And of course you’ll understand—with so much business on hand—— THE CHAMBERLAIN. Very well, my old friend; I can wait. MADAM RUNDHOLMEN. [_To_ THORA.] Yes, I can tell you he’s cost me many a tear, that bad man. But now I thank the Lord for Bastian. The other was false as the sea-foam; and then he’s a terrible smoker, Miss Bratsberg, and frightfully particular about his meals. I found him a regular gourmand. A SERVANT. [_Enters from the left._] Dinner is on the table. THE CHAMBERLAIN. Come along, then, all of you. Mr. Lundestad, you shall sit beside me; and you too, Mr. Aslaksen. RINGDAL. We shall have a lot of toasts to drink after dinner! HEIRE. Yes; and perhaps an old man may be allowed to put in a claim for the toast of “Absent Friends.” LUNDESTAD. One absent friend will return, Mr. Heire. HEIRE. Stensgård? LUNDESTAD. Yes; you’ll see, gentlemen! In ten or fifteen years, Stensgård will either be in Parliament or in the Ministry—perhaps in both at once.[22] FIELDBO. In ten or fifteen years? Perhaps; but then he can scarcely stand at the head of the League of Youth. HEIRE. Why not? FIELDBO. Why, because by that time his youth will be—questionable. HEIRE. Then he can stand at the head of the Questionable League, sir. That’s what Lundestad means. He says like Napoleon—“It’s the questionable people that make politicians”; hee-hee! FIELDBO. Well, after all is said and done, _our_ League shall last through young days and questionable days as well; and it shall continue to be the League of Youth. When Stensgård founded his League, and was carried shoulder-high amid all the enthusiasm of Independence Day, he said—“Providence is on the side of the League of Youth.” I think even Mr. Helle, theologian as he is, will let us apply that saying to ourselves. THE CHAMBERLAIN. I think so too, my friends; for truly we have been groping and stumbling in darkness; but good angels guided us. LUNDESTAD. Oh, for that matter, I think the angels were only middling. ASLAKSEN. Yes; that comes of the local situation, Mr. Lundestad. THE END. PILLARS OF SOCIETY (1877) CHARACTERS.