Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/230

Peer.

               Not yet——. Crazy? Heaven forbid!

[A commotion. The Minister Hussein^[1] forces his way through the crowd.

Hussein.

They tell me a Kaiser has come to-day.

[To Peer Gynt.

It is you?

Peer.

[In desperation.]

           Yes, that is a settled thing!

Hussein.

Good.—Then no doubt there are notes to be answered?

Peer.

[Tearing his hair.]

Come on! Right you are, sir;—the madder the better!

Hussein.

Will you do me the honour of taking a dip?

[Bowing deeply.

I am a pen.

Peer.

[Bowing still deeper.]

            Why then I am quite clearly
A rubbishy piece of imperial parchment.

Hussein.

My story, my lord, is concisely this:
They take me for a pounce-box,^[2] and I am a pen.

1. See note, p. 140.
2. The pounce-box (for strewing "pounce" or sand on undried
   ink) had not yet been quite superseded by blotting-paper.