The Collected Works of Anton Chekhov. Anton Chekhov
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the scene to his coachman) Alexey, drive up!
SCENE X
ORLOVSKY, SONYA, AND DYADIN
ORLOVSKY (to SONYA): Well, why are you sitting down? Come, my ducky! … [Goes out with SONYA.
DYADIN (aside): No one said goodbye to me! … That is fascinating! (Puts out the candles.)
ORLOVSKY (to SONYA): What’s the matter?
SONYA: I can’t go away, dear godpa. … I can’t! I’m in despair, godpa… I’m in despair! It’s so unbearably difficult!
ORLOVSKY (alarmed): What’s wrong? My ducky, my beauty! …
SONYA: Let’s remain here… Let’s stay here a little while.
ORLOVSKY: One moment it’s “take me away,” the other moment “let’s stay “!…! can’t make you out… .
SONYA: Here to-day I have lost my happiness… It’s unbearable! … Oh, godpa dear, why am I still alive?
(Embracing him) Oh, if you knew, if you knew!
ORLOVSKY: I’ll give you some water… Let’s sit down… Come!
DYADIN: What’s wrong? Sophie Alexandrovna dear … you mustn’t, I am all of a tremble! … (Tearfully) I can’t bear to see it! … My dear child! …
SONYA: Ilya Ilyich, drive me over to the fire! I implore you!
ORLOVSKY: What do you want with the fire? What will you do there?
SONYA: I implore you, drive me over to the fire, or I’ll walk there. I’m in despair… Godpa, it’s hard, unbearably hard! Drive me over to the fire.
Enter KHROUSCHOV hurriedly.
SCENE XI
The same and KHROUSCHOV
KHROUSCHOV (shouting): Ilya Ilyich!
DYADIN: Here! What is it you want?
KHROUSCHOV: I can’t walk, let me have your horse.
SONYA (recognizing KHROUSCHOV, and crying out joyfully): Mikhail Lvovich! (To ORLOVSKY) GO away, godpa dear, I have something to say to him. (To KHROUSCHOV) Mikhail Lvovich, you said that you would love another. … (To ORLOVSKY) GO away, godpa! … (To KHROUSCHOV) I am another now … I only want the truth… Nothing, nothing but the truth! I love you, I love you, I love …
ORLOVSKY: Now I see! (Laughing.)
DYADIN: That is fascinating!
SONYA (to ORLOVSKY): Go away, godpa dear! (To KHROUSCHOV) Yes, yes, only the truth and nothing else! … Speak then, speak! … I’ve said everything… .
KHROUSCHOV (embracing her): My darling!
SONYA: Don’t go, godpa dear! … When you told me of your love, I panted for joy, but I was fettered by prejudices. Iwas prevented from giving you a true answer just as father is prevented from smiling on Elena. Now I am free! …
ORLOVSKY (laughing aloud): Singing in tune at last! Scrambled out on to the bank! I have the honour to congratulate you. (Bowing low). Ah, you naughty, naughty children!
DYADIN (embracing KHROUSCHOV): Misha, my dear boy, how glad you make me! Misha, dear boy!
ORLOVSKY (embracing and kissing SONYA): My darling, my little canary! … My dear little goddaughter! (SONYA laughs aloud.) Now you’ve started!
KHROUSCHOV: I can hardly grasp it all! … Let me have a word with her. Don’t get in our way… Pray, go away! . .
ENTER FYODOR AND JULIE.
SCENE XII
THE SAME, FYODOR, AND JULIE
JULIE: But it’s all a fib, Fyodor dear! You’re fibbing!
ORLOVSKY: Sh-h! Quiet, boys! My rascal is coming here. Let us hide ourselves, quick! Do!
(ORLOVSKY, DYADIN, KHROUSCHOV, and SONYA hide themselves.)
FYODOR: I left my whip and gloves here.
JULIE: But it’s all” a fib!
FYODOR: Well, let it be a fib! … What of it? I don’t want to go to your house yet… Let’s walk for a while, and then we will go… .
JULIE: You are a nuisance! (Clapping her hands.) Now, isn’t that Waffle a silly! The table is not yet cleared! Someone might have stolen the samovar… Oh, Waffle, Waffle — an old man, and yet he has less sense than a baby!
DYADIN (aside): Thanks!
JULIE: As we came up I heard someone laughing… .
FYODOR: It’s the peasant women bathing! … (Picking up a glove) Here’s someone’s glove… Sonya’s… Today Sonya behaved as though she were bitten by a fly. She’s in love with the Wood Demon. She’s in love with him up to her eyes, and he, the blockhead, does not see it!
JULIE (angrily): Where are we going then?
FYODOR: To the dyke… Let’s go for a walk… . There’s no finer spot in the whole district… Beautiful!
ORLOVSKY (aside): My sonny, my beauty, his fine beard!…
JULIE: I just heard a voice.
FYODOR (reciting): “Here are wonders, the Wood Demon loiters, the mermaid sits on the branches.” … Yes, old chap! (Clapping her on the shoulder.)
JULIE: I’m not a chap.
FYODOR: Let us reason it out peacefully. Listen, Julie dear! I’ve gone through fire and water. … I am already thirty-five, and have no status except that of lieutenant in the Serbian army and non-com. in the Russian reserve. I’m dangling between the sky and the earth. … I must change my mode of life, and you see … do you understand, I’ve now a fancy in my head that if I were to marry, a huge change will happen in my life! … Do marry me, do! I ask for no one better… .
JULIE (confused): H’m! … You see … you first reform, Fyodor dear.
FYODOR: Well, don’t bargain like a gipsy! Speak straight out!
JULIE: I’m shy! … (Looking round.) Stop, someone might come in or overhear us! … I believe Waffle is looking through the window.
FYODOR: There’s no one.
JULIE (falling on his neck): Fedenka!
(SONYA laughs aloud; ORLOVSKY, DYADIN, and KHROUSCHOV laugh, clap their hands and shout: “Bravo! Bravo! “)
FYODOR: Ugh! How you frightened us! Where did you come from?
SONYA: Julie dear, I congratulate you! And you may congratulate me! … (Laughter, kisses, noise.)
DYADIN: That is fascinating! That is fascinating!
CURTAIN
Novellas and Short Stories: