The Live Corpse

AFRÉMOV. Who has come to see you here?

FÉDYA. The devil knows! Who can want me?

Enter Karénin. Looks round.

FÉDYA. Ah, Victor! I never expected you!.. Take off your coat!.. What wind has blown you here? Come, sit down and listen to “Not at Eve.”

KARÉNIN.Je voudrais vous parler sans témoins.[5 - I wanted to speak to you alone.]

FÉDYA. What about?

KARÉNIN.Je viens de chez vous. Votre femme m'a chargé de cette lettre et puis …[6 - I have come from your home. Your wife has entrusted me with this letter and besides …]

FÉDYA [takes letter, reads, frowns, then smiles affectionately] I say, Karénin, of course you know what is in this letter?

KARÉNIN. I know … and I want to say …

FÉDYA. Wait, wait a bit! Please don't imagine that I am drunk and my words irresponsible… I mean, that I am irresponsible! I am drunk, but in this matter I see quite clearly… Well, what were you commissioned to say?

KARÉNIN. I was commissioned to find you, and to tell you … that … she … is waiting for you. She asks you to forget everything and come back.

FÉDYA [listens in silence, gazing into Karénin's eyes] Still, I don't understand why you …

KARÉNIN. Elisabeth Andréyevna sent for me, and asked me …

FÉDYA. So …

KARÉNIN. But I ask you, not so much in your wife's name as from myself… Come home!

FÉDYA. You are a better man than I. (What nonsense! It is easy enough to be better than I) … I am a scoundrel, and you are a good – yes, a good man… And that is the very reason why I won't alter my decision… No! Not on that account either – but simply because I can't and won't… How could I return?

KARÉNIN. Let us go to my rooms now, and I'll tell her that you will return to-morrow.

FÉDYA. And to-morrow, what?.. I shall still be I, and she – she. [Goes to the table and drinks] It's best to have the tooth out at one go… Didn't I say that if I broke my word she was to throw me over? Well, I have broken it, and that's the end of it.

KARÉNIN. For you, but not for her!

FÉDYA. It is extraordinary that you should take pains to prevent our marriage being broken up!

KARÉNIN [is about to speak, but Másha comes up] …

FÉDYA [interrupting him] Just hear her sing “The Flax”!.. Másha!

The gipsies re-enter.

MÁSHA [whispers] An ovation, eh?

FÉDYA [laughs] An ovation!.. “Victor, my Lord! Son of Michael!” …

Gipsies sing a song of greeting and laudation.

KARÉNIN [listens in confusion then asks] How much shall I give them?

FÉDYA. Well, give them twenty-five roubles.[7 - About £2, 10s.]

Karénin gives the money.

FÉDYA. Splendid! And now, “The Flax!”

Gipsies sing.

FÉDYA [looks round] Karénin's bunked!.. Well, devil take him!

Gipsy group breaks up.

FÉDYA [sits down by Másha] Do you know who that was?

MÁSHA. I heard his name.

FÉDYA. He's an excellent fellow! He came to take me home to my wife. She loves a fool like me, and see what I am doing here …!

MÁSHA. Well, and it's wrong! You ought to go back to her… You ought to pity her.

FÉDYA. You think I ought to? Well, I think I ought not.

MÁSHA. Of course, if you don't love her you need not. Only love counts.

FÉDYA. And how do you know that?

MÁSHA. Seems I do!

FÉDYA. Well, kiss me then!.. Now, let's have “The Flax” once more, and then finish up.

Gipsies sing.

FÉDYA. Ah, how good it is! If only one hadn't to wake up!.. If one could die so!

Curtain

ACT II

Scene 1

Two weeks have passed since Act I. (#act1). Anna Pávlovna and Karénin are discovered sitting in Lisa's dining-room. Enter Sásha.

KARÉNIN. Well, what news?

SÁSHA. The doctor says there is no danger at present, as long as he does not catch cold.