Anonymous - "Queen Victoria"

Robert Barr - "In a Steamer Chair And Other Stories"

Archibald Forbes - "Camps, Quarters, and Casual Places"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - "Hyperion"

A  /  B  /  C  /  D  /  E  /   F  /  G  /  H  /  I  /  J  /   K  /  L  /  M  /  N  /  O   P  /  R  /  S  /  T  /  U  /  V  /  W  /  X  /  Y  /  Z

Redemption and Two Other Plays by Leo Tolstoy et al

L >> Leo Tolstoy et al >> Redemption and Two Other Plays




ANNA PAVLOVNA. What do you mean? Do you think you are in a
public-house?

GREGORY. This coarse peasant makes life impossible for me.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (provoked). You've lost your senses. Don't you see? (To
COUNTESS.) Merci, mille fois merci. A mardi! [21]

[Exeunt COUNTESS and FIRST FOOTMAN.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (to GREGORY). What is the meaning of this?

GREGORY. Though I do occupy the position of a footman, still I won't
allow every peasant to hit me; I have my pride too.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Why, what has happened?

GREGORY. Why, this Simon of yours has got so brave, sitting with the
gentlemen, that he wants to fight!

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Why? What for?

GREGORY. Heaven only knows!

ANNA PAVLOVNA (to SIMON). What is the meaning of it?

SIMON. Why does he bother her?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. What has happened?

SIMON (smiles). Well, you see, he is always catching hold of Tanya,
the lady's-maid, and she won't have it. Well, so I just moved him
aside a bit, just so, with my hand.

GREGORY. A nice little bit! He's almost caved my ribs in, and has torn
my dress-coat, and he says, "The same power as came over me yesterday
comes on me again," and he begins to squeeze me.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (to SIMON). How dare you fight in my house?

THEODORE IVANITCH. May I explain it to you, ma'am? I must tell you
Simon is not indifferent to Tanya, and is engaged to her. And Gregory
--one must admit the truth--does not behave properly, nor honestly, to
her. Well, so I suppose Simon got angry with him.

GREGORY. Not at all! It is all his spite, because I have discovered
their trickery.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. What trickery?

GREGORY. Why, at the seance. All those things, last night,--it was not
Simon but Tanya who did them! I saw her getting out from under the
sofa with my own eyes.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. What is that? From under the sofa?

GREGORY. I give you my word of honor. And it was she who threw the
paper on the table. If it had not been for her the paper would not
have been signed, nor the land sold to the peasants.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. And you saw it yourself?

GREGORY. With my own eyes. Shall I call her? She'll not deny it.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Yes, call her.

[Exit GREGORY.

[Noise behind the scenes. The voice of the DOORKEEPER, "No, no,
you cannot." DOORKEEPER is seen at the front door, the three
PEASANTS rush in past him, the SECOND PEASANT first; the THIRD
one stumbles, falls on his nose, and catches hold of it.

DOORKEEPER. You must not go in!

SECOND PEASANT. Where's the harm? We are not doing anything wrong. We
only wish to pay the money!

FIRST PEASANT. That's just it; as by laying on the signature the
affair is come to a conclusion, we only wish to make payment with
thanks.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Wait a bit with your thanks. It was all done by fraud!
It is not settled yet. Not sold yet.... Leonid.... Call Leonid
Fyodoritch.

[Exit DOORKEEPER.

[LEONID FYODORITCH enters, but, seeing his wife and the PEASANTS,
wishes to retreat.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. No, no, come here, please! I told you the land must not
be sold on credit, and everybody told you so, but you let yourself be
deceived like the veriest blockhead.

LEONID FYODORITCH. How? I don't understand who is deceiving?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. You ought to be ashamed of yourself! You have grey
hair, and you let yourself be deceived and laughed at like a silly
boy. You grudge your son some three hundred roubles which his social
position demands, and let yourself be tricked of thousands--like a
fool!

LEONID FYODORITCH. Now come, Annette, try to be calm.

FIRST PEASANT. We are only come about the acceptation of the sum, for
example....

THIRD PEASANT (taking out the money). Let us finish the matter, for
Christ's sake!

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Wait, wait!

[Enter TANYA and GREGORY.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (angrily). You were in the small drawing-room during the
seance last night?

[TANYA looks around at THEODORE IVANITCH, LEONID FYODORITCH, and
SIMON, and sighs.

GREGORY. It's no use beating about the bush; I saw you myself....

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Tell me, were you there? I know all about it, so you'd
better confess! I'll not do anything to you. I only want to expose him
(pointing to LEONID FYODORITCH) your master.... Did you throw the
paper on the table?

TANYA. I don't know how to answer. Only one thing,--let me go home.

[Enter BETSY unobserved.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (to LEONID FYODORITCH). There, you see! You are being
made a fool of.

TANYA. Let me go home, Anna Pavlovna!

ANNA PAVLOVNA. No, my dear! You may have caused us a loss of thousands
of roubles. Land has been sold that ought not to be sold!

TANYA. Let me go, Anna Pavlovna!

ANNA PAVLOVNA. No; you'll have to answer for it! Such tricks won't do.
We'll have you up before the Justice of the Peace!

BETSY (comes forward). Let her go, mamma. Or, if you wish to have her
tried, you must have me tried too! She and I did it together.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Well, of course, if you have a hand in anything, what
can one expect but the very worst results!

[Enter the PROFESSOR.

PROFESSOR. How do you do, Anna Pavlovna? How do you do, Miss Betsy?
Leonid Fyodoritch, I have brought you a report of the Thirteenth
Congress of Spiritualists at Chicago. An amazing speech by Schmidt!

LEONID FYODORITCH. Oh, that is interesting!

ANNA PAVLOVNA. I will tell you something much more interesting! It
turns out that both you and my husband were fooled by this girl! Betsy
takes it on herself, but that is only to annoy me. It was an
illiterate peasant girl who fooled you, and you believed it all.
There were no mediumistic phenomena last night; it was she (pointing
to TANYA) who did it!

PROFESSOR (taking off his overcoat). What do you mean?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. I mean that it was she who, in the dark, played on the
guitar and beat my husband on the head and performed all your idiotic
tricks--and she has just confessed!

PROFESSOR (smiling). What does that prove?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. It proves that your mediumism is--tomfoolery; that's
what it proves!

PROFESSOR. Because this young girl wished to deceive, we are to
conclude that mediumism is "tomfoolery," as you are pleased to express
it? (Smiles.) A curious conclusion! Very possibly this young girl may
have wished to deceive: that often occurs. She may even have done
something; but then, what she did--she did. But the manifestations of
mediumistic energy still remain manifestations of mediumistic energy!
It is even very probable that what this young girl did evoked (and so
to say solicited) the manifestation of mediumistic energy,--giving it
a definite form.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Another lecture!

PROFESSOR (sternly). You say, Anna Pavlovna, that this girl, and
perhaps this dear young lady also, did something; but the light we all
saw, and, in the first case the fall, and in the second the rise of
temperature, and Grossman's excitement and vibration--were those
things also done by this girl? And these are facts, Anna Pavlovna,
facts! No! Anna Pavlovna, there are things which must be investigated
and fully understood before they can be talked about, things too
serious, too serious....

LEONID FYODORITCH. And the child that Marya Vasilevna distinctly saw?
Why, I saw it too.... That could not have been done by this girl.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. You think yourself wise, but you are--a fool.

LEONID FYODORITCH. Well, I'm going.... Alexey Vladimiritch, will you
come?

[Exit into his study.

PROFESSOR (shrugging his shoulders, follows). Oh, how far, how far, we
still lag behind Western Europe!

[Enter JACOB.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (following LEONID FYODORITCH with her eyes). He has been
tricked like a fool, and he sees nothing! (To JACOB.) What do you
want?

JACOB. How many persons am I to lay the table for?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. For how many?... Theodore Ivanitch! Let him give up the
silver plate to you. Be off, at once! It is all his fault! This man
will bring me to my grave. Last night he nearly starved the dog that
had done him no harm! And, as if that were not enough, he lets the
infected peasants into the kitchen, and now they are here again! It is
all his fault! Be off at once! Discharge him, discharge him! (To
SIMON.) And you, horrid peasant, if you dare to have rows in my house
again, I'll teach you!

SECOND PEASANT. All right, if he is a horrid peasant there's no good
keeping him; you'd better discharge him too, and there's an end of it.

ANNA PAVLOVNA (while listening to him looks at THIRD PEASANT). Only
look! Why, he has a rash on his nose--a rash! He is ill; he is a
hotbed of infection!! Did I not give orders, yesterday, that they were
not to be allowed into the house, and here they are again? Drive them
out!

THEODORE IVANITCH. Then are we not to accept their money?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Their money? Oh yes, take their money; but they must be
turned out at once, especially this one! He is quite rotten!

THIRD PEASANT. That's not just, lady. God's my witness, it's not just!
You'd better ask my old woman, let's say, whether I am rotten! I'm
clear as crystal, let's say.

ANNA PAVLOVNA. He talks!... Off, off with him! It's all to spite
me!... Oh, I can't bear it, I can't!... Send for the doctor!

[Runs away, sobbing. Exit also JACOB and GREGORY.

TANYA (to BETSY). Miss Elizabeth, darling, what am I to do now?

BETSY. Never mind, you go with them and I'll arrange it all.

[Exit.

FIRST PEASANT. Well, your reverence, how about the reception of the
sum now?

SECOND PEASANT. Let us settle up, and go.

THIRD PEASANT (fumbling with the packet of banknotes). Had I known,
I'd not have come for the world. It's worse than a fever!

THEODORE IVANITCH (to DOORKEEPER). Show them into my room. There's a
counting-board there. I'll receive their money. Now go.

DOORKEEPER. Come along.

THEODORE IVANITCH. And it's Tanya you have to thank for it. But for
her you'd not have had the land.

FIRST PEASANT. That's just it. As she made the proposal, so she put it
into effect.

THIRD PEASANT. She's made men of us. Else what were we? We had so
little land, no room to let a hen out, let's say, not to mention the
cattle. Good-bye, dear! When you get to the village, come to us and
eat honey.

SECOND PEASANT. Let me get home and I'll start brewing the beer for
the wedding! You will come?

TANYA. Yes, I'll come, I'll come! (Shrieks.) Simon, this is fine,
isn't it?

[Exeunt PEASANTS.

THEODORE IVANITCH. Well, Tanya, when you have your house I'll come to
visit you. Will you welcome me?

TANYA. Dear Theodore Ivanitch, just the same as we would our own
father!

[Embraces and kisses him.

CURTAIN




FOOTNOTES FOR FRUITS OF CULTURE

1. Economical balls at which the ladies are bound to appear in
dresses made of cotton materials.

2. The present value of the rouble is rather over fifty cents.

3. The Gypsy choirs are very popular in Moscow.

4. BETSY. Cease! You are becoming quite unbearable!.

5. PETRISTCHEF. I have C said (ceased), B said, and D said.

6. BARONESS. But tell me, please, is he paid for this?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. I really do not know.

BARONESS. But he is a gentleman?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. Oh, yes!

BARONESS. It is almost miraculous. Isn't it? How does he manage
to find things?

ANNA PAVLOVNA. I really can't tell you. My husband will explain
it to you.... Excuse me....

7. Stunning!

8. BARONESS. Capital! Does it not cause him any pain?

LEONID FYODORITCH. Not the slightest.

9. He uses a Centigrade thermometer.

10. LEONID FYODORITCH. You bring good luck.

11. FAT LADY. But he looks quite nice.

12. To take a header.

13. Do not disappoint us.

14. BETSY. I have more than enough of your Koko.

15. YOUNG PRINCESS. He is usually so very punctual....

16. BETSY. Cease; mind the servants!

17. And that won't suit me at all, at all! Not at all, at all!

18. Employers have charge of the servants' passports, and in this way
have a hold on them in case of misconduct.

19. It is customary for peasants to marry just after Easter, but when
spring has come and the field work begun, no marriages take place
among them till autumn. (See also THE POWER OF DARKNESS
footnote 2.)

20. COUNTESS. Thank you (for your hospitality), a thousand thanks

21. ANNA PAVLOVNA. Thank you (for coming to see us), a thousand
thanks. Till next Tuesday!

Stephen King fan publishes Shining's Jack Torrance's novel
Three Women was first heard as a radio drama and then published as a poem. Robert Shaw explains his desire to stage the piece as it was intended

Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet regains citizenship
Nonagenarian Diana Athill, Irish writer Sebastian Barry and first book winner Sadie Jones talk about their books and their writing after the awards were announced last night

Book borrowing boosts author's self-esteem

Turkey is restoring the citizenship of its most famous 20th century poet Nazim Hikmet over 50 years after it branded him a traitor.

Hikmet, a communist who died in exile in Moscow in 1963, was imprisoned in Turkey for more than a decade. He was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 1951 because of his communist views, but despite a ban on his poetry which remained in place until 1965, has remained one of Turkey's best-loved poets. His work, much of which was written in prison, including his masterpiece Human Landscapes, has been translated into more than 50 languages.

"This is very good news," said Richard McKane, Hikmet's English translator. "The restoration of his Turkish citizenship is long overdue: the people of Turkey and his readers are owed that."

Immortalised by Pablo Neruda, with whom he shared the Soviet Union's International Peace Prize in 1950, with the lines "Thanks for what you were and for the fire / which your song left forever burning", Hikmet was also supported by Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, when given the editorship for a day of Turkish newspaper Radikal two years ago, used the example of Hikmet in his cover story to criticise the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey. In 2000, 500,000 Turks petitioned the government to restore Hikmet's citizenship rights and repatriate his remains.

Deputy prime minister Cemil Cicek told the Associated Press that it was time for the government to change its mind about Hikmet. "The crimes which forced the government to strip him of his citizenship at that time are no longer considered a crime," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Hikmet, whose remains are currently in Russia, had said that he wished to be buried in Turkey in his 1953 poem Testament, translated by Ruth Christie. "Friends if it's not my lot to see the day / of independence... / if I die before that day / - and it seems I will - / bury me in a village graveyard in Anatolia / and if it's fitting / and a plane tree grows at my head, / then there's no need for a gravestone or anything else."

Cicek said that Hikmet's family would now decide whether to ship his remains back to his homeland.

Hikmet introduced free verse to Turkey in the 1930s, with his themes ranging from war to love. Despite his imprisonment he retained a deep passion for Turkey. "I love my country", he wrote in one of his poems. "I swung in its lofty trees, I lay in its prisons. Nothing relieves my depression like the songs and tobacco of my country."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds