ACT III

       Table of Contents

      [The room shared by OLGA and IRINA. Beds, screened off, on the right and left. It is past 2 a.m. Behind the stage a fire-alarm is ringing; it has apparently been going for some time. Nobody in the house has gone to bed yet. MASHA is lying on a sofa dressed, as usual, in black. Enter OLGA and ANFISA.]

      ANFISA. Now they are downstairs, sitting under the stairs. I said to them, “Won’t you come up,” I said, “You can’t go on like this,” and they simply cried, “We don’t know where father is.” They said, “He may be burnt up by now.” What an idea! And in the yard there are some people… also undressed.

      OLGA. [Takes a dress out of the cupboard] Take this grey dress…. And this… and the blouse as well…. Take the skirt, too, nurse…. My God! How awful it is! The whole of the Kirsanovsky Road seems to have burned down. Take this… and this…. [Throws clothes into her hands] The poor Vershinins are so frightened…. Their house was nearly burnt. They ought to come here for the night…. They shouldn’t be allowed to go home…. Poor Fedotik is completely burnt out, there’s nothing left….

      ANFISA. Couldn’t you call Ferapont, Olga dear. I can hardly manage….

      OLGA. [Rings] They’ll never answer…. [At the door] Come here, whoever there is! [Through the open door can be seen a window, red with flame: afire-engine is heard passing the house] How awful this is. And how I’m sick of it! [FERAPONT enters] Take these things down…. The Kolotilin girls are down below… and let them have them. This, too.

      FERAPONT. Yes’m. In the year twelve Moscow was burning too. Oh, my God! The Frenchmen were surprised.

      OLGA. Go on, go on….

      FERAPONT. Yes’m. [Exit.]

      OLGA. Nurse, dear, let them have everything. We don’t want anything. Give it all to them, nurse…. I’m tired, I can hardly keep on my legs…. The Vershinins mustn’t be allowed to go home…. The girls can sleep in the drawing-room, and Alexander Ignateyevitch can go downstairs to the Baron’s flat… Fedotik can go there, too, or else into our dining-room…. The doctor is drunk, beastly drunk, as if on purpose, so nobody can go to him. Vershinin’s wife, too, may go into the drawing-room.

      ANFISA. [Tired] Olga, dear girl, don’t dismiss me! Don’t dismiss me!

      OLGA. You’re talking nonsense, nurse. Nobody is dismissing you.

      ANFISA. [Puts OLGA’S head against her bosom] My dear, precious girl, I’m working, I’m toiling away… I’m growing weak, and they’ll all say go away! And where shall I go? Where? I’m eighty. Eighty-one years old….

      OLGA. You sit down, nurse dear…. You’re tired, poor dear…. [Makes her sit down] Rest, dear. You’re so pale!

      [NATASHA comes in.]

      NATASHA. They are saying that a committee to assist the sufferers from the fire must be formed at once. What do you think of that? It’s a beautiful idea. Of course the poor ought to be helped, it’s the duty of the rich. Bobby and little Sophy are sleeping, sleeping as if nothing at all was the matter. There’s such a lot of people here, the place is full of them, wherever you go. There’s influenza in the town now. I’m afraid the children may catch it.

      OLGA. [Not attending] In this room we can’t see the fire, it’s quiet here.

      NATASHA. Yes… I suppose I’m all untidy. [Before the looking-glass] They say I’m growing stout… it isn’t true! Certainly it isn’t! Masha’s asleep; the poor thing is tired out…. [Coldly, to ANFISA] Don’t dare to be seated in my presence! Get up! Out of this! [Exit ANFISA; a pause] I don’t understand what makes you keep on that old woman!

      OLGA. [Confusedly] Excuse me, I don’t understand either…

      NATASHA. She’s no good here. She comes from the country, she ought to live there…. Spoiling her, I call it! I like order in the house! We don’t want any unnecessary people here. [Strokes her cheek] You’re tired, poor thing! Our head mistress is tired! And when my little Sophie grows up and goes to school I shall be so afraid of you.

      OLGA. I shan’t be head mistress.

      NATASHA. They’ll appoint you, Olga. It’s settled.

      OLGA. I’ll refuse the post. I can’t… I’m not strong enough…. [Drinks water] You were so rude to nurse just now… I’m sorry. I can’t stand it… everything seems dark in front of me….

      NATASHA. [Excited] Forgive me, Olga, forgive me… I didn’t want to annoy you.

      [MASHA gets up, takes a pillow and goes out angrily.]

      OLGA. Remember, dear… we have been brought up, in an unusual way, perhaps, but I can’t bear this. Such behaviour has a bad effect on me, I get ill… I simply lose heart!

      NATASHA. Forgive me, forgive me…. [Kisses her.]

      OLGA. Even the least bit of rudeness, the slightest impoliteness, upsets me.

      NATASHA. I often say too much, it’s true, but you must agree, dear, that she could just as well live in the country.

      OLGA. She has been with us for thirty years.

      NATASHA. But she can’t do any work now. Either I don’t understand, or you don’t want to understand me. She’s no good for work, she can only sleep or sit about.

      OLGA. And let her sit about.

      NATASHA. [Surprised] What do you mean? She’s only a servant. [Crying] I don’t understand you, Olga. I’ve got a nurse, a wet-nurse, we’ve a cook, a housemaid… what do we want that old woman for as well? What good is she? [Fire-alarm behind the stage.]

      OLGA. I’ve grown ten years older tonight.

      NATASHA. We must come to an agreement, Olga. Your place is the school, mine — the home. You devote yourself to teaching, I, to the household. And if I talk about servants, then I do know what I am talking about; I do know what I am talking about… And tomorrow there’s to be no more of that old thief, that old hag… [Stamping] that witch! And don’t you dare to annoy me! Don’t you dare! [Stopping short] Really, if you don’t move downstairs, we shall always be quarrelling. This is awful.

      [Enter KULIGIN.]

      KULIGIN. Where’s Masha? It’s time we went home. The fire seems to be going down. [Stretches himself] Only one block has burnt down, but there was such a wind that it seemed at first the whole town was going to burn. [Sits] I’m tired out. My dear Olga… I often think that if it hadn’t been for Masha, I should have married you. You are awfully nice…. I am absolutely tired out. [Listens.]

      OLGA. What is it?

      KULIGIN. The doctor, of course, has been drinking hard; he’s terribly drunk. He might have done it on purpose! [Gets up] He seems to be coming here…. Do you hear him? Yes, here…. [Laughs] What a man… really… I’ll hide myself. [Goes to the cupboard and stands in the corner] What a rogue.

      OLGA. He hadn’t touched a drop for two years, and now he suddenly goes and gets drunk….

      [Retires with NATASHA to the back of the room. CHEBUTIKIN enters; apparently sober, he stops, looks round, then goes to the washstand and begins to wash his hands.]

      CHEBUTIKIN. [Angrily] Devil take them all… take them all…. They think I’m a doctor and can cure everything, and I know absolutely nothing, I’ve forgotten all I