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(HOVSTAD comes in by the hall door.)
Hovstad. Good morning! (Stops.) Oh, I beg your pardon
Dr. Stockmann. Not at all; come in.
Morten Kiil (with another chuckle). Oho!--is he in this too?
Hovstad. What do you mean?
Dr. Stockmann. Certainly he is.
Morten Kiil. I might have known it! It must get into the papers.
You know how to do it, Thomas! Set your wits to work. Now I must
go.
Dr. Stockmann. Won't you stay a little while?
Morten Kiil. No, I must be off now. You keep up this game for all
it is worth; you won't repent it, I'm damned if you will!
(He goes out; MRS. STOCKMANN follows him into the hall.)
Dr. Stockmann (laughing). Just imagine--the old chap doesn't
believe a word of all this about the water supply.
Hovstad. Oh that was it, then?
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, that was what we were talking about. Perhaps
it is the same thing that brings you here?
Hovstad. Yes, it is, Can you spare me a few minutes, Doctor?
Dr. Stockmann. As long as you like, my dear fellow.
Hovstad. Have you heard from the Mayor yet?
Dr. Stockmann. Not yet. He is coming here later.
Hovstad. I have given the matter a great deal of thought since
last night.
Dr. Stockmann. Well?
Hovstad. From your point of view, as a doctor and a man of
science, this affair of the water supply is an isolated matter. I
mean, you do not realise that it involves a great many other
things.
Dr. Stockmann. How, do you mean?--Let us sit down, my dear
fellow. No, sit here on the couch. (HOVSTAD Sits down on the
couch, DR. STOCKMANN On a chair on the other side of the table.)
Now then. You mean that--?
Hovstad. You said yesterday that the pollution of the water was
due to impurities in the soil.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, unquestionably it is due to that poisonous
morass up at Molledal.
Hovstad. Begging your pardon, Doctor, I fancy it is due to quite
another morass altogether.
Dr. Stockmann. What morass?
Hovstad. The morass that the whole life of our town is built on
and is rotting in.
Dr. Stockmann. What the deuce are you driving at, Hovstad?
Hovstad. The whole of the town's interests have, little by
little, got into the hands of a pack of officials.
Dr. Stockmann. Oh, come!--they are not all officials.
Hovstad. No, but those that are not officials are at any rate the
officials' friends and adherents; it is the wealthy folk, the old
families in the town, that have got us entirely in their hands.
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, but after all they are men of ability and
knowledge.
Hovstad. Did they show any ability or knowledge when they laid
the conduit pipes where they are now?
Dr. Stockmann. No, of course that was a great piece of stupidity
on their part. But that is going to be set right now.
Hovstad. Do you think that will be all such plain sailing?
Dr., Stockmann. Plain sailing or no, it has got to be done,
anyway.
Hovstad. Yes, provided the press takes up the question.
Dr. Stockmann. I don't think that will be necessary, my dear
fellow, I am certain my brother--
Hovstad. Excuse me, doctor; I feel bound to tell you I am
inclined to take the matter up.
Dr. Stockmann. In the paper?
Hovstad. Yes. When I took over the "People's Messenger" my idea
was to break up this ring of self-opinionated old fossils who had
got hold of all the influence.
Dr. Stockmann. But you know you told me yourself what the result
had been; you nearly ruined your paper.
Hovstad. Yes, at the time we were obliged to climb down a peg or
two, it is quite true-- because there was a danger of the whole
project of the Baths coming to nothing if they failed us. But now
the scheme has been carried through, and we can dispense with
these grand gentlemen.
Dr. Stockmann. Dispense with them, yes; but, we owe them a great
debt of gratitude.
Hovstad. That shall be recognised ungrudgingly, But a journalist
of my democratic tendencies cannot let such an opportunity as
this slip. The bubble of official infallibility must be pricked.
This superstition must be destroyed, like any other.
Dr. Stockmann. I am whole-heartedly with you in that, Mr.
Hovstad; if it is a superstition, away with it!
Hovstad. I should be very reluctant to bring the Mayor into it,
because he is your brother. But I am sure you will agree with me
that truth should be the first consideration.
Dr. Stockmann. That goes without saying. (With sudden emphasis.)
Yes, but--but--
Hovstad. You must not misjudge me. I am neither more self-
interested nor more ambitious than most men.
Dr. Stockmann. My dear fellow--who suggests anything of the kind?
Hovstad. I am of humble origin, as you know; and that has given
me opportunities of knowing what is the most crying need in the
humbler ranks of life. It is that they should be allowed some
part in the direction of public affairs, Doctor. That is what
will develop their faculties and intelligence and self respect--
Dr. Stockmann. I quite appreciate that.
Hovstad. Yes--and in my opinion a journalist incurs a heavy
responsibility if he neglects a favourable opportunity of
emancipating the masses--the humble and oppressed. I know well
enough that in exalted circles I shall be called an agitator, and
all that sort of thing; but they may call what they like. If only
my conscience doesn't reproach me, then--
Dr. Stockmann. Quite right! Quite right, Mr. Hovstad. But all the
same--devil take it! (A knock is heard at the door.) Come in!
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