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The Dark Light The Characters Svanhild Strandenes Ivar Strandenes, Svanhild’s twin brother Sophia Munk Doctor Erling Kjelland Turid Holmboe Olaf Halvorsen Sandvik The play is laid near Stavern on the west coast of Norway. The time is the present. Part 1 Early in September of the present time. The living room in the house of Svanhild Strandenes in a remote spot on the west coast of Norway. The room is comfortable and in taste. The walls are paneled a soft green. On the ®oor there is a deep brown rug. To the right there is a ¤replace with a lounge drawn up before it. To the left there is a large table with a soft easy chair near it. There are two or three more comfortable chairs in the room and a small table. On the tables there are lamps and vases ¤lled with®owers. There is a wide French window in the up center of the room, which opens out into a garden. On either side of the window there are bookcases¤lled with books, which reach to the ceiling. There are also many books and magazines strewn about the room. Bright chintz is used on the furniture . There is a door upstage right, which leads out into the entrance hall of the house, and another door upstage left. The room looks much lived in. It is ten o’clock in the morning. The sun streams in. The window is open, and beyond the garden one can perceive the sea. The breaking of the waves against the rocks can be heard faintly. As the curtain rises, Sandvik, an old gardener, enters from the garden with the morning newspaper in his hands. His hair is white and he is slightly bent with age. There is something gruff but lovable about him. He places the newspaper on the table and goes out again into the garden. Doctor Erling Kjelland comes in from the hallway. He is a man about sixty years of age with an alert and kindly face. He is dressed in rough country clothes. He walks out into the garden a moment, then re155 Library of Congress Copyright, February 6, 1926. Registration number 74466. enters, opens the newspaper, settles himself comfortably in a chair and begins to read. Olaf Halvorsen enters from left doorway. He is tall, good-looking, about thirty years of age. He does not at once see Doctor Kjelland. He takes a cigarette from the table, lights it and starts to hurry out. He suddenly sees Doctor Kjelland, stops, and appears embarrassed. Doctor Kjelland: (Without putting down the newspaper) I’m afraid you won’t ¤nd her. She went up the beach as early as ¤ve— I saw her from my window—then I dozed sweetly and comfortably to sleep again and never opened an eye until eight o’clock. Olaf Halvorsen: I’m ashamed to say I only just got up. (He looks at his wristwatch.) Good heavens, it’s after ten! I’m afraid I’m keeping up with my city hours. I did mean to try and wake up earlier in the country. Doctor Kjelland: I expect it’s the strong sea air here. It always makes one sleepy—especially at ¤rst. Olaf Halvorsen: Still it was stupid of me. I should have made an effort and gone out early with Svanhild. Doctor Kjelland: (Looking up) I don’t agree with you. Olaf Halvorsen: Perhaps you’re right; ¤ve o’clock is a bit stiff! Doctor Kjelland: I wasn’t thinking of the hour; I was just thinking that probably nothing would have annoyed Svanhild more than to have had you get up and go out with her. Olaf Halvorsen: (Good-naturedly) Thanks. Doctor Kjelland: Oh, not because it’s you any more than anyone else. She doesn’t like anyone to go out with her—that’s why she always goes out early when there is no one about. She likes to collect feathers by herself. Olaf Halvorsen: Collect feathers? Doctor Kjelland: (Laughing) Now don’t pretend that you have been visiting in this house without knowing about Svanhild’s collection of feathers. Haven’t you seen them? Olaf Halvorsen: Really—I don’t know a thing about them. Doctor Kjelland: A great number of them are on the wall in her lighthouse. You’ve been up there, haven’t you? Olaf Halvorsen: Yes—She took me up there the day I arrived. A strange idea having a lighthouse built onto...

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