ACT IV

       Table of Contents

      A sitting-room in SORIN’S house, which has been converted into a writing-room for TREPLIEFF. To the right and left are doors leading into inner rooms, and in the centre is a glass door opening onto a terrace. Besides the usual furniture of a sitting-room there is a writing-desk in the right-hand corner of the room. There is a Turkish divan near the door on the left, and shelves full of books stand against t he walls. Books are lying scattered about on the windowsills and chairs. It is evening. The room is dimly lighted by a shaded lamp on a table. The wind moans in the tree tops and whistles down the chimney. The watchman in the garden is heard sounding his rattle. MEDVIEDENKO and MASHA come in.

      MASHA. [Calling TREPLIEFF] Mr. Constantine, where are you? [Looking about her] There is no one here. His old uncle is forever asking for Constantine, and can’t live without him for an instant.

      MEDVIEDENKO. He dreads being left alone. [Listening to the wind] This is a wild night. We have had this storm for two days.

      MASHA. [Turning up the lamp] The waves on the lake are enormous.

      MEDVIEDENKO. It is very dark in the garden. Do you know, I think that old theatre ought to be knocked down. It is still standing there, naked and hideous as a skeleton, with the curtain flapping in the wind. I thought I heard a voice weeping in it as I passed there last night.

      MASHA. What an idea! [A pause.]

      MEDVIEDENKO. Come home with me, Masha.

      MASHA. [Shaking her head] I shall spend the night here.

      MEDVIEDENKO. [Imploringly] Do come, Masha. The baby must be hungry.

      MASHA. Nonsense, Matriona will feed it. [A pause.]

      MEDVIEDENKO. It is a pity to leave him three nights without his mother.

      MASHA. You are getting too tiresome. You used sometimes to talk of other things besides home and the baby, home and the baby. That is all I ever hear from you now.

      MEDVIEDENKO. Come home, Masha.

      MASHA. You can go home if you want to.

      MEDVIEDENKO. Your father won’t give me a horse.

      MASHA. Yes, he will; ask him.

      MEDVIEDENKO. I think I shall. Are you coming home tomorrow?

      MASHA. Yes, yes, tomorrow.

      She takes snuff. TREPLIEFF and PAULINA come in. TREPLIEFF is carrying some pillows and a blanket, and PAULINA is carrying sheets and pillow cases. They lay them on the divan, and TREPLIEFF goes and sits down at his desk.

      MASHA. Who is that for, mother?

      PAULINA. Mr. Sorin asked to sleep in Constantine’s room tonight.

      MASHA. Let me make the bed.

      She makes the bed. PAULINA goes up to the desk and looks at the manuscripts lying on it. [A pause.]

      MEDVIEDENKO. Well, I am going. Goodbye, Masha. [He kisses his wife’s hand] Goodbye, mother. [He tries to kiss his motherin-law’s hand.]

      PAULINA. [Crossly] Be off, in God’s name!

      TREPLIEFF shakes hands with him in silence, and MEDVIEDENKO goes out.

      PAULINA. [Looking at the manuscripts] No one ever dreamed, Constantine, that you would one day turn into a real author. The magazines pay you well for your stories. [She strokes his hair.] You have grown handsome, too. Dear, kind Constantine, be a little nicer to my Masha.

      MASHA. [Still making the bed] Leave him alone, mother.

      PAULINA. She is a sweet child. [A pause] A woman, Constantine, asks only for kind looks. I know that from experience.

      TREPLIEFF gets up from his desk and goes out without a word.

      MASHA. There now! You have vexed him. I told you not to bother him.

      PAULINA. I am sorry for you, Masha.

      MASHA. Much I need your pity!

      PAULINA. My heart aches for you. I see how things are, and understand.

      MASHA. You see what doesn’t exist. Hopeless love is only found in novels. It is a trifle; all one has to do is to keep a tight rein on oneself, and keep one’s head clear. Love must be plucked out the moment it springs up in the heart. My husband has been promised a school in another district, and when we have once left this place I shall forget it all. I shall tear my passion out by the roots. [The notes of a melancholy waltz are heard in the distance.]

      PAULINA. Constantine is playing. That means he is sad.

      MASHA silently waltzes a few turns to the music.

      MASHA. The great thing, mother, is not to have him continually in sight. If my Simon could only get his remove I should forget it all in a month or two. It is a trifle.

      DORN and MEDVIEDENKO come in through the door on the left, wheeling SORIN in an armchair.

      MEDVIEDENKO. I have six mouths to feed now, and flour is at seventy kopecks.

      DORN. A hard riddle to solve!

      MEDVIEDENKO. It is easy for you to make light of it. You are rich enough to scatter money to your chickens, if you wanted to.

      DORN. You think I am rich? My friend, after practising for thirty years, during which I could not call my soul my own for one minute of the night or day, I succeeded at last in scraping together one thousand roubles, all of which went, not long ago, in a trip which I took abroad. I haven’t a penny.

      MASHA. [To her husband] So you didn’t go home after all?

      MEDVIEDENKO. [Apologetically] How can I go home when they won’t give me a horse?

      MASHA. [Under her breath, with bitter anger] Would I might never see your face again!

      SORIN in his chair is wheeled to the left-hand side of the room. PAULINA, MASHA, and DORN sit down beside him. MEDVIEDENKO stands sadly aside.

      DORN. What a lot of changes you have made here! You have turned this sitting-room into a library.

      MASHA. Constantine likes to work in this room, because from it he can step out into the garden to meditate whenever he feels like it. [The watchman’s rattle is heard.]

      SORIN.