging
lamp over the table. The curtains over the glass door are
drawn close.

HEDDA, dressed in black, walks to and fro in the dark room.

Then she goes into the back room and disappears for a moment
to the left. She is heard to strike a few chords on the
piano. Presently she comes in sight again, and returns to
the drawing-room.

BERTA enters from the right, through the inner room, with a
lighted lamp, which she places on the table in front of the
corner settee in the drawing-room. Her eyes are red with
weeping, and she has black ribbons in her cap. She goes
quietly and circumspectly out to the right. HEDDA goes up
to the glass door, lifts the curtain a little aside, and
looks out into the darkness.