Bound to Rise
"Sit up to the table, children, breakfast's ready." The speaker was a woman of middle age, not good-looking in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but nevertheless she looked good. She was dressed with extreme plainness, in a cheap calico; but though cheap, the dress was neat. The children she addressed were six in number, varying in age from twelve to four. The oldest, Harry, the hero of the present story, was a broad-shouldered, sturdy boy, with a frank, open face, resolute, though good-natured. "Father isn't here," said Fanny, the second child. "He'll be in directly. He went to the store, and he may stop as he comes back to milk." The table was set in the center of the room, covered with a coarse tablecloth. The breakfast provided was hardly of a kind to tempt an epicure. There was a loaf of bread cut into slices, and a dish of boiled potatoes. There was no butter and no meat, for the family were very poor.
ALLMERS. They must go somewhere else.
RITA. And the children, too?
ALLMERS. Does it make much difference where they go to the dogs?
RITA. [Quietly and reproachfully.] You are forcing yourself into
this harshness, Alfred.
ALLMERS. [Vehemently.] I have a right to be harsh now! It is my
duty.
RITA. Your duty?
ALLMERS. My duty to Eyolf. He must not lie unavenged. Once for all,
Rita--it is as I tell you! Think it over! Have the whole place down
there razed to the ground--when I am gone.
RITA. [Looks intently at him.] When you are gone?
ALLMERS. Yes. For that will at least give you something to fill
your life with--and something you must have.
RITA. [Firmly and decidedly.] There you are right---I must. But can
you guess what I will set about--when you are gone?
"Sit up to the table, children, breakfast's ready." The speaker was a woman of middle age, not good-looking in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but nevertheless she looked good. She was dressed with extreme plainness, in a cheap calico; but though cheap, the dress was neat. The children she addressed were six in number, varying in age from twelve to four. The oldest, Harry, the hero of the present story, was a broad-shouldered, sturdy boy, with a frank, open face, resolute, though good-natured. "Father isn't here," said Fanny, the second child. "He'll be in directly. He went to the store, and he may stop as he comes back to milk." The table was set in the center of the room, covered with a coarse tablecloth. The breakfast provided was hardly of a kind to tempt an epicure. There was a loaf of bread cut into slices, and a dish of boiled potatoes. There was no butter and no meat, for the family were very poor.