The Collected Works of Anton Chekhov: Plays, Novellas, Short Stories, Diary & Letters. Anton Chekhov
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have enough tact not to do that. [Exit.]
LOPAKHIN, All right, all right… yes, he’s right. [Exit.]
ANYA. Has Fiers been sent to the hospital?
YASHA. I gave the order this morning. I suppose they’ve sent him.
ANYA. [To EPIKHODOV, who crosses the room] Simeon Panteleyevitch, please make inquiries if Fiers has been sent to the hospital.
YASHA. [Offended] I told Egor this morning. What’s the use of asking ten times!
EPIKHODOV. The aged Fiers, in my conclusive opinion, isn’t worth mending; his forefathers had better have him. I only envy him. [Puts a trunk on a hat-box and squashes it] Well, of course. I thought so! [Exit.]
YASHA. [Grinning] Two-and-twenty troubles.
VARYA. [Behind the door] Has Fiers been taken away to the hospital?
ANYA. Yes.
VARYA. Why didn’t they take the letter to the doctor?
ANYA. It’ll have to be sent after him. [Exit.]
VARYA. [In the next room] Where’s Yasha? Tell him his mother’s come and wants to say goodbye to him.
YASHA. [Waving his hand] She’ll make me lose all patience!
[DUNYASHA has meanwhile been bustling round the luggage; now that YASHA is left alone, she goes up to him.]
DUNYASHA. If you only looked at me once, Yasha. You’re going away, leaving me behind.
[Weeps and hugs him round the neck.]
YASHA. What’s the use of crying? [Drinks champagne] In six days I’ll be again in Paris. Tomorrow we get into the express and off we go. I can hardly believe it. Vive la France! It doesn’t suit me here, I can’t live here… it’s no good. Well, I’ve seen the uncivilized world; I have had enough of it. [Drinks champagne] What do you want to cry for? You behave yourself properly, and then you won’t cry.
DUNYASHA. [Looks in a small mirror and powders her face] Send me a letter from Paris. You know I loved you, Yasha, so much! I’m a sensitive creature, Yasha.
YASHA. Somebody’s coming.
[He bustles around the luggage, singing softly. Enter LUBOV ANDREYEVNA, GAEV, ANYA, and CHARLOTTA IVANOVNA.]
GAEV. We’d better be off. There’s no time left. [Looks at YASHA] Somebody smells of herring!
LUBOV. We needn’t get into our carriages for ten minutes…. [Looks round the room] Goodbye, dear house, old grandfather. The winter will go, the spring will come, and then you’ll exist no more, you’ll be pulled down. How much these walls have seen! [Passionately kisses her daughter] My treasure, you’re radiant, your eyes flash like two jewels! Are you happy? Very?
ANYA. Very! A new life is beginning, mother!
GAEV. [Gaily] Yes, really, everything’s all right now. Before the cherry orchard was sold we all were excited and we suffered, and then, when the question was solved once and for all, we all calmed down, and even became cheerful. I’m a bank official now, and a financier… red in the middle; and you, Luba, for some reason or other, look better, there’s no doubt about it.
LUBOV Yes. My nerves are better, it’s true. [She puts on her coat and hat] I sleep well. Take my luggage out, Yasha. It’s time. [To ANYA] My little girl, we’ll soon see each other again…. I’m off to Paris. I’ll live there on the money your grandmother from Yaroslav sent along to buy the estate — bless her! — though it won’t last long.
ANYA. You’ll come back soon, soon, mother, won’t you? I’ll get ready, and pass the exam at the Higher School, and then I’ll work and help you. We’ll read all sorts of books to one another, won’t we? [Kisses her mother’s hands] We’ll read in the autumn evenings; we’ll read many books, and a beautiful new world will open up before us…. [Thoughtfully] You’ll come, mother….
LUBOV. I’ll come, my darling. [Embraces her.]
[Enter LOPAKHIN. CHARLOTTA is singing to herself.]
GAEV. Charlotta is happy; she sings!
CHARLOTTA. [Takes a bundle, looking like a wrapped-up baby] My little baby, bye-bye. [The baby seems to answer, “Oua! Oua!”] Hush, my nice little boy. [“Oua! Oua!”] I’m so sorry for you! [Throws the bundle back] So please find me a new place. I can’t go on like this.
LOPAKHIN. We’ll find one, Charlotta Ivanovna, don’t you be afraid.
GAEV. Everybody’s leaving us. Varya’s going away… we’ve suddenly become unnecessary.
CHARLOTTA. I’ve nowhere to live in town. I must go away. [Hums] Never mind.
[Enter PISCHIN.]
LOPAKHIN. Nature’s marvel!
PISCHIN. [Puffing] Oh, let me get my breath back…. I’m fagged out… My most honoured, give me some water….
GAEV. Come for money, what? I’m your humble servant, and I’m going out of the way of temptation. [Exit.]
PISCHIN. I haven’t been here for ever so long… dear madam. [To LOPAKHIN] You here? Glad to see you… man of immense brain… take this… take it…. [Gives LOPAKHIN money] Four hundred roubles…. That leaves 840….
LOPAKHIN. [Shrugs his shoulders in surprise] As if I were dreaming. Where did you get this from?
PISCHIN. Stop… it’s hot…. A most unexpected thing happened. Some Englishmen came along and found some white clay on my land…. [To LUBOV ANDREYEVNA] And here’s four hundred for you… beautiful lady…. [Gives her money] Give you the rest later…. [Drinks water] Just now a young man in the train was saying that some great philosopher advises us all to jump off roofs. “Jump!” he says, and that’s all. [Astonished] To think of that, now! More water!
LOPAKHIN. Who were these Englishmen?
PISCHIN. I’ve leased off the land with the clay to them for twenty-four years…. Now, excuse me, I’ve no time…. I must run off…. I must go to Znoikov and to Kardamonov… I owe them all money…. [Drinks] Goodbye. I’ll come in on Thursday.
LUBOV. We’re just off to town, and tomorrow I go abroad.
PISCHIN. [Agitated] What? Why to town? I see furniture… trunks…. Well, never mind. [Crying] Never mind. These Englishmen are men of immense intellect…. Never mind…. Be happy…. God will help you…. Never mind…. Everything in this world comes to an end…. [Kisses LUBOV ANDREYEVNA’S hand] And if you should happen to hear that my end has come, just remember this old… horse and say: “There was one such and such a Simeonov-Pischin, God bless his soul….” Wonderful weather… yes…. [Exit deeply moved, but returns at once and says in the door] Dashenka sent her love! [Exit.]
LUBOV. Now we can go. I’ve two anxieties, though. The first is poor Fiers [Looks at her watch] We’ve still five minutes….
ANYA. Mother, Fiers has already been sent to the hospital. Yasha sent him off this morning.
LUBOV. The second is Varya. She’s used to getting up early and to work, and now she’s no work to do she’s like a fish out of water. She’s grown thin and pale, and she cries, poor thing…. [Pause] You know very well, Ermolai Alexeyevitch, that I used to hope to marry her to you, and I suppose you are going to marry somebody? [Whispers to ANYA, who nods to CHARLOTTA, and they both go out] She loves you, she’s your sort, and I don’t understand, I really don’t, why you seem to be keeping away from each other. I don’t understand!
LOPAKHIN. To tell the truth, I don’t understand it myself. It’s all so strange…. If there’s still time, I’ll be ready at once… Let’s get it over, once and for all; I don’t feel as if I could ever propose to her without you.
LUBOV. Excellent. It’ll only take a minute. I’ll call her.
LOPAKHIN.