Jakobsen.

Hamar. Oh, he is a very good fellow--we all know that, but in polite
society--!

Tjaelde. Hm, hm, hm!--Put him down!

Hamar (writing). Jakobsen. There, then! (Gets up.)

Tjaelde. Now let Skogstad go with the list! Remember, three o'clock
punctually! And be quick! (Calls after HAMAR, who is going out.) And
come back when you have given him the list! There may be something more
to do! (HAMAR goes out by the nearer door. TJAELDE takes a letter out of
his pocket.) Ah, of course! Shall I send the balance-sheet to Berent?
I am independent of the banks now. Still, I am not out of the wood yet.
And, anyway, it is a very pretty balance-sheet! Holst would be sure to
see it, and that might be useful--and it might annoy him, too. Besides,
if I don't send it, they will think that my promising to send it had put
me into a hole, and that Lind had helped me out of it. I risk least by
sending it. (HAMAR comes back.) Look here, let him take this letter,
too. It is for Mr. Berent, at the Hotel Victoria.

Hamar. Is this an invitation? Because, if it is, we shall be thirteen at
table.

Tjaelde. It is not an invitation. Be quick, before he goes. (HAMAR goes
out again.) Oh, if only it succeeds! Lind is the sort of man one can
persuade--and I must, I must persuade him! (Looks at his watch.) I have
four whole hours to do it in. I have never felt so hopeful--not for a
long time. (Is lost in thought; then says quietly:) After all, sometimes
a crisis is a good thing--like a big wave that carries one on!--They
have all had their suspicions aroused now, and are all ready to get
into a panic. (Sighs.) If only I could get safely out of my difficulties
without any one's suspecting it!--Oh, this anxious fear, night and
day!--all this mystery, these shifts, these concealments, this farce
I have to keep up! I go about my business as if I were in a dream.
(Despairingly.) This shall be the last time--my last performance of this
sort! No more of it!--I only need a helping hand now, and I have got it!
But _have_ I got it? that is the question. Oh! if only, after this, I
could know what it was to have a good night's sleep and to wake in
the morning free from anxiety!--to join them at meals with an easy
conscience!--come home in the evening and feel that it was all done
with! If only I had something to take my stand upon that I could call my
own--really and truly my own! I hardly dare to believe that there is a
chance--I have so often been di