Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series

FERAPONT. [Handing him papers] The hall-porter from the law courts was saying just now that in the winter there were two hundred degrees of frost in Petersburg.

ANDREY. The present is beastly, but when I think of the future, how good it is! I feel so light, so free; there is a light in the distance, I see freedom. I see myself and my children freeing ourselves from vanities, from kvass, from goose baked with cabbage, from after-dinner naps, from base idleness…

FERAPONT. He was saying that two thousand people were frozen to death. The people were frightened, he said. In Petersburg or Moscow, I don’t remember which.

ANDREY. [Overcome by a tender emotion] My dear sisters, my beautiful sisters! [Crying] Masha, my sister…

NATASHA. [At the window] Who’s talking so loudly out here? Is that you, Andrey? You’ll wake little Sophie. Il ne faut pas faire du bruit, la Sophie est dormée deja. Vous êtes un ours. [Angrily] If you want to talk, then give the perambulator and the baby to somebody else. Ferapont, take the perambulator!

FERAPONT. Yes’m. [Takes the perambulator.]

ANDREY. [Confused] I’m speaking quietly.

NATASHA. [At the window, nursing her boy] Bobby! Naughty Bobby! Bad little Bobby!

ANDREY. [Looking through the papers] All right, I’ll look them over and sign if necessary, and you can take them back to the offices…

[Goes into house reading papers; FERAPONT takes the perambulator to the back of the garden.]

NATASHA. [At the window] Bobby, what’s your mother’s name? Dear, dear! And who’s this? That’s Aunt Olga. Say to your aunt, “How do you do, Olga!”

[Two wandering musicians, a man and a girl, are playing on a violin and a harp. VERSHININ, OLGA, and ANFISA come out of the house and listen for a minute in silence; IRINA comes up to them.]

OLGA. Our garden might be a public thoroughfare, from the way people walk and ride across it. Nurse, give those musicians something!

ANFISA. [Gives money to the musicians] Go away with God’s blessing on you. [The musicians bow and go away] A bitter sort of people. You don’t play on a full stomach. [To IRINA] How do you do, Arisha! [Kisses her] Well, little girl, here I am, still alive! Still alive! In the High School, together with little Olga, in her official apartments… so the Lord has appointed for my old age. Sinful woman that I am, I’ve never lived like that in my life before… A large flat, government property, and I’ve a whole room and bed to myself. All government property. I wake up at nights and, oh God, and Holy Mother, there isn’t a happier person than I!

VERSHININ. [Looks at his watch] We are going soon, Olga Sergeyevna. It’s time for me to go. [Pause] I wish you every… every… Where’s Maria Sergeyevna?

IRINA. She’s somewhere in the garden. I’ll go and look for her.

VERSHININ. If you’ll be so kind. I haven’t time.

ANFISA. I’ll go and look, too. [Shouts] Little Masha, co-ee! [Goes out with IRINA down into the garden] Co-ee, co-ee!

VERSHININ. Everything comes to an end. And so we, too, must part. [Looks at his watch] The town gave us a sort of farewell breakfast, we had champagne to drink and the mayor made a speech, and I ate and listened, but my soul was here all the time… [Looks round the garden] I’m so used to you now.

OLGA. Shall we ever meet again?

VERSHININ. Probably not. [Pause] My wife and both my daughters will stay here another two months. If anything happens, or if anything has to be done…

OLGA. Yes, yes, of course. You need not worry. [Pause] To-morrow there won’t be a single soldier left in the town, it will all be a memory, and, of course, for us a new life will begin… [Pause] None of our plans are coming right. I didn’t want to be a head-mistress, but they made me one, all the same. It means there’s no chance of Moscow…

VERSHININ. Well… thank you for everything. Forgive me if I’ve… I’ve said such an awful lot – forgive me for that too, don’t think badly of me.

OLGA. [Wipes her eyes] Why isn’t Masha coming…

VERSHININ. What else can I say in parting? Can I philosophize about anything? [Laughs] Life is heavy. To many of us it seems dull and hopeless, but still, it must be acknowledged that it is getting lighter and clearer, and it seems that the time is not far off when it will be quite clear. [Looks at his watch] It’s time I went! Mankind used to be absorbed in wars, and all its existence was filled with campaigns, attacks, defeats, now we’ve outlived all that, leaving after us a great waste place, which there is nothing to fill with at present; but mankind is looking for something, and will certainly find it. Oh, if it only happened more quickly. [Pause] If only education could be added to industry, and industry to education. [Looks at his watch] It’s time I went…

OLGA. Here she comes.

[Enter MASHA.]

VERSHININ. I came to say good-bye…

[OLGA steps aside a little, so as not to be in their way.]

MASHA. [Looking him in the face] Good-bye. [Prolonged kiss.]

OLGA. Don’t, don’t. [MASHA is crying bitterly]

VERSHININ. Write to me… Don’t forget! Let me go… It’s time. Take her, Olga Sergeyevna… it’s time… I’m late…

[He kisses OLGA’S hand in evident emotion, then embraces MASHA once more and goes out quickly.]

OLGA. Don’t, Masha! Stop, dear… [KULIGIN enters.]

KULIGIN. [Confused] Never mind, let her cry, let her… My dear Masha, my good Masha… You’re my wife, and I’m happy, whatever happens… I’m not complaining, I don’t reproach you at all… Olga is a witness to it. Let’s begin to live again as we used to, and not by a single word, or hint…

MASHA.

[Restraining her sobs] “There stands a green oak by the sea,
And a chain of bright gold is around it…
And a chain of bright gold is around it…”

I’m going off my head… “There stands… a green oak… by the sea.”…

OLGA. Don’t, Masha, don’t… give her some water…

MASHA. I’m not crying any more…

KULIGIN. She’s not crying any more… she’s a good… [A shot is heard from a distance.]

MASHA.

“There stands a green oak by the sea,
And a chain of bright gold is around it…
An oak of green gold…”

I’m mixing it up… [Drinks some water] Life is dull… I don’t want anything more now… I’ll be all right in a moment… It doesn’t matter… What do those lines mean? Why do they run in my head? My thoughts are all tangled.

[IRINA enters.]

OLGA. Be quiet, Masha. There’s a good girl… Let’s go in.

MASHA. [Angrily] I shan’t go in there. [Sobs, but controls herself at once] I’m not going to go into the house, I won’t go…

IRINA. Let’s sit here together and say nothing. I’m going away to-morrow… [Pause.]