Aslaksen.
[Bewildered.] If one only knew the local situation![1] [He slinks out by the sitting-room door.
Mrs. Stockmann.
[Holding back the Doctor.] Now, do restrain yourself, Thomas!
Dr. Stockmann.
[Throwing down the umbrella.] I'll be hanged if they haven't got off after all.
Mrs. Stockmann.
Why, what can they have wanted with you?
Dr. Stockmann.
I'll tell you afterwards; I have other things to think of now. [Goes to the table and writes on a visiting-card.] Look here, Katrina: what's written here?
Mrs. Stockmann.
Three big Noes; what does that mean?
Dr. Stockmann.
That I'll tell you afterwards, too. [Handing the card.] There, Petra; let smudgy-face run to the Badger's with this as fast as she can. Be quick! [Petra goes out through the hall with the card.
Dr. Stockmann. Well, if I haven't had visits to-day from all the
1 "De lokale forholde"—the local conditions, or the circumstances of the locality, a phrase constantly in Aslaksen's mouth in The League of Youth. In the present context it is about equivalent to "the lie of the land."
