LEBEDEV (to Sasha). Be quiet, be quiet, swear off the stuff . . . Drink tea, pal, till your dying day . . . It won’t be long now . . .
V
The same and IVANOV.
IVANOV, wearing a tailcoat, enters in evident agitation.
Together
LEBEDEV
(
alarmed
). What’s up! Where did you come from?
SASHA
. Why are you here?
IVANOV. Sorry, friends, let me talk to Sasha alone . . .
LEBEDEV. It isn’t proper to drop in on the bride before the ceremony. You should have been at the church a long time ago . . .
IVANOV. Pasha, please . . . .
LEBEDEV, shrugging his shoulders, exits with ZINAIDA SAVISHNA.
SASHA. What’s wrong with you?
IVANOV (upset). Shurochka, my angel.
SASHA. You’re over-excited . . . What’s happened?
IVANOV. My happiness, my darling, listen to me . . . Forget that you love me, focus all your attention on me and listen . . .
SASHA. Nikolay, don’t frighten me . . . what is it?
IVANOV. Just now as I was getting dressed for the ceremony, I looked at myself in the mirror and the hair at my temples . . . was gray . . . Shurochka, we mustn’t! Before it’s too late, we mustn’t, we mustn’t! . . . (Clutches at his head.) We musn’t! . . . Run out on me . . . (Ardently.) You’re young, pure, you’ve got your life ahead of you, while I . . . gray at the temples, broken down, this sense of guilt, my past . . . We’re no match . . . I’m no match for you! . . .
SASHA (sternly). Nikolay . . . how can you call this affection? . . . They’ve been waiting for you at the church a long time, and you rush over here to whine. None of this is new, I’ve already heard it and I’m sick and tired of it . . . Go to the church, don’t keep people waiting.
IVANOV (takes her hands). I love you too much, you are too dear to me for me to dare stand in your way. I won’t make you happy . . . I swear to God, I won’t! . . . While it’s not too late, call it off. It’ll be the honorable and intelligent thing to do. I’ll go home right now, and you can explain to your folks that there won’t be any wedding . . . Tell them anything . . . (Walks around in agitation.) My God, my God, I sense, Shurochka, that you don’t understand me . . . I’m old, my day is done, I’m covered in rust . . . the vigor of my life is spent forever, there’s no future, my memories are gloomy ones . . . A feeling of guilt grows in me with every passing hour, chokes me . . . Doubts, forebodings . . . Something is going to happen . . . Shurochka, something is going to happen . . . The dark clouds are gathering—I feel it.
SASHA (restraining him by the hand). Kolya, you’re talking like a child . . . Calm down . . . You’re heartsick and weary . . . Your heart has taken control over your healthy and powerful mind, but don’t let it do what it wants, and exert your intelligence. Just consider: where are the clouds? What are you guilty of? And what do you want? You’ve run over here to tell me that you’re old; perhaps, but then I’m no infant . . . And besides, what’s old age got to do with it? If your dear head were suddenly covered with gray hairs, I would love you more than ever, because I know what made them gray . . . (Weeps.) Hold on, I’ll be all right . . . (Wipes away the tears.)
IVANOV. Talk on, talk on . . .
SASHA. A feeling of guilt is wearing you out . . . Everyone, except father, tells me nothing but bad things about you. Yesterday I got an anonymous letter, warning me . . .
IVANOV. The doctor wrote it, the doctor . . . That man is persecuting me . .
SASHA. It doesn’t matter who wrote it . . . Everyone speaks ill of you, but I don’t know another man who could be more honorable, more magnanimous and more sublime than you . . . In short, I love you, and where there is love there can be no wavering or niggling . . . I will be your wife and I want to be . . . It is decided and there can be no more arguments. I love you and will go with you wherever you want, beneath whatever clouds you like . . . Whatever may happen to you, wherever fate may drive you, I will be with you forever and wherever. I cannot understand my life any other way . . .
IVANOV (walks around). Yes, yes, Shurochka, yes . . . Actually, I’m talking drivel . . . I’ve infected myself with a psychosis, I’ve been tormenting myself and persecuting you with my tedium . . . In fact, I’ve got to become normal and soon . . . it’s a matter of getting busy and living the way everyone does . . . Too many pointless ideas have built up in my mind . . . There’s nothing unusual, wonderful, in my marrying you, but my paranoia is turning it into a major event, an apotheosis . . . Everything’s normal and good . . . So, Shurochka, I’ll be going . . .
SASHA. Go, and we’ll be there presently . . .
IVANOV (kisses her). Forgive me, you must be sick and tired of me . . . Today we’ll get married, and tomorrow down to business . . . (Laughs.) My splendor, my philosopher. I’m boasting about being old, while you, it would appear, have an older brain than mine by ten years . . . (Stops laughing.) Seriously, Shurochka, we are the same as all other people, and we will be as happy as everyone else . . . And if we’re at fault, that will also be the same as everyone else . . .
SASHA. Go, go, it’s time . . .
IVANOV. I’m going, I’m going . . . (Laughs.) How clumsy I am, what a child I am still, nothing but a dishrag . . . (Goes to the door and bumps into Lebedev.)
VI
IVANOV, SASHA, and LEBEDEV.
LEBEDEV. Come here, come over here . . . (Takes Ivanov by the hand and leads him down to the footlights.) Now look me straight in the eyes, look . . . (Silently stares him in the eyes for a long time.) Well, Christ be with you . . . (Embraces him.) Be happy and forgive me, my dear boy, for my evil thoughts . . . (To Sasha.) Shurochka, of course he’s still young . . . Look at him, isn’t that what you called a he-man? A real fighting man . . . Come over here, Shurka . . . (Sternly.) Come on . . .
SASHA walks over to him.
(Takes Ivanov and Sasha by the hands, looks around.) Listen, the way mother wants it, God bless her: give them no money, they don’t need it. Shurka, you say that you (mimics) “don’t need a penny.” Principles, altruism, Schopenhauer53. . . It’s all nonsense, and here’s what I’ve got to say . . . (Takes a deep breath.) I’ve got a secret ten thousand stashed in the bank . . . (looks around), not a dog in this house knows about it . . . It’s Granny’s . . . (Releasing their hands.) Steal it! . . .
IVANOV. Good-bye . . . (Laughs merrily and exits.)
SASHA follows him.
LEBEDEV. Gavrila! . . . (Exits and shouts through the doorway.) Gavrila! . . .