There is no more "holding
aloof." Everybody has convictions and is ready to avow the party that
upholds them. All are ignorant of Halfdan Rein's death, until the editor
arrives, utterly broken in spirit and asks Evje's pardon. He wishes to
explain, but no one wishes to listen. When Evje wavers and is on the
point of accepting his proffered hand, his wife and daughter loudly
protest.
The editor declares his purpose to renounce journalism. The festivities
are abandoned, and all betake themselves to the house of the dead
leader. Thus the play ends; there is no tableau, no climax, no dramatic
catastrophe. It is Zola's theory[8] and Maeterlink's practice
anticipated.
[8] "Naturalism on the Stage."
The journalistic conditions here described are, of course, those of the
Norwegian capital nearly a quarter of a century ago. Few editors, I
fancy, outside of country towns, now go about personally spreading
rumors, with malice aforethought, and collecting gossip. But the power
of the press for good and for ill, and the terrorism which, in evil
hands, it exercises, are surely not exaggerated.
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