Judge monologue (Act 4) — Plays by August Strindberg, Third Series

[_Reassured_] This time I am in luck! Here are the accounts of my guardianship; here is the contract for the lease--my report as executor--all of it! [_The handcuffs on the wall begin to clank_] Make all the noise you please! As long as the axe stays still, I won't be scared. [_He puts the documents on the table and goes back to close the door of the cabinet, but this flies open again as soon as he shuts it_] Everything has a cause: _ratio sufficiens_. This door must have a spring with which I am not familiar. It surprises me that I don't know it, but it cannot scare me. [_The axe moves on the wall_] The axe moved--as a rule, that foretells an execution, but to-day it means only that its equilibrium has become disturbed in some way. Oh, no, nothing will give me pause but seeing my own ghost--for that would be beyond the tricks of any charlatan.