SASHA. Yes, it’s time to go. Good-bye! I’m afraid that your decent doctor out of a sense of duty will report to Anna Petrovna that I’m here. Listen to me: go to your wife right now and sit, sit, sit . . . If you have to sit for a year, sit for a year. Ten years—sit ten years. Do your duty. And grieve, and ask her forgiveness, and weep — that’s how it ought to be. But the main thing is, don’t neglect business.
IVANOV. I’ve got that old feeling, as if I’ve been gorging on toadstools. All over again!
SASHA. Well, God bless you! You can stop thinking about me! In two weeks or so you’ll drop me a line, and I’ll be grateful for it. And I’ll write to you . . .
BORKIN looks in at the door.
VIII
The same and BORKIN.
BORKIN. Nikolay Alekseevich, may I? (On seeing Sasha.) Sorry, I didn’t see . . . (Enters.) Bonjour! (Bows.)
SASHA (embarrassed). How do you do . . .
BORKIN. You’ve got plumper, prettier . . .
SASHA (to Ivanov). I’m leaving now, Nikolay Alekseevich . . . I’m leaving. (Exits.)
BORKIN. A vision of loveliness! I came about prose, and ran into poetry . . . (Sings.) “Thou didst appear, like a bird flown towards the light . . .”[47]
IVANOV paces up and down the stage in agitation.
(Sits.) There’s something about her, Nicolas, a certain something that other women haven’t got. Am I right? Something special . . . fantastical . . . (Sighs.) Actually, the richest eligible girl in the whole district, but her dear mama is such a sourpuss that no one wants to make a match. When she dies everything will go to Shurochka, but until she dies she’ll give ten thousand or so, a curling iron and a flat iron, and even then she’ll make you beg for it on your knees. (Rummages in his pockets.) Let’s smoke a de-los-majoros.[48] Care for one? (Offers his cigar case.) They’re not bad . . . Quite smokeworthy.
IVANOV (walks over to Borkin, choked with rage). Don’t set foot in my house another minute! Not another minute!
BORKIN rises a bit and drops the cigar.
Not another minute!
BORKIN. Nicolas, what does this mean? What are you angry about?
IVANOV. What about? Where did you get those cigars? Do you think I don’t know where you take the old man every day and what for?
BORKIN (shrugs his shoulders). What’s it got to do with you?
IVANOV. You’re such a crook! Your vulgar schemes, which you broadcast through the whole district, have made me a dishonest man in people’s eyes! We’ve got nothing in common, and I ask you to leave my home this very minute! (Walks quickly.)
BORKIN. I know that you’re saying all this out of irritation, and therefore I won’t be angry with you. Insult me as much as you like . . . (Picks up the cigar.) It’s time you gave up this melancholy routine. You’re no schoolboy . . .
IVANOV. What did I tell you? (Trembling.) Are you playing games with me?
Enter ANNA PETROVNA.
IX
The same and ANNA PETROVNA.
BORKIN. Well, look, Anna Petrovna’s here . . . I’m going. (Exits.)
IVANOV stops beside the desk and stands, his head bowed.
ANNA PETROVNA (after a pause). Why did she come here just now?
Pause.
I’m asking you: why did she come here?
IVANOV. Don’t question me, Anyuta . . .
Pause.
I’m much at fault. Think up whatever punishment you want, I’ll bear it, but . . . don’t question me . . . I haven’t got the strength to talk.
ANNA PETROVNA (angrily). Why was she here?
Pause.
Ah, so that’s what you’re like! Now I understand you. Finally I see what sort of man you are. Dishonorable, vile . . . You remember, you came and lied to me, saying you loved me . . . I believed it and left father, mother, religion and followed you . . . You lied to me about truth, goodness, your honorable intentions, I believed every word . . .
IVANOV. Anyuta, I never lied to you . . .
ANNA PETROVNA. I lived with you for five years, I broke down and sickened at the idea that I’d renounced my faith, but I loved you and never left you for a single minute . . . You were my idol . . . and now what? All this time you’ve been deceiving me in the most shameless manner . . .
IVANOV. Anyuta, don’t tell falsehoods. I was mistaken, yes, but I’ve never lied in my life . . . You don’t dare reproach me for that . . .
ANNA PETROVNA. Now it’s all come out . . . You married me and thought my father and mother would forgive me, give me money . . . That’s what you thought.
IVANOV. Oh my God! Anyuta, to try my patience like this! (Weeps.)
ANNA PETROVNA. Be quiet! When you realized there was no money, you came up with a new game . . . Now I remember it all and I understand. (Weeps.) You never loved me and were never faithful to me . . . Never!
IVANOV. Sarra, that’s a lie! . . . Say what you want, but don’t insult me with lies . . .
ANNA PETROVNA. Dishonorable, vile man . . . You owe Lebedev money, and now, in order to squirm out of your debt, you want to turn his daughter’s head, deceive her the way you did me. Is that a falsehood?
IVANOV (choking). Shut up, for God’s sake! I can’t answer for myself . . . I’m choking with rage, and I . . . I’m liable to insult you . . .
ANNA PETROVNA. You always were a shameless deceiver, and not just of me . . . You pinned all those underhanded actions on Borkin, but now I know whose they really are . . .
IVANOV. Sarra, shut up, get out, or else I’ll say something I’ll regret! It’s all I can do to keep from calling you something horrible, humiliating . . . (Shouts.) Shut up, you kike bitch!
ANNA PETROVNA. I will not shut up . . . Too long you’ve been deceiving me, for me to be able to keep silent . . .
IVANOV. So you won’t shut up? (Struggles with himself.) For God’s sake . . .
ANNA PETROVNA. Now go and cheat the Lebedev girl . . .
IVANOV. Then know that you . . . will die soon . . . The doctor told me that you’ll die soon . . .
ANNA PETROVNA (sits down, her voice faltering). When did he say that?