ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Yes, yes indeed! You are all against me! You may do it, of course. Vous êtes majeur.[18] … But you will kill me!
[18] You are of age.
VICTOR. You are not yourself. This is worse than cruelty!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV [to Victor] Be quiet, Victor. Your mother’s words are always worse than her deeds.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. I shall tell her how I think and feel, but I will do it without offending her.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. Of that I am sure.
Enter footman.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. Here she is.
VICTOR. I’ll go.
FOOTMAN. Elisabeth Andréyevna Protásova.
VICTOR. I am going. Please, Mother! [Exit.]
Prince Abrézkov also rises.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Ask her in. [To Prince Abrézkov] No, you must please stay here!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. I thought you’d find a tête-à-tête easier.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. No, I’m afraid … [Is restless] If I want to be left tête-à-tête with her, I will nod to you. Cela dépendra.[19] … To be left alone with her may make it difficult for me. But I’ll do like that if … [Makes a sign].
[19] It will depend.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. I shall understand. I feel sure you will like her. Only be just.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. How you are all against me!
Enter Lisa, in visiting dress and hat.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA [rising] I was sorry not to find you in, and it is kind of you to call.
LISA. I never dreamed that you’d be so good as to call…. I am so grateful to you for wishing to see me.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA [pointing to Prince Abrézkov] You are acquainted?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. Yes, certainly. I have had the pleasure of being introduced. [They shake hands and sit down] My niece Nelly has often mentioned you to me.
LISA. Yes, she and I were great friends [glancing timidly at Anna Dmítrievna], and we are still friendly. [To Anna Dmítrievna] I never expected that you would wish to see me.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. I knew your husband well. He was friendly with Victor, and used to come to our house before he left for Tambóv. I think it was there you married?
LISA. Yes, it was there we married.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. But after his return to Moscow he never visited us.
LISA. Yes, he hardly went out anywhere.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. And he never introduced you to me.
Awkward silence.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. The last time I met you was at the theatricals at the Denísovs’. They went off very well; and you were acting.
LISA. No … Yes … Of course … I did act. [Silence again]. Anna Dmítrievna, forgive me if what I am going to say displeases you, but I can’t and don’t know how to dissemble! I have come because Victor Miháylovich said … because he–I mean, because you wished to see me…. But it is best to speak out [with a catch in her voice] … It is very hard for me…. But you are kind.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV. I’d better go.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Yes, do.
Prince Abrézkov takes leave of both women, and exit.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Listen, Lisa … I am very sorry for you, and I like you. But I love Victor. He is the one being I love in the world. I know his soul as I know my own. It is a proud soul. He was proud as a boy of seven…. Not proud of his name or wealth, but proud of his character and innocence, which he has guarded. He is as pure as a maiden.
LISA. I know.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. He has never loved any woman. You are the first. I do not say I am not jealous. I am jealous. But we mothers–your son is still a baby, and it is too soon for you–we are prepared for that. I was prepared to give him up to his wife and not to be jealous–but to a wife as pure as himself …
LISA. I … have I …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Forgive me! I know it was not your fault, but you are unfortunate. And I know him. Now he is ready to bear–and will bear–anything, and he would never mention it, but he would suffer. His wounded pride would suffer, and he would not be happy.
LISA. I have thought of that.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Lisa, my dear, you are a wise and good woman. If you love him you must desire his happiness more than your own. And if that is so, you will not wish to bind him and give him cause to repent–though he would never say a word.
LISA. I know he wouldn’t! I have thought about it, and have asked myself that question. I have thought of it, and have spoken of it to him. But what can I do, when he says he does not wish to live without me? I said to him: “Let us be friends, but do not spoil your life; do not bind your pure life to my unfortunate one!” But he does not wish for that.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. No, not at present….
LISA. Persuade him to leave me, and I will agree. I love him for his own happiness and not for mine. Only help me! Do not hate me! Let us lovingly work together for his happiness!
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Yes, yes! I have grown fond of you. [Kisses her. Lisa cries] And yet, and yet it is dreadful! If only he had loved you before you married …
LISA. He says he did love me then, but did not wish to prevent a friend’s happiness.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Ah, how hard it all is! Still, we will love one another, and God will help us to find what we want.
VICTOR [entering] Mother, dear! I have heard everything! I expected this: you are fond of her, and all will be well!
LISA. I am sorry you heard. I should not have said it if …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA. Still, nothing is settled. All I can say is, that if it were not for all these unfortunate circumstances, I should have been glad. [Kisses her].
VICTOR. Only, please don’t change!
Curtain.
SCENE 2
A plainly furnished room; bed, table, sofa. Fédya alone.
A knock at the door. A woman’s voice outside. Why have you locked yourself in, Theodore Vasílyevich? Fédya! Open …!
FÉDYA [gets up and unlocks door] That’s right! Thank you for coming. It’s dull, terribly dull!
MÁSHA. Why didn’t you come to us? Been drinking again? Eh, eh! And after you’d promised!
FÉDYA. D’you know, I’ve no money!
MÁSHA. And why have I taken it into my head to care for you!
FÉDYA. Másha!
MÁSHA. Well, what about “Másha, Másha”? If you were really in love, you’d have got a divorce long ago. They themselves asked you to. You say you don’t love her, but all the same you keep to her! I see you don’t wish …
FÉDYA. But you know why I don’t wish!
MÁSHA. That’s all rubbish. People say quite truly that you’re an empty fellow.
FÉDYA. What can I say to you? That your words hurt me, you know without being told!
MÁSHA. Nothing hurts you!
FÉDYA. You know that the one joy I have in life is your love.
MÁSHA. My love–yes; but yours doesn’t exist.
FÉDYA. All right. I’m not going to assure you. Besides, what’s the good? You know!
MÁSHA. Fédya; why torment me?
FÉDYA. Which of us torments?
MÁSHA [cries] You are unkind!
FÉDYA [goes up and embraces her] Másha! What’s it all about? Stop that. One must live, and not whine. It doesn’t suit you at all, my lovely one!
MÁSHA. You do love me?
FÉDYA. Whom else could I love?
MÁSHA. Only me? Well then, read what you have been writing.
FÉDYA. It will bore you.
MÁSHA. It’s you who wrote it, so it’s sure to be good.
FÉDYA. Well then listen. [Reads] “One day, late in autumn, my friend and I agreed to meet on the Murýgin fields, where there was a close thicket with many young birds in it. The day was dull, warm, and quiet. The mist …”
Enter two old gipsies, Másha’s parents, Iván Makárovich and Nastásia Ivánovna.
NASTÁSIA [stepping up to her daughter] Here you are then, you damned runaway sheep! [To Fédya] My respects to you, sir! [To Másha] Is that how you treat us, eh?
IVÁN [to Fédya] It’s wrong, sir, what you’re doing! You’re ruining the wench! Oh, but it’s wrong … You’re doing a dirty deed.
NASTÁSIA. Put on your shawl! March at once!… Running away like this! What can I say to the choir? Gallivanting with a beggar–what can you get out of him?
MÁSHA. I don’t gallivant! I love this gentleman, that’s all. I’ve not left the choir. I’ll go on singing, and what …
IVÁN. Say another word, and I’ll pull the hair off your head!… Slut!… Who behaves like that? Not your father, nor your mother, nor your aunt!… It’s bad, sir! We were fond of you–often and often we sang to you without pay. We pitied you, and what have you done?
NASTÁSIA. You’ve ruined our daughter for nothing … our own, our only daughter, the light of our eyes, our priceless jewel–you’ve trodden her into the mire, that’s what you’ve done! You’ve no conscience.
FÉDYA. Nastásia Ivánovna, you suspect me falsely. Your daughter is like a sister to me. I care for her honour. You must think no evil … but I love her! What is one to do?
IVÁN. But you didn’t love her when you had money! If you’d then subscribed ten thousand roubles or so to the choir, you might have had her honourably. But now you’ve squandered everything, and carry her off by stealth! It’s a shame, sir, a shame!
MÁSHA. He has not carried me off! I came to him myself, and if you
