So I do, of course. But it’s depressing all the same; for if ever it should come to a serious national struggle, you may be sure public opinion would be for taking to its heels, and the compact majority would scamper for their lives like a flock of sheep, Captain Horster. _That_ is what’s so melancholy to think of; it grieves me to the heart.—But deuce take it—it’s foolish of me to feel anything of the sort! They have called me an enemy of the people; well then, let me be an enemy of the people! MRS. STOCKMANN. That you’ll never be, Thomas. DR. STOCKMANN. You’d better not take your oath of it, Katrina. A bad name may act like a pin-scratch in the lung. And that confounded word—I can’t get rid of it; it has sunk deep into my heart; and there it lies gnawing and sucking like an acid. And no magnesia can cure me. PETRA. Pooh; you should only laugh at them, father. HORSTER. People will think differently yet, Doctor. MRS. STOCKMANN. Yes, Thomas, that’s as certain as that you are standing here. DR. STOCKMANN. Yes, perhaps, when it is too late. Well, as they make their bed so they must lie! Let them go on wallowing here in their pig-sty, and learn to repent having driven a patriot into exile. When do you sail, Captain Horster? HORSTER. Well—that’s really what I came to speak to you about—— DR. STOCKMANN. What? Anything wrong with the ship? HORSTER. No; but the fact is, I shan’t be sailing in her. PETRA. Surely you have not been dismissed? HORSTER. [_Smiling_.] Yes, I have. PETRA. You too! MRS. STOCKMANN. There, you see, Thomas. DR. STOCKMANN. And for the truth’s sake! Oh, if I could possibly have imagined such a thing—— HORSTER. You mustn’t be troubled about this; I shall soon find a berth with some other company, elsewhere. DR. STOCKMANN. And this is that man Vik! A wealthy man, independent of every one! Faugh! HORSTER. Oh, for that matter, he’s a very well-meaning man. He said himself he would gladly have kept me on if only he dared—— DR. STOCKMANN. But he didn’t dare? Of course not! HORSTER. It’s not so easy, he said, when you belong to a party—— DR. STOCKMANN. My gentleman has hit it there! A party is like a sausage-machine; it grinds all the brains together in one mash; and that’s why we see nothing but porridge-heads and pulp-heads all around! MRS. STOCKMANN.