Redemption and Two Other Plays by Leo Tolstoy et al

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[Laughs.

SECOND PEASANT. And I daresay he thinks to himself, "If your own self
was to kick the bucket I'd not cry."

[Laughs.

DISCHARGED COOK (from up on the oven). That is true; that's right!

TANYA. Well, the gentleman, he gets home and goes straight to his
lady: "What a good-hearted man our coachman is; he was crying all the
way home about poor Dash. Have him called.... Here, drink this glass
of vodka," he says, "and here's a rouble as a reward for you." That's
just like her saying Jacob has no feelings for her dog!

[The PEASANTS laugh.

FIRST PEASANT. That's the style!

SECOND PEASANT. That was a go!

THIRD PEASANT. Aye, lassie, but you've set us a-laughing!

TANYA (pouring out more tea). Have some more! Yes, it only seems that
our life is pleasant; but sometimes it is very disgusting,--clearing
up all their messes! Faugh! It's better in the country. (PEASANTS turn
their cups upside-down, as a polite sign that they have had enough.
TANYA pours out more tea.) Have some more, Efim Antonitch. I'll fill
your cup, Mitry Vlasitch.

THIRD PEASANT. All right, fill it, fill it.

FIRST PEASANT. Well, dear, and what progression is our business
making?

TANYA. It's getting on....

FIRST PEASANT. Simon told us....

TANYA. (quickly). Did he?

SECOND PEASANT. But he could not make us understand.

TANYA. I can't tell you now, but I'm doing my best--all I can! And
I've got your paper here! (Shows the paper hidden under the bib of her
apron.) If only one thing succeeds ... (Shrieks.) Oh, how nice it
would be!

SECOND PEASANT. Don't lose that paper, mind. It has cost money.

TANYA. Never fear. You only want him to sign it? Is that all?

THIRD PEASANT. Why, what else? Let's say he's signed it, and it's
done! (Turns his cup upside-down.) I've had enough.

TANYA (aside). He'll sign it; you'll see he will.... Have some more.

[Pours out tea.

FIRST PEASANT. If only you get this business about the sale of the
land settled, the Commune would pay your marriage expenses.

[Refuses the tea.

TANYA (pouring out tea). Do have another cup.

THIRD PEASANT. You get it done, and we'll arrange your marriage, and I
myself, let's say, will dance at the wedding. Though I've never danced
in all my born days, I'll dance then!

TANYA (laughing). All right, I'll be in hopes of it.

[Silence.

SECOND PEASANT (examines TANYA). That's all very well, but you're not
fit for peasant work.

TANYA. Who? I? Why, don't you think me strong enough? You should see
me lacing up my mistress. There's many a peasant couldn't tug as hard.

SECOND PEASANT. Where do you tug her to?

TANYA. Well, there's a thing made with bone, like--something like a
stiff jacket, only up to here! Well, and I pull the strings just as
when you saddle a horse--when you ... what d'ye call it? You know,
when you spit on your hands!

SECOND PEASANT. Tighten the girths, you mean.

TANYA. Yes, yes, that's it. And you know I mustn't shove against her
with my knee.

[Laughs.

SECOND PEASANT. Why do you pull her in?

TANYA. For a reason!

SECOND PEASANT. Why, is she doing penance?

TANYA. No, it's for beauty's sake!

FIRST PEASANT. That's to say, you pull in her paunch for appearance'
sake.

TANYA. Sometimes I lace her up so that her eyes are ready to start
from her head, and she says, "Tighter," till my hands tingle. And you
say I'm not strong!

[PEASANTS laugh and shake their heads.

TANYA. But here, I've been jabbering.

[Runs away, laughing.

THIRD PEASANT. Ah, the lassie has made us laugh!

FIRST PEASANT. She's a tidy one!

SECOND PEASANT. She's not bad.

[Enter SAHATOF and VASILY LEONIDITCH. SAHATOF holds a teaspoon in
his hand.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. Not exactly a dinner, but a dejeuner dinatoire. And
first-rate it was, I tell you. Ham of sucking-pig, delicious! Roulier
feeds one splendidly! I've only just returned. (Sees PEASANTS.) Ah,
the peasants are here again!

SAHATOF. Yes, yes, that's all very well, but we came here to hide this
article. Where shall we hide it?

VASILY LEONIDITCH. Excuse me a moment. (To SERVANTS' COOK.) Where are
the dogs?

SERVANTS' COOK. In the coachman's quarters. You can't keep dogs in the
servants' kitchen!

VASILY LEONIDITCH. Ah, in the coachman's quarters? All right.

SAHATOF. I am waiting.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. Excuse me, please. Eh, what? Hide it? I'll tell you
what. Let's put it into one of the peasants' pockets. That one. I say,
where's your pocket? Eh, what?

THIRD PEASANT. What for d'ye want my pocket? You're a good 'un! My
pocket! There's money in my pocket!

VASILY LEONIDITCH. Where's your bag, then?

THIRD PEASANT. What for?

SERVANTS' COOK. What d'you mean? That's the young master!

VASILY LEONIDITCH (laughs. To SAHATOF). D'you know why he's so
frightened? Shall I tell you? He's got a heap of money. Eh, what?

SAHATOF. Yes, yes, I see. Well, you talk to them a bit, and I'll put
it into that bag without being observed, so that they should not
notice and could not point it out to him. Talk to them.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. All right! (To PEASANTS.) Well then, old fellows,
how about the land? Are you buying it? Eh, what?

FIRST PEASANT. We have made an offering, so to say, with our whole
heart. But there,--the business don't come into action nohow.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. You should not be so stingy! Land is an important
matter! I told you about planting mint. Or else tobacco would also do.

FIRST PEASANT. That's just it. Every kind of producks.

THIRD PEASANT. And you help us, master. Ask your father. Or else how
are we to live? There's so little land. A fowl, let's say, there's not
enough room for a fowl to run about.

SAHATOF (having put the spoon into a bag belonging to the THIRD
PEASANT). C'est fait. Ready. Come along.

[Exit.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. So don't be stingy! Eh? Well, good-bye.

[Exit.

THIRD PEASANT. Didn't I say, come to some lodging-house? Well,
supposing we'd had to give three-pence each, then at least we'd have
been in peace. As to here, the Lord be merciful! "Give us the money,"
he says. What's that for?

SECOND PEASANT. He's drunk, I daresay.

[PEASANTS turn their cups upside-down, rise, and cross themselves.

FIRST PEASANT. And d'you mind what a saying he threw out? Sowing mint!
One must know how to understand them, that one must!

SECOND PEASANT. Sow mint indeed! He'd better bend his own back at that
work, and then it's not mint he'll hanker after, no fear! Well, many
thanks!... And now, good woman, would you tell us where we could lie
down to sleep?

SERVANTS' COOK. One of you can lie on the oven, and the others on
these benches.

THIRD PEASANT. Christ save you!

[Prays, crossing himself.

FIRST PEASANT. If only by God's help we get our business settled!
(Lies down.) Then to-morrow, after dinner, we'd be off by the train,
and on Tuesday we'd be home again.

SECOND PEASANT. Are you going to put out the light?

SERVANTS' COOK. Put it out? Oh, no! They'll keep running down here,
first for one thing then another.... You lie down, I'll lower it.

SECOND PEASANT. How is one to live, having so little land? Why, this
year, I have had to buy corn since Christmas. And the oat-straw is all
used up. I'd like to get hold of ten acres, and then I could take
Simon back.

THIRD PEASANT. You're a man with a family. You'd get the land
cultivated without trouble. If only the business comes off.

SECOND PEASANT. We must pray to the Holy Virgin, maybe she'll help us
out. (Silence, broken by sighs. Then footsteps and voices are heard
outside. The door opens. Enter GROSSMAN hurriedly, with his eyes
bandaged, holding SAHATOF'S hand, and followed by the PROFESSOR and
the DOCTOR, the FAT LADY and LEONID FYODORITCH, BETSY and PETRISTCHEF,
VASILY LEONIDITCH and MARYA KONSTANTINOVNA, ANNA PAVLOVNA and the
BARONESS, THEODORE IVANITCH and TANYA.)

[PEASANTS jump up. GROSSMAN comes forward stepping quickly, then
stops.

FAT LADY. You need not trouble yourselves; I have undertaken the task
of observing, and am strictly fulfilling my duty! Mr. Sahatof, are you
not leading him?

SAHATOF. Of course not!

FAT LADY. You must not lead him, but neither must you resist! (To
LEONID FYODORITCH.) I know these experiments. I have tried them
myself. Sometimes I used to feel a certain effluence, and as soon as I
felt it....

LEONID FYODORITCH. May I beg of you to keep perfect silence?

FAT LADY. Oh, I understand so well! I have experienced it myself. As
soon as my attention was diverted I could no longer....

LEONID FYODORITCH. Sh...!

[GROSSMAN goes about, searches near the FIRST and SECOND
PEASANTS, then approaches the THIRD, and stumbles over a bench.

BARONESS. Mais dites-moi, on le paye?[6]

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Je ne saurais vous dire.

BARONESS. Mais c'est un monsieur?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Oh, oui!

BARONESS. Ca tient du miraculeux. N'est ce pas? Comment est-ce qu'il
trouve?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Je ne saurais vous dire. Mon mari vous l'expliquera.
(Noticing PEASANTS, turns round, and sees the SERVANTS' COOK.) Pardon
... what is this?

[BARONESS goes up to the group.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. (to SERVANTS' COOK). Who let the peasants in?

SERVANTS' COOK. Jacob brought them in.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Who gave Jacob the order?

SERVANTS' COOK. I can't say. Theodore Ivanitch has seen them.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Leonid!

[LEONID FYODORITCH does not hear, being absorbed in the search,
and says, Sh....

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Theodore Ivanitch! What is the meaning of this? Did you
not see me disinfecting the whole hall, and now the whole kitchen is
infected, all the rye bread, the milk....

THEODORE IVANITCH. I thought there would not be any danger if they
came here. The men have come on business. They have far to go, and are
from our village.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. That's the worst of it! They are from the Koursk
village, where people are dying of diphtheria like flies! But the
chief thing is, I ordered them out of the house!... Did I, or did I
not? (Approaches the others that have gathered round the PEASANTS.) Be
careful! Don't touch them--they are all infected with diphtheria!

[No one heeds her, and she steps aside in a dignified manner and
stands quietly waiting.

PETRISTCHEF (sniffs loudly). I don't know if it is diphtheria, but
there is some kind of infection in the air. Don't you notice it?

BETSY. Stop your nonsense! Vovo, which bag is it in?

VASILY LEONIDITCH. That one, that one. He is getting near, very near!

PETRISTCHEF. Is it spirits divine, or spirits of wine?

BETSY. Now your cigarette comes in handy for once. Smoke closer,
closer to me.

[PETRISTCHEF leans over her and smokes at her.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. He's getting near, I tell you. Eh, what?

GROSSMAN (searches excitedly round the THIRD PEASANT). It is here; I
feel it is!

FAT LADY. Do you feel an effluence?

[GROSSMAN stoops and finds the spoon in the bag.

ALL. Bravo!

[General enthusiasm.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. Ah! So that's where our spoon was. (To PEASANTS.)
Then that's the sort you are!

THIRD PEASANT. What sort? I didn't take your spoon! What are you
making out? I didn't take it, and my soul knows nothing about it. I
didn't take it--there! Let him do what he likes. I knew he came here
for no good. "Where's your bag?" says he. I didn't take it, the Lord
is my witness! (Crosses himself.) I didn't take it!

[The young people group round the PEASANT, laughing.

LEONID FYODORITCH (angrily to his son). Always playing the fool! (To
the THIRD PEASANT.) Never mind, friend! We know you did not take it;
it was only an experiment.

GROSSMAN (removes bandage from his eyes, and pretends to be coming
to). Can I have a little water?

[All fuss round him.

VASILY LEONIDITCH. Let's go straight from here into the coachman's
room. I've got a bitch there--epatante![7]

BETSY. What a horrid word! Couldn't you say dog?

VASILY LEONIDITCH. No. I can't say--Betsy is a man, epatante. I should
have to say young woman; it's a parallel case. Eh, what? Marya
Konstantinovna, isn't it true? Good, eh?

[Laughs loudly.

MARYA KONSTANTINOVNA. Well, let us go.

[Exeunt MARYA KONSTANTINOVNA, BETSY, PETRISTCHEF, and VASILY
LEONIDITCH.

FAT LADY (to GROSSMAN). Well? how are you? Have you rested? (GROSSMAN
does not answer. To SAHATOF.) And you, Mr. Sahatof, did you feel the
effluence?

SAHATOF. I felt nothing. Yes, it was very fine--very fine. Quite a
success!

BARONESS.--Admirable! Ca ne le fait pas souffrir? [8]

LEONID FYODORITCH. Pas le moins du monde.

PROFESSOR (to GROSSMAN). May I trouble you? (Hands him a thermometer.)
At the beginning of the experiment it was 37 decimal 2 degrees. [9]
(To DOCTOR.) That's right, I think? Would you mind feeling his pulse?
Some loss is inevitable.

DOCTOR (to GROSSMAN). Now then, sir, let's have your hand; we'll see,
we'll see.

[Takes out his watch and feels GROSSMAN'S pulse.

FAT LADY (to GROSSMAN). One moment! The condition you were in could
not be called sleep?

GROSSMAN (wearily). It was hypnosis.

SAHATOF. In that case, are we to understand that you hypnotised
yourself?

GROSSMAN. And why not? An hypnotic state may ensue not only in
consequence of association--the sound of the tom-tom, for instance, in
Charcot's method--but by merely entering an hypnogenetic zone.

SAHATOF. Granting that, it would still be desirable to define what
hypnotism is, more exactly?

PROFESSOR. Hypnotism is a phenomenon resulting from the transmutation
of one energy into another.

GROSSMAN. Charcot does not so define it.

SAHATOF. A moment, just a moment! That is your definition, but
Liebault told me himself....

DOCTOR (lets go of GROSSMAN'S pulse). Ah, that's all right; well, now,
the temperature?

FAT LADY (interrupting). No, allow me! I agree with the Professor. And
here's the very best proof. After my illness, when I lay insensible, a
desire to speak came over me. In general I am of a silent disposition,
but then I was overcome by this desire to speak, and I spoke and
spoke, and I was told that I spoke in such a way that every one was
astonished! (To SAHATOF.) But I think I interrupted you?

SAHATOF (with dignity). Not at all. Pray continue.

DOCTOR. Pulse 82, and the temperature has risen three-tenths of a
degree.

PROFESSOR. There you are! That's a proof! That's just as it should be.
(Takes out pocket-book and writes.) 82, yes? And 37 and 5. When the
hypnotic state is induced, it invariably produces a heightened action
of the heart.

DOCTOR. I can, as a medical man, bear witness that your prognosis was
justified by the event.

PROFESSOR (to SAHATOF). You were saying?...

SAHATOF. I wished to say that Liebault told me himself that the
hypnotic is only one particular psychical state, increasing
susceptibility to suggestion.

PROFESSOR. That is so, but still the law of equivalents is the chief
thing.

GROSSMAN. Moreover, Liebault is far from being an authority, while
Charcot has studied the subject from all sides, and has proved that
hypnotism produced by a blow, a trauma....

[All talking together--

SAHATOF. Yes, but I don't reject Charcot's labor. I know him
also, I am only repeating what Liebault told me...

GROSSMAN (excitedly). There are 3000 patients together in the
Salpetriere, and I have gone through the whole course.

PROFESSOR. Excuse me, gentlemen, but that is not the point.

FAT LADY (interrupting). One moment, I will explain it to you in two
words. When my husband was ill, all the doctors gave him up....

LEONID FYODORITCH. However, we had better go upstairs again. Baroness,
this way!

[Exeunt GROSSMAN, SAHATOF, PROFESSOR, DOCTOR, the FAT LADY, and
BARONESS, talking loudly and interrupting each other.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (catching hold of LEONID FYODORITCH'S arm). How often
have I asked you not to interfere in household matters! You think of
nothing but your nonsense, and the whole house is on my shoulders. You
will infect us all!

LEONID FYODORITCH. What? How? I don't understand what you mean.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. How? Why, people ill of diphtheria sleep in the
kitchen, which is in constant communication with the whole house.

LEONID FYODORITCH. Yes, but I....

ANNA PAVLOVNA. What, I?

LEONID FYODORITCH. I know nothing about it.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. It's your duty to know, if you are the head of the
family. Such things must not be done.

LEONID FYODORITCH. But I never thought.... I thought....

ANNA PAVLOVNA. It is sickening to listen to you!

[LEONID FYODORITCH remains silent.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (to THEODORE IVANITCH). Turn them out at once! They are
to leave my kitchen immediately! It is terrible! No one listens to me;
they do it out of spite.... I turn them out from there, and they bring
them in here! And with my illness.... (Gets more and more excited, and
at last begins to cry.) Doctor! Doctor! Peter Petrovitch!... He's gone
too!...

[Exit, sobbing, followed by LEONID FYODORITCH.

[All stand silent for a long time.

THIRD PEASANT. Botheration take them all! If one don't mind, the
police will be after one here. And I have never been to law in all my
born days. Let's go to some lodging-house, lads!

THEODORE IVANITCH. (to TANYA). What are we to do?

TANYA. Never mind, Theodore Ivanitch, let them sleep with the
coachman.

THEODORE IVANITCH. How can we do that? The coachman was complaining as
it is, that his place is full of dogs.

TANYA. Well, then, the porter's lodge.

THEODORE IVANITCH. And supposing it's found out?

TANYA. It won't be found out! Don't trouble about that, Theodore
Ivanitch. How can one turn them out now, at night? They'll not find
anywhere to go to.

THEODORE IVANITCH. Well, do as you please. Only they must go away from
here.

[Exit.

[PEASANTS take their bags.

DISCHARGED COOK. Oh those damned fiends! It's all their fat! Fiends!

SERVANTS' COOK. You be quiet there. Thank goodness they didn't see
you!

TANYA. Well then, daddy, come along to the porter's lodge.

FIRST PEASANT. Well, but how about our business? How, for example,
about the applience of his hand to the signature? May we be in hopes?

TANYA. We'll see in an hour's time.

SECOND PEASANT. You'll do the trick?

TANYA (laughs). Yes, God willing!

CURTAIN

ACT III

Evening of the same day. The small drawing-room in LEONID FYODORITCH'S
house, where the seances are always held. LEONID FYODORITCH and the
PROFESSOR.

LEONID FYODORITCH. Well then, shall we risk a seance with our new
medium?

PROFESSOR. Yes, certainly. He is a powerful medium, there is no doubt
about it. And it is especially desirable that the seance should take
place to-day with the same people. Grossman will certainly respond to
the influence of the mediumistic energy, and then the connection and
identity of the different phenomena will be still more evident. You
will see then that, if the medium is as strong as he was just now,
Grossman will vibrate.

LEONID FYODORITCH. Then I will send for Simon and ask those who wish
to attend to come in.

PROFESSOR. Yes, all right! I will just jot down a few notes.

[Takes out his note-book and writes.

[Enter SAHATOF.

SAHATOF. They have just settled down to whist in Anna Pavlovna's
drawing-room, and as I am not wanted there--and as I am interested in
your seance--I have put in an appearance here. But will there be a
seance?

LEONID FYODORITCH. Yes, certainly!

SAHATOF. In spite of the absence of Mr. Kaptchitch's mediumistic
powers?

LEONID FYODORITCH. Vous avez la main heureuse. [10] Fancy, that very
peasant whom I mentioned to you this morning turns out to be an
undoubted medium.

SAHATOF. Dear me! Yes, that is peculiarly interesting!

LEONID FYODORITCH. Yes, we tried a few preliminary experiments with
him just after dinner.

SAHATOF. So you've had time already to experiment, and to convince
yourself....

LEONID FYODORITCH. Yes, perfectly! And he turns out to be an
exceptionally powerful medium.

SAHATOF (incredulously). Dear me!

LEONID FYODORITCH. It turns out that it has long been noticed in the
servants' hall. When he sits down to table, the spoon springs into his
hand of its own accord! (To the PROFESSOR.) Had you heard about it?

PROFESSOR. No, I had not heard that detail.

SAHATOF (to the PROFESSOR). But still, you admit the possibility of
such phenomena?

PROFESSOR. What phenomena?

SAHATOF. Well, spiritualistic, mediumistic, and supernatural phenomena
in general.

PROFESSOR. The question is, what do we consider supernatural? When,
not a living man but a piece of stone attracted a nail to itself, how
did the phenomena strike the first observers? As something natural? Or
supernatural?

SAHATOF. Well, of course; but phenomena such as the magnet attracting
iron always repeat themselves.

PROFESSOR. It is just the same in this case. The phenomenon repeats
itself and we experiment with it. And not only that, but we apply to
the phenomena we are investigating the laws common to other phenomena.
These phenomena seem supernatural only because their causes are
attributed to the medium himself. But that is where the mistake lies.
The phenomena are not caused by the medium, but by psychic energy
acting through a medium, and that is a very different thing. The whole
matter lies in the law of equivalents.

SAHATOF. Yes, certainly, but....

[Enter TANYA, who hides behind the hangings.

LEONID FYODORITCH. Only remember that we cannot reckon on any results
with certainty, with this medium any more than with Home or
Kaptchitch. We may not succeed, but on the other hand we may even have
perfect materialisation.

SAHATOF. Materialisation even? What do you mean by materialisation?

LEONID FYODORITCH. Why, I mean that some one who is dead--say, your
father or your grandfather--may appear, take you by the hand, or give
you something; or else some one may suddenly rise into the air, as
happened to Alexey Vladimiritch last time.

PROFESSOR. Of course, of course. But the chief thing is the
explanation of the phenomena, and the application to them of general
laws.

[Enter the FAT LADY.

FAT LADY. Anna Pavlovna has allowed me to join you.

LEONID FYODORITCH. Very pleased.

FAT LADY. Oh, how tired Grossman seems! He could scarcely hold his
cup. Did you notice (to the PROFESSOR) how pale he turned at the
moment he approached the hiding-place? I noticed it at once, and was
the first to mention it to Anna Pavlovna.

PROFESSOR. Undoubtedly,--loss of vital energy.

FAT LADY. Yes, it's just as I say, one should not abuse that sort of
thing. You know, a hypnotist once suggested to a friend of mine, Vera
Konshin (oh, you know her, of course)--well, he suggested that she
should leave off smoking,--and her back began to ache!

PROFESSOR (trying to have his say). The temperature and the pulse
clearly indicate....

FAT LADY. One moment! Allow me! Well, I said to her: it's better to
smoke than to suffer so with one's nerves. Of course, smoking is
injurious; I should like to give it up myself, but, do what I will, I
can't! Once I managed not to smoke for a fortnight, but could hold out
no longer.

PROFESSOR (again trying to speak). Clearly proves....

FAT LADY. Yes, no! Allow me, just one word! You say, "loss of
strength." And I was also going to say that, when I travelled with
post-horses ... the roads used to be dreadful in those days--you
don't remember--but I have noticed that all our nervousness comes from
railways! I, for instance, can't sleep while travelling; I cannot fall
asleep to save my life!

PROFESSOR (makes another attempt, which the FAT LADY baffles). The
loss of strength....

SAHATOF (smiling). Yes; oh yes!

[LEONID FYODORITCH rings.

FAT LADY. I am awake one night, and another, and a third, and still I
can't sleep!

[Enter GREGORY.

LEONID FYODORITCH. Please tell Theodore to get everything ready for
the seance, and send Simon here--Simon, the butler's assistant,--do
you hear?

GREGORY. Yes, sir.

[Exit.

PROFESSOR (to SAHATOF). The observation of the temperature and the
pulse have shown loss of vital energy. The same will happen in
consequence of the mediumistic phenomena. The law of the conservation
of energy....

FAT LADY. Oh yes, yes; I was just going to say that I am very glad
that a simple peasant turns out to be a medium. That's very good. I
always did say that the Slavophils....

LEONID FYODORITCH. Let's go into the drawing-room in the meantime.

FAT LADY. Allow me, just one word! The Slavophils are right; but I
always told my husband that one ought never to exaggerate anything!
"The golden mean," you know. What is the use of maintaining that the
common people are all perfect, when I have myself seen....

LEONID FYODORITCH. Won't you come into the drawing-room?

FAT LADY. A boy--that high--who drank! I gave him a scolding at once.
And he was grateful to me afterwards. They are children, and, as I
always say, children need both love and severity!

[Exeunt all, all talking together.

[TANYA enters from behind the hangings.

TANYA. Oh, if it would only succeed!

[Begins fastening some threads.

[Enter BETSY hurriedly.

BETSY. Isn't papa here? (Looks inquiringly at TANYA.) What are you
doing here?

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