GHOSTS

A FAMILY-DRAMA IN THREE ACTS.


ACT FIRST.

[A spacious garden-room, with one door to the left, and two doors
to the right. In the middle of the room a round table, with chairs
about it. On the table lie books, periodicals, and newspapers. In
the foreground to the left a window, and by it a small sofa, with a
worktable in front of it. In the background, the room is continued
into a somewhat narrower conservatory, the walls of which are
formed by large panes of glass. In the right-hand wall of the
conservatory is a door leading down into the garden. Through the
glass wall a gloomy fjord landscape is faintly visible, veiled by
steady rain.]

[ENGSTRAND, the carpenter, stands by the garden door. His left leg
is somewhat bent; he has a clump of wood under the sole of his
boot. REGINA, with an empty garden syringe in her hand, hinders him
from advancing.]

REGINA. [In a low voice.] What do you want? Stop where you are.
You're positively dripping.

ENGSTRAND. It's the Lord's own rain, my girl.

REGINA. It's the devil's rain, _I_ say.