I fancy that Bjoernson, sharing this view, has with full
deliberation made Svava boldly and inexorably truthful, frank as a boy
and as uncompromisingly honest as a man.
She has sufficient use for this masculine equipment (I am speaking in
accordance with the effete standards) in the battle which is before her.
Dr. Nordan, the family physician, her parents, and those of her
_fiance_, take her to task and endeavor to demonstrate to her the
consequences of her unprecedented demand. She learns in the course of
this prolonged debate that she has been living in a fool's paradise. She
has been purposely (and with the most benevolent intention) deceived in
regard to this question from the very cradle. Her father, whom she has
believed to be a model husband, proves to have been unworthy of her
trust. The elder Christensen has also had a compromising intrigue of the
same kind; and it becomes obvious that each male creature is so
indulgent in this chapter toward every other male creature, because each
knows himself to be equally vulnerable.
Pages:
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111