The Project Gutenberg EBook of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 100,
April 25, 1891, by Various

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Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 100, April 25, 1891

Author: Various

Release Date: December 6, 2004 [EBook #14277]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

VOL. 100.

April 25th, 1891.

MR. PUNCH'S POCKET IBSEN.

(_Condensed and Revised Version by Mr P.'s Own Harmless Ibsenite._)

No. III.--HEDDA GABLER.

ACT I.

SCENE--_A Sitting-room cheerfully decorated in dark colours. Broad
doorway, hung with black crape, in the wall at back, leading to a back
Drawing-room, in which, above a sofa in black horsehair, hangs a
posthumous portrait of the late_ General GABLER. _On the piano is a
handsome pall. Through the glass panes of the back Drawing-room window
are seen a dead wall and a cemetery. Settees, sofas, chairs, &c.,
handsomely upholstered in black bombazine, and studded with small round
nails. Bouquets of immortelles and dead grasses are lying everywhere
about._

_Enter_ Aunt JULIE (_a good-natured looking lady in a smart hat_).

_Aunt J._ Well, I declare, if I believe GEORGE or HEDDA are up yet!
(_Enter_ GEORGE TESMAN, _humming, stout, careless, spectacled._) Ah, my
dear boy, I have called before breakfast to inquire how you and HEDDA are
after returning late last night from your long honeymoon. Oh, dear me, yes;
am I not your old Aunt, and are not these attentions usual in Norway?

_George._ Good Lord, yes! My six months' honeymoon has been quite a little
travelling scholarship, eh? I have been examining archives. Think of
_that_! Look here, I'm going to write a book all about the domestic
interests of the Cave-dwellers during the Deluge. I'm a clever young
Norwegian man of letters, eh?

_Aunt J._ Fancy your knowing about that too! Now, dear me, thank Heaven!

_George._ Let me, as a dutiful Norwegian nephew, untie that smart, showy
hat of yours. (_Unties it, and pats her under the chin._) Well, to be sure,