_Mrs. E._ Oh, please, I'm so uneasy about dear Mr. LÖVBORG. Something has happened to him, I'm sure! _Judge Brack_ (_comes in from the hall, with a new hat in his hand_). You have guessed it, first time. Something _has!_ _Mrs. E._ Oh, dear, good gracious! What is it? Something distressing, I'm certain of it! [_d._ _Brack_ (_pleasantly_). That depends on how one takes it. He has shot himself, and is in a hospital now, that's all! _George_ (_sympathetically_). That's sad, eh? poor old LÖVBORG! Well, I _am_ cut up to hear that. Fancy, though, eh? _Hedda_. Was it through the temple, or through the breast? The breast? Well, one can do it beautifully through the breast, too. Do you know, as an advanced woman, I like an act of that sort--it's so positive, to have the courage to settle the account with himself--it's beautiful, really! _Mrs. E._ Oh, HEDDA, what an odd way to look at it! But never mind poor dear Mr. LÖVBORG now. What _we've_ got to do is to see if we can't put his wonderful manuscript, that he said he had torn to pieces, together again. (_Takes a bundle of small pages out of the pocket of her mantle._) There are the loose scraps he dictated it to me from. I hid them on the chance of some such emergency. And if dear Mr. TESMAN and I were to put our heads together, I _do_ think something might come of it. _George_. Fancy! I will dedicate my life--or all I can spare of it--to the task. I seem to feel I owe him some slight amends, perhaps. No use crying over spilt milk, eh, Mrs. ELVSTED? We'll sit down--just you and I--in the back drawing-room, and see if you can't inspire me as you did him, eh? _Mrs. E._ Oh, goodness, yes! I should like it--if it only might be possible! [GEORGE _and_ Mrs. E. _go into the back Drawing-room and become absorbed in eager conversation_; HEDDA _sits in a chair in the front room, and a little later_ BRACK _crosses over to her._ _Hedda_ (_in a low tone_). Oh, Judge, _what_ a relief to know that everything--including LÖVBORG'S pistol--went off so well! In the breast! Isn't there a veil of unintentional beauty in that? Such an act of voluntary courage, too! _Brack_ (_smiles_). Hm!--perhaps, dear Mrs. HEDDA-- _Hedda_ (_enthusiastically_). But _wasn't_ it sweet of him! To have the courage to live his own life after his own fashion--to break away from the banquet of life--_so_ early and _so_ drunk! A beautiful act like that _does_ appeal to a superior woman's imagination! _Brack_. Sorry to shatter your poetical illusions, little Mrs. HEDDA, but, as a matter of fact, our lamented friend met his end under other circumstances. The shot did _not_ strike him in the _breast_--but-- [_Pauses._ _Hedda_ (_excitedly_). General GABLER'S pistols! I might have known it! Did they _ever_ shoot straight? Where _was_ he hit, then? _Brack_ (_in a discreet undertone_). A little lower down! _Hedda_. Oh, _how_ disgusting!--how vulgar!--how ridiculous!--like everything else about me!