LUKA. Better’n this kind o’ talk, you should take a turn in the garden, or else have ‘em hitch up Toby or Paladin and pay a call on the neighbors . . .
POPOVA. Oh! . . . (Weeps.)
LUKA. Mistress! . . . Dear lady! . . . What’s wrong? God bless you!
POPOVA. He was so fond of Toby! He always rode him over to the Korchagins and the Vlasovs. He sat a horse so wonderfully well! Such a graceful expression when he tugged at the reins with all his might! Remember? Toby, Toby! Tell them to give him an extra portion of oats.
LUKA. Yes, ma’am!
The doorbell rings insistently.
POPOVA (startled). Who’s that? Tell them I am in to nobody!
LUKA. Yes indeed, ma’am! (Exits.)
II
POPOVA (alone).
POPOVA (looking at the photograph). You see, Nicolas, how I know how to love and forgive . . . My love will flicker out when I do, when my poor heart ceases to beat. (Laughs, through tears.) And aren’t you ashamed? I’m a good girl, a faithful little wife, I’ve locked myself up in a fortress and will be true to you to the day I die, while you . . . aren’t you ashamed, you chubby thing? You cheated on me, made scenes, left me on my own for whole weeks at a time . . .
III
POPOVA and LUKA.
LUKA (enters, anxiously). Mistress, there’s somebody asking for you. Wants to see you . . .
POPOVA. But didn’t you tell him that I am in to nobody since the death of my husband?
LUKA. I told ‘im, but he don’t want to listen, he says it’s very urgent business.
POPOVA. I am in—to — no — bo — dy!
LUKA. I told him, but . . . some kind o’ maniac . . . he cusses and shoves right into the room . . . he’s there in the dining room right now . . .
POPOVA (irritated). All right, show him in . . . How uncouth!
LUKA exits.
How tiresome these people are ! What do they want from me? Why do they have to disturb my serenity? (Sighs.) No, it’s obvious, I really shall have to get me to a nunnery . . . (Musing.) Yes, a nunnery . . .
IV
POPOVA, LUKA, and SMIRNOV.
SMIRNOV (entering, to Luka). Numbskull, you’re too fond of hearing yourself talk . . . Jackass! (On seeing Popova, with dignity) Madam, may I introduce myself: retired lieutenant of artillery, landowner Grigory Stepanovich Smirnov! Forced to disturb you on the most urgent business . . .
POPOVA (not offering her hand). What can I do for you?
SMIRNOV. Your late husband, whom I had the honor to know, left two I.O.U.s owing me twelve hundred rubles. Because tomorrow my interest payment to the bank3 falls due, I would ask you, madam, to repay me the money today.
POPOVA. Twelve hundred . . . But what was my husband in debt to you for?
SMIRNOV. He bought oats from me.
POPOVA (sighing, to Luka). Now don’t you forget, Luka, to tell them to give Toby an extra portion of oats.
LUKA exits.
(To Smirnov.) If Nikolay Mikhailovich still owes you money, why, it stands to reason, I shall pay; but, please forgive me, I have no cash on hand today. The day after tomorrow my foreman will be back from town, and I’ll ask him to pay you what’s owing, but in the meantime I cannot comply with your request . . . Besides, today is exactly seven months since my husband died, and the way I’m feeling now I am completely indisposed to deal with financial matters.
SMIRNOV. And the way I’m feeling now if I don’t pay the interest tomorrow, I’ll be up the creek good and proper. They’ll foreclose on my estate!
POPOVA. The day after tomorrow you’ll get your money.
SMIRNOV. I don’t need the money the day after tomorrow, I need it now.
POPOVA. Excuse me, I cannot pay you today.
SMIRNOV. And I cannot wait until the day after tomorrow.
POPOVA. What’s to be done, if I don’t have it at the moment!
SMIRNOV. In other words, you can’t pay up?
POPOVA. I cannot . . .
SMIRNOV. Hmm! . . . Is that your last word?
POPOVA. Yes, my very last.
SMIRNOV. Your last! Positively?
POPOVA. Positively.
SMIRNOV. Thank you very much indeed. We’ll just make a memo of that, shall we? (Shrugs his shoulders.) And people expect me to be cool, calm, and collected! Just now on the road I ran into the tax collector and he asks: “Why are you always losing your temper, Grigory Stepanovich?” Well, for pity’s sake, how can I keep from losing my temper? I need money like crazy . . . I rode out yesterday morning almost at dawn, dropped in on everyone who owes me money, and not a single one of them paid me! I’m dog-tired, spent the night in some godforsaken hole — in a kike tavern4 next to a keg of vodka . . . Finally I show up here, forty miles from home, I hope to get something, and they greet me with “the way I’m feeling now!” How can I keep from losing my temper?
POPOVA. I believe my words were clear: when the foreman returns from town, you’ll get it.
SMIRNOV. I didn’t come to the foreman, but to you! What the blue blazes, pardon the expression, do I need with your foreman!
POPOVA. Forgive me, my dear sir, I am not accustomed to that peculiar expression and that tone of voice. I will not listen to you any more. (Exits quickly.)
V
SMIRNOV (alone).
SMIRNOV. Say pretty please! “The way I’m feeling now . . .” Seven months ago her husband died! But do I have to pay the interest or don’t I? I ask you: do I have pay the interest or don’t I? So, you had a husband die on you, there’s some way you’re feeling now, and the rest of the double-talk . . . the foreman’s gone off somewhere, damn him to hell, but what do you expect me to do? Fly away from my creditors in a hot-air balloon or what? Or run off and bash my skull against the wall? I ride over to Gruzdyov’s—he’s not at home. Yaroshevich is in hiding, I have a fatal falling-out with Kuritsyn and almost throw him out a window, Mazutov5 has got the trots, and this one has a way she’s feeling. Not one of the lousy deadbeats will pay up! And all because I’ve been too indulgent to them, I’m a soft touch, a pushover, a sissy! I’m too delicate with them! Well, just you wait! You’ll learn who I am! I won’t let you pull anything over on me, damn it! I’ll stay here, I’ll stick around until she pays up! Brr! . . . I’m really angry today, really angry! Anger is making the thews in my thighs quiver, I have to catch my breath . . . Fooey, my God, I’m even coming over faint! (Shouts.) You there!
VI
SMIRNOV and LUKA.
LUKA (enters). What’s wrong?
SMIRNOV. Get me some kvas6 or water!