But I am sure you do not
wish me to lie to you.
Clara (turning her head away). No.
The King. You have no confidence in me. (Control, his emotion.)
Will you ever, I wonder, come to under stand that the only thing I
crave for now is--one person's confidence!
Clara. Any one who speaks as your Majesty has done to-day surely
craves for more than that.
The King. More than that, yes; but, first of all, one person's
confidence.
Clara (turning away). I don't understand--
The King (interrupting her, with emotion). Your life has not been
as empty and artificial as mine.
Clara. But surely you have your task here to fill it with?
The King. I remember reading once about the way a rock was
undermined, and the mine filled with gunpowder with an electric
wire leading to it. Just a slight pressure on a little button and
the great rock was shattered into a thousand pieces. And in the
same way everything is ready here; but the little pressure--to
cause the explosion--is what I am waiting for!
Clara. The metaphor is a little forced.
The King. And yet it came into my mind as unconsciously as you
broke off that twig just now. If I do not get what I lack, nothing
can be accomplished--there can be no explosion! I shall abandon the
whole thing and let myself go under.
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