Dr. Stockmann.
Then for years I was imprisoned in a horrible hole, far away in the north. As I went about among the people scattered here and there over the stony wilderness, it seemed to me, many a time, that it would have been better for these poor famishing creatures to have had a cattle-doctor to attend them, instead of a man like me.
[Murmurs in the room.
Billing.
[Laying down his pen.] Strike me dead if I've ever heard!
Hovstad.
What an insult to an estimable peasantry!
Dr. Stockmann.
Wait a moment!—I don't think any one can reproach me with forgetting my native town up there. I sat brooding like an eider duck, and what I hatched was—the plan of the Baths.
[Applause and expressions of dissent.
Dr. Stockmann.
And when, at last, fate ordered things so happily that I could come home again—then, fellow citizens, it seemed to me that I hadn't another desire in the world. Yes, one desire I had: an eager, constant, burning desire to be of service to my birthplace, and to its people.
Burgomaster.
[Gazing into vacancy.] A strange method to select!
Dr. Stockmann.
So I went about revelling in my happy illusions.
