Smirnov: Good-by.
Mme. Popov a: Yes, yes, go! Shouts. Where are you go- ing? Wait a minute . • . But no, go away . . . Oh, how furious I am! Don't come near me, don't come near me!
Smirnov, approaching her: I'm disgusted with myself! Falling in love like a moon-calf, going down on my knees. It gives me gooseflesh. Rudely. I love you. What 530 the portable chekhov
on earth made me fall in love with you? Tomorrow I have to pay the interest. And we've started mowing. And here are you! . . . Puts his arm around her waist. I shall never forgive myself for this.
Mme. Popova; Get away from me! Hands off! I hate you! Let's shoot it out!
A prolonged kiss. Enter LuKA with an ax, the gardener with a rake, the coachman with a ptchfork, and hired men with sticks.
LUKA, catching sight of the pair kissing: Mercy on us! Holy saints! Pauses.
Mme. Popova, dropping her eyes: Luka, tell them at the stables that Toby isn't to have any oats at all today.
1888
The Cherry Orchard
A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS
Lubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya, a landowner.
Anya, her seventeen-year-old daughter.
Varya, her adopted daughter, twenty-two years old.
LEONID ANDREYEVICH GAYEv, MmE. RANEVSKAYA'S brother.
Yermolay Alexeyevich Lopahin, a merchant. Pyotr Sergetovich TROFIMOV, a student. Simeonov-Pishchik, a landowner. CHARLOTTA Ivanovna, a governess. Semyon Yepihodov, a clerk. DUNYASHA, a maid.
Firs [pronounced fierce], a man-servant, aged eighty- seven.
Yasha, a young valet.
A TRAMP.
STATIONMASTER, POST OFFICE ClERK, GuESTS, SERV- ANTS.
The action takes place on Mme. Ranevskaya's estate.
Act I
doors leads into Anya's room. Dawn, the sun will soon rise. It is May, the cherry trees are in blossom, but it is cold in the orchard; there is a morning frost. The windows are shut. Enter Dunyasha with a candle, and Lopahin with a book in his hand.
Lopamn: The train is in, thank God. What time is it?
DuNYASHA: Nearly two. Puts out the candle. It's light already.
Lopahin: How late is the train, anyway? Two hours at least. Yawns and stretches. I'm a fine one! What a fool I've made of myself! I came here on purpose to meet them at the station, and then I went and overslept. I fell asleep in my chair. How annoying! You might have waked me . . .
Dunyasha: I thought you'd left. Listens. I think they're coming!
R O O M that is still called the nursery. One of the
LoPAinN, listens: No, they've got to get the luggage, and one thing and another . . . Pause. Lubov An- dreyevna spent five years abroad, I don't know what she's like now . . . She's a fine person—lighthearted, simple. I remember when I was a boy of fifteen, my poor father—he had a shop here in the village then— punched me in the face with his fist and made my nose bleed. We'd come into the yard, I don't know what for, and he'd had a drop too much. Lubov Andreyevna, I remember her as if it were yesterday—she was still young and so slim—led me to the wash-basin, in this very room . . . in the nursery. "Don't cry, little peas- ant," she said, "it'll heal in time for your wedding. . . ."
Pause. Little peasant . . . my father was a peasant, it's true, and here I am in a white waistcoat and yellow shoes. A pig in a pastry shop, you might say. It's true I'm rich, I've got a lot of money. . . . But when you look at it closely, I'm a peasant through and through. Pages the book. Here I've been reading this book and I didn't understand a word of it. . . . I was reading it and fell asleep . . . . Pause.
Dunyasha: And the dogs were awake all night, they feel that their masters are coming.
Lopahin: Dunyasha, why are you so—
Dunyasha: My hands are trembling. I'm going to faint.
LopAmN: You're too soft, Dunyasha. You dress like a lady, and look at the way you do your hair. That's not right. One should remember one's place.
Enter Yepihodov with a bouquet; he wears a ;acket and highly polished boots that squeak badly. He drops the bouquet as he comes in.
YEPIHoOOv, picking up the bouquet: Here, the gardener sent these, said you're to put them in the dining room. Handsnds the bouquet to Dunyasha.
Lopahin: And bring me some kvass.
DuNYASHA: Yes, sir. Exits.
YEPiHOOOv: There's a frost this morning—three de- grees below—and yet the cherries are all in blossom. I cannot approve of our climate. Sighs. I cannot. Our climate does not activate properly. And, Yermolay Alex- eyevich, allow me to make a further remark. The other day I bought myself a pair of boots, and I make bold to assure you, they squeak so that it is really intolerable. What should I grease them with?
LOPAHIN: Oh, get out! I'm fed up with you.
YEPiHOOOv: Every day I meet with misfortune. And I don't complain, I've got used to it, I even smile.
Dunyasha enters, hands Lopahin the kvass.
Yepihodov : I am leaving. Stumbles against a chair, which falls over. Therc! Triumphantly, as it were. There again, you see what sort of circumstance, pardon the ex- pression. . . . It is absolutely phenomenal! Exits.
DuNYASHA: You know, Yermolay Alexeyevich, I must tell you, Yepihodov has proposed to me.
Lopahin: Ahl
DUNYASHA: I simply don't know . . . he's a quiet man, but sometimes when he starts talking, you can't make out what he means. He speaks nicely—and it's touching—but you can't understand it. I sort of like him though, and he is crazy about me. He's an unlucky man . . . every day something happens to him. They tease him about it here . • • they call him, Two-and- Twenty Troubles.
Lopahin, listening: There! I think they're coming.
DuNYASHA: They are coming! What's the matter me? I feel cold all over.
Lopahin: They really are coming. Let's go and meet them. Will she recognize me? We haven't seen each other for five years.
Dunyasha, in a flutter: I'm going to faint this minute. • • . Oh, I'm going to faint!
Two carriages are heard driving up to the house. Lop^bn and DuNYASHA go out quickly. The stage is left empty. There is a noise in the adjoining rooms. FIRS, who had driven to the station to meet Lubov ^otre- yevna Ranevskaya, crosses the stage hurriedly, leaning on a stick. He is wearing an old-fashioned livery and a tall hat. He mutters to himself indistinctly. The hubbub off-stage increases. A Voice: "Come, let's go this way." Enter Lubov Andreyevna, Anya and Charlo^ta Iva- novna, with a pet dog on a leash, all in traveling dresses; Varya, wearing a coat and kerchief; Gayev, Simeonov-
PISHCHIK, Lopahin, D^^ASHA with a bag and an um- brella, servants with luggage. All walk across the room.