Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series by Anton Chekhov

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[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.]

KULIGIN. Yesterday I took away these whiskers and this beard from
a boy in the third class. ... [He puts on the whiskers and beard]
Don't I look like the German master. ... [Laughs] Don't I? The boys
are amusing.

MASHA. You really do look like that German of yours.

OLGA. [Laughs] Yes. [MASHA weeps.]

IRINA. Don't, Masha!

KULIGIN. It's a very good likeness. ...

[Enter NATASHA.]

NATASHA. [To the maid] What? Mihail Ivanitch Protopopov will sit with
little Sophie, and Andrey Sergeyevitch can take little Bobby out.
Children are such a bother. ... [To IRINA] Irina, it's such a pity
you're going away to-morrow. Do stop just another week. [Sees KULIGIN
and screams; he laughs and takes off his beard and whiskers] How you
frightened me! [To IRINA] I've grown used to you and do you think it
will be easy for me to part from you? I'm going to have Andrey and
his violin put into your room--let him fiddle away in there!--and
we'll put little Sophie into his room. The beautiful, lovely child!
What a little girlie! To-day she looked at me with such pretty eyes
and said "Mamma!"

KULIGIN. A beautiful child, it's quite true.

NATASHA. That means I shall have the place to myself to-morrow. [Sighs]
In the first place I shall have that avenue of fir-trees cut down, then
that maple. It's so ugly at nights. ... [To IRINA] That belt doesn't
suit you at all, dear. ... It's an error of taste. And I'll give orders
to have lots and lots of little flowers planted here, and they'll
smell. ... [Severely] Why is there a fork lying about here on the seat?
[Going towards the house, to the maid] Why is there a fork lying about
here on the seat, I say? [Shouts] Don't you dare to answer me!

KULIGIN. Temper! temper! [A march is played off; they all listen.]

OLGA. They're going.

[CHEBUTIKIN comes in.]

MASHA. They're going. Well, well. ... Bon voyage! [To her husband] We
must be going home. ... Where's my coat and hat?

KULIGIN. I took them in ... I'll bring them, in a moment.

OLGA. Yes, now we can all go home. It's time.

CHEBUTIKIN. Olga Sergeyevna!

OLGA. What is it? [Pause] What is it?

CHEBUTIKIN. Nothing ... I don't know how to tell you. ... [Whispers
to her.]

OLGA. [Frightened] It can't be true!

CHEBUTIKIN. Yes ... such a story ... I'm tired out, exhausted, I won't
say any more. ... [Sadly] Still, it's all the same!

MASHA. What's happened?

OLGA. [Embraces IRINA] This is a terrible day ... I don't know how to
tell you, dear. ...

IRINA. What is it? Tell me quickly, what is it? For God's sake! [Cries.]

CHEBUTIKIN. The Baron was killed in the duel just now.

IRINA. [Cries softly] I knew it, I knew it. ...

CHEBUTIKIN. [Sits on a bench at the back of the stage] I'm tired. ...
[Takes a paper from his pocket] Let 'em cry. ... [Sings softly]
"Tarara-boom-deay, it is my washing day. ..." Isn't it all the same!

[The three sisters are standing, pressing against one another.]

MASHA. Oh, how the music plays! They are leaving us, one has quite
left us, quite and for ever. We remain alone, to begin our life over
again. We must live ... we must live. ...

IRINA. [Puts her head on OLGA's bosom] There will come a time when
everybody will know why, for what purpose, there is all this suffering,
and there will be no more mysteries. But now we must live ... we must
work, just work! To-morrow, I'll go away alone, and I'll teach and give
my whole life to those who, perhaps, need it. It's autumn now, soon it
will be winter, the snow will cover everything, and I shall be working,
working. ...

OLGA. [Embraces both her sisters] The bands are playing so gaily, so
bravely, and one does so want to live! Oh, my God! Time will pass on,
and we shall depart for ever, we shall be forgotten; they will forget
our faces, voices, and even how many there were of us, but our sufferings
will turn into joy for those who will live after us, happiness and
peace will reign on earth, and people will remember with kindly words,
and bless those who are living now. Oh dear sisters, our life is not
yet at an end. Let us live. The music is so gay, so joyful, and, it
seems that in a little while we shall know why we are living, why
we are suffering. ... If we could only know, if we could only know!

[The music has been growing softer and softer; KULIGIN, smiling happily,
brings out the hat and coat; ANDREY wheels out the perambulator in
which BOBBY is sitting.]

CHEBUTIKIN. [Sings softly] "Tara. . . ra-boom-deay. ... It is my
washing-day." ... [Reads a paper] It's all the same! It's all the same!

OLGA. If only we could know, if only we could know!

Curtain.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD
A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS

CHARACTERS

LUBOV ANDREYEVNA RANEVSKY (Mme. RANEVSKY), a landowner
ANYA, her daughter, aged seventeen
VARYA (BARBARA), her adopted daughter, aged twenty-seven
LEONID ANDREYEVITCH GAEV, Mme. Ranevsky's brother
ERMOLAI ALEXEYEVITCH LOPAKHIN, a merchant
PETER SERGEYEVITCH TROFIMOV, a student
BORIS BORISOVITCH SIMEONOV-PISCHIN, a landowner
CHARLOTTA IVANOVNA, a governess
SIMEON PANTELEYEVITCH EPIKHODOV, a clerk
DUNYASHA (AVDOTYA FEDOROVNA), a maidservant
FIERS, an old footman, aged eighty-seven
YASHA, a young footman
A TRAMP
A STATION-MASTER
POST-OFFICE CLERK
GUESTS
A SERVANT

The action takes place on Mme. RANEVSKY'S estate

ACT ONE

[A room which is still called the nursery. One of the doors leads
into ANYA'S room. It is close on sunrise. It is May. The cherry-trees
are in flower but it is chilly in the garden. There is an early
frost. The windows of the room are shut. DUNYASHA comes in with a
candle, and LOPAKHIN with a book in his hand.]

LOPAKHIN. The train's arrived, thank God. What's the time?

DUNYASHA. It will soon be two. [Blows out candle] It is light
already.

LOPAKHIN. How much was the train late? Two hours at least. [Yawns
and stretches himself] I have made a rotten mess of it! I came here
on purpose to meet them at the station, and then overslept myself ...
in my chair. It's a pity. I wish you'd wakened me.

DUNYASHA. I thought you'd gone away. [Listening] I think I hear
them coming.

LOPAKHIN. [Listens] No. ... They've got to collect their luggage
and so on. ... [Pause] Lubov Andreyevna has been living abroad for
five years; I don't know what she'll be like now. ... She's a good
sort--an easy, simple person. I remember when I was a boy of
fifteen, my father, who is dead--he used to keep a shop in the
village here--hit me on the face with his fist, and my nose bled. ...
We had gone into the yard together for something or other, and he
was a little drunk. Lubov Andreyevna, as I remember her now, was
still young, and very thin, and she took me to the washstand here
in this very room, the nursery. She said, "Don't cry, little man,
it'll be all right in time for your wedding." [Pause] "Little man". ...
My father was a peasant, it's true, but here I am in a white
waistcoat and yellow shoes ... a pearl out of an oyster. I'm rich
now, with lots of money, but just think about it and examine me,
and you'll find I'm still a peasant down to the marrow of my bones.
[Turns over the pages of his book] Here I've been reading this
book, but I understood nothing. I read and fell asleep. [Pause.]

DUNYASHA. The dogs didn't sleep all night; they know that they're
coming.

LOPAKHIN. What's up with you, Dunyasha ...?

DUNYASHA. My hands are shaking. I shall faint.

LOPAKHIN. You're too sensitive, Dunyasha. You dress just like a
lady, and you do your hair like one too. You oughtn't. You should
know your place.

EPIKHODOV. [Enters with a bouquet. He wears a short jacket and
brilliantly polished boots which squeak audibly. He drops the
bouquet as he enters, then picks it up] The gardener sent these;
says they're to go into the dining-room. [Gives the bouquet to
DUNYASHA.]

LOPAKHIN. And you'll bring me some kvass.

DUNYASHA. Very well. [Exit.]

EPIKHODOV. There's a frost this morning--three degrees, and the
cherry-trees are all in flower. I can't approve of our climate.
[Sighs] I can't. Our climate is indisposed to favour us even this
once. And, Ermolai Alexeyevitch, allow me to say to you, in
addition, that I bought myself some boots two days ago, and I beg
to assure you that they squeak in a perfectly unbearable manner.
What shall I put on them?

LOPAKHIN. Go away. You bore me.

EPIKHODOV. Some misfortune happens to me every day. But I don't
complain; I'm used to it, and I can smile. [DUNYASHA comes in and
brings LOPAKHIN some kvass] I shall go. [Knocks over a chair]
There. ... [Triumphantly] There, you see, if I may use the word,
what circumstances I am in, so to speak. It is even simply
marvellous. [Exit.]

DUNYASHA. I may confess to you, Ermolai Alexeyevitch, that
Epikhodov has proposed to me.

LOPAKHIN. Ah!

DUNYASHA. I don't know what to do about it. He's a nice young man,
but every now and again, when he begins talking, you can't
understand a word he's saying. I think I like him. He's madly in
love with me. He's an unlucky man; every day something happens. We
tease him about it. They call him "Two-and-twenty troubles."

LOPAKHIN. [Listens] There they come, I think.

DUNYASHA. They're coming! What's the matter with me? I'm cold all
over.

LOPAKHIN. There they are, right enough. Let's go and meet them.
Will she know me? We haven't seen each other for five years.

DUNYASHA. [Excited] I shall faint in a minute. ... Oh, I'm
fainting!

[Two carriages are heard driving up to the house. LOPAKHIN and
DUNYASHA quickly go out. The stage is empty. A noise begins in the
next room. FIERS, leaning on a stick, walks quickly across the
stage; he has just been to meet LUBOV ANDREYEVNA. He wears an
old-fashioned livery and a tall hat. He is saying something to
himself, but not a word of it can be made out. The noise behind the
stage gets louder and louder. A voice is heard: "Let's go in
there." Enter LUBOV ANDREYEVNA, ANYA, and CHARLOTTA IVANOVNA with a
little dog on a chain, and all dressed in travelling clothes, VARYA
in a long coat and with a kerchief on her head. GAEV, SIMEONOV-PISCHIN,
LOPAKHIN, DUNYASHA with a parcel and an umbrella, and a servant
with luggage--all cross the room.]

ANYA. Let's come through here. Do you remember what this room is,
mother?

LUBOV. [Joyfully, through her tears] The nursery!

VARYA. How cold it is! My hands are quite numb. [To LUBOV
ANDREYEVNA] Your rooms, the white one and the violet one, are just
as they used to be, mother.

LUBOV. My dear nursery, oh, you beautiful room. ... I used to sleep
here when I was a baby. [Weeps] And here I am like a little girl
again. [Kisses her brother, VARYA, then her brother again] And
Varya is just as she used to be, just like a nun. And I knew
Dunyasha. [Kisses her.]

GAEV. The train was two hours late. There now; how's that for
punctuality?

CHARLOTTA. [To PISCHIN] My dog eats nuts too.

PISCHIN. [Astonished] To think of that, now!

[All go out except ANYA and DUNYASHA.]

DUNYASHA. We did have to wait for you!

[Takes off ANYA'S cloak and hat.]

ANYA. I didn't get any sleep for four nights on the journey. ...
I'm awfully cold.

DUNYASHA. You went away during Lent, when it was snowing and
frosty, but now? Darling! [Laughs and kisses her] We did have to
wait for you, my joy, my pet. ... I must tell you at once, I can't
bear to wait a minute.

ANYA. [Tired] Something else now ...?

DUNYASHA. The clerk, Epikhodov, proposed to me after Easter.

ANYA. Always the same. ... [Puts her hair straight] I've lost all
my hairpins. ... [She is very tired, and even staggers as she
walks.]

DUNYASHA. I don't know what to think about it. He loves me, he
loves me so much!

ANYA. [Looks into her room; in a gentle voice] My room, my windows,
as if I'd never gone away. I'm at home! To-morrow morning I'll get
up and have a run in the garden. ...Oh, if I could only get to
sleep! I didn't sleep the whole journey, I was so bothered.

DUNYASHA. Peter Sergeyevitch came two days ago.

ANYA. [Joyfully] Peter!

DUNYASHA. He sleeps in the bath-house, he lives there. He said he
was afraid he'd be in the way. [Looks at her pocket-watch] I ought
to wake him, but Barbara Mihailovna told me not to. "Don't wake
him," she said.

[Enter VARYA, a bunch of keys on her belt.]

VARYA. Dunyasha, some coffee, quick. Mother wants some.

DUNYASHA. This minute. [Exit.]

VARYA. Well, you've come, glory be to God. Home again. [Caressing
her] My darling is back again! My pretty one is back again!

ANYA. I did have an awful time, I tell you.

VARYA. I can just imagine it!

ANYA. I went away in Holy Week; it was very cold then. Charlotta
talked the whole way and would go on performing her tricks. Why did
you tie Charlotta on to me?

VARYA. You couldn't go alone, darling, at seventeen!

ANYA. We went to Paris; it's cold there and snowing. I talk French
perfectly horribly. My mother lives on the fifth floor. I go to
her, and find her there with various Frenchmen, women, an old abbe
with a book, and everything in tobacco smoke and with no comfort at
all. I suddenly became very sorry for mother--so sorry that I took
her head in my arms and hugged her and wouldn't let her go. Then
mother started hugging me and crying. ...

VARYA. [Weeping] Don't say any more, don't say any more. ...

ANYA. She's already sold her villa near Mentone; she's nothing
left, nothing. And I haven't a copeck left either; we only just
managed to get here. And mother won't understand! We had dinner at
a station; she asked for all the expensive things, and tipped the
waiters one rouble each. And Charlotta too. Yasha wants his share
too--it's too bad. Mother's got a footman now, Yasha; we've
brought him here.

VARYA. I saw the wretch.

ANYA. How's business? Has the interest been paid?

VARYA. Not much chance of that.

ANYA. Oh God, oh God ...

VARYA. The place will be sold in August.

ANYA. O God. ...

LOPAKHIN. [Looks in at the door and moos] Moo! ... [Exit.]

VARYA. [Through her tears] I'd like to. ... [Shakes her fist.]

ANYA. [Embraces VARYA, softly] Varya, has he proposed to you?
[VARYA shakes head] But he loves you. ... Why don't you make up
your minds? Why do you keep on waiting?

VARYA. I think that it will all come to nothing. He's a busy man.
I'm not his affair ... he pays no attention to me. Bless the man, I
don't want to see him. ... But everybody talks about our marriage,
everybody congratulates me, and there's nothing in it at all, it's
all like a dream. [In another tone] You've got a brooch like a bee.

ANYA. [Sadly] Mother bought it. [Goes into her room, and talks
lightly, like a child] In Paris I went up in a balloon!

VARYA. My darling's come back, my pretty one's come back! [DUNYASHA
has already returned with the coffee-pot and is making the coffee,
VARYA stands near the door] I go about all day, looking after the
house, and I think all the time, if only you could marry a rich
man, then I'd be happy and would go away somewhere by myself, then
to Kiev ... to Moscow, and so on, from one holy place to another.
I'd tramp and tramp. That would be splendid!

ANYA. The birds are singing in the garden. What time is it now?

VARYA. It must be getting on for three. Time you went to sleep,
darling. [Goes into ANYA'S room] Splendid!

[Enter YASHA with a plaid shawl and a travelling bag.]

YASHA. [Crossing the stage: Politely] May I go this way?

DUNYASHA. I hardly knew you, Yasha. You have changed abroad.

YASHA. Hm ... and who are you?

DUNYASHA. When you went away I was only so high. [Showing with her
hand] I'm Dunyasha, the daughter of Theodore Kozoyedov. You don't
remember!

YASHA. Oh, you little cucumber!

[Looks round and embraces her. She screams and drops a saucer.
YASHA goes out quickly.]

VARYA. [In the doorway: In an angry voice] What's that?

DUNYASHA. [Through her tears] I've broken a saucer.

VARYA. It may bring luck.

ANYA. [Coming out of her room] We must tell mother that Peter's
here.

VARYA. I told them not to wake him.

ANYA. [Thoughtfully] Father died six years ago, and a month later
my brother Grisha was drowned in the river--such a dear little boy
of seven! Mother couldn't bear it; she went away, away, without
looking round. ... [Shudders] How I understand her; if only she
knew! [Pause] And Peter Trofimov was Grisha's tutor, he might tell
her. ...

[Enter FIERS in a short jacket and white waistcoat.]

FIERS. [Goes to the coffee-pot, nervously] The mistress is going to
have some food here. ... [Puts on white gloves] Is the coffee
ready? [To DUNYASHA, severely] You! Where's the cream?

DUNYASHA. Oh, dear me ...! [Rapid exit.]

FIERS. [Fussing round the coffee-pot] Oh, you bungler. ... [Murmurs
to himself] Back from Paris ... the master went to Paris once ...
in a carriage. ... [Laughs.]

VARYA. What are you talking about, Fiers?

FIERS. I beg your pardon? [Joyfully] The mistress is home again.
I've lived to see her! Don't care if I die now. ... [Weeps with
joy.]

[Enter LUBOV ANDREYEVNA, GAEV, LOPAKHIN, and SIMEONOV-PISCHIN, the
latter in a long jacket of thin cloth and loose trousers. GAEV,
coming in, moves his arms and body about as if he is playing
billiards.]

LUBOV. Let me remember now. Red into the corner! Twice into the
centre!

GAEV. Right into the pocket! Once upon a time you and I used both
to sleep in this room, and now I'm fifty-one; it does seem strange.

LOPAKHIN. Yes, time does go.

GAEV. Who does?

LOPAKHIN. I said that time does go.

GAEV. It smells of patchouli here.

ANYA. I'm going to bed. Good-night, mother. [Kisses her.]

LUBOV. My lovely little one. [Kisses her hand] Glad to be at home?
I can't get over it.

ANYA. Good-night, uncle.

GAEV. [Kisses her face and hands] God be with you. How you do
resemble your mother! [To his sister] You were just like her at her
age, Luba.

[ANYA gives her hand to LOPAKHIN and PISCHIN and goes out, shutting
the door behind her.]

LUBOV. She's awfully tired.

PISCHIN. It's a very long journey.

VARYA. [To LOPAKHIN and PISCHIN] Well, sirs, it's getting on for
three, quite time you went.

LUBOV. [Laughs] You're just the same as ever, Varya. [Draws her
close and kisses her] I'll have some coffee now, then we'll all go.
[FIERS lays a cushion under her feet] Thank you, dear. I'm used to
coffee. I drink it day and night. Thank you, dear old man. [Kisses
FIERS.]

VARYA. I'll go and see if they've brought in all the luggage.
[Exit.]

LUBOV. Is it really I who am sitting here? [Laughs] I want to jump
about and wave my arms. [Covers her face with her hands] But
suppose I'm dreaming! God knows I love my own country, I love it
deeply; I couldn't look out of the railway carriage, I cried so
much. [Through her tears] Still, I must have my coffee. Thank you,
Fiers. Thank you, dear old man. I'm so glad you're still with us.

FIERS. The day before yesterday.

GAEV. He doesn't hear well.

LOPAKHIN. I've got to go off to Kharkov by the five o'clock train.
I'm awfully sorry! I should like to have a look at you, to gossip a
little. You're as fine-looking as ever.

PISCHIN. [Breathes heavily] Even finer-looking ... dressed in
Paris fashions ... confound it all.

LOPAKHIN. Your brother, Leonid Andreyevitch, says I'm a snob, a
usurer, but that is absolutely nothing to me. Let him talk. Only I
do wish you would believe in me as you once did, that your
wonderful, touching eyes would look at me as they did before.
Merciful God! My father was the serf of your grandfather and your
own father, but you--you more than anybody else--did so much for me
once upon a time that I've forgotten everything and love you as if
you belonged to my family ... and even more.

LUBOV. I can't sit still, I'm not in a state to do it. [Jumps up
and walks about in great excitement] I'll never survive this
happiness. ... You can laugh at me; I'm a silly woman. ... My dear
little cupboard. [Kisses cupboard] My little table.

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