* * * * *
O if there were a life in which every one grew younger and more
beautiful.
* * * * *
_Irene_: "It is hard to live without a father, without a
mother."--"And without a husband."--"Yes, without a husband. Whom
could one confide in? To whom could one complain? With whom could one
share ones's joy? One must love some one strongly."
* * * * *
_Koulyguin_ (to his wife): "I am so happy to be married to you, that
I consider it ungentlemanly and improper to speak of or even mention a
dowry. Hush, don't say anything...."
* * * * *
The doctor enjoys being at the duel.
* * * * *
It is difficult to live without orderlies. You cannot make the
servants answer your bell.
* * * * *
The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th companies left at 4, and we leave at 12
sharp.[1]
[Footnote 1: Here the fragments from the rough draft of _Three
Sisters_ end.]
* * * * *
In the daytime conversations about the loose manners of the girls in
secondary schools, in the evening a lecture on degeneration and the
decline of everything, and at night, after all this, one longs to
shoot oneself.
* * * * *
In the life of our towns there is no pessimism, no Marxism, and no
movements, but there is stagnation, stupidity, mediocrity.
* * * * *
He had a thirst for life, but it seemed to him to mean that he wanted
a drink--and he drank wine.
* * * * *
F. in the town-hall: Serguey Nik. in a plaintive voice: "Gentlemen,
where can we get the means? Our town is poor."
* * * * *
To be idle involuntarily means to listen to what is being said, to see
what is being done; but he who works and is occupied hears little and
sees little.
* * * * *
In the skating rink he raced after L.; he wanted to overtake her and
it seemed as if it were life which he wanted to overtake, that life
which one cannot bring back or overtake or catch, just as one cannot
catch one's shadow.
* * * * *
Only one thought reconciled him to the doctor: just as he had suffered
from the doctor's ignorance, so perhaps some one was suffering from
his mistakes.
* * * * *
But isn't it strange? In the whole town there is not a single
musician, not a single orator, not a prominent man.
* * * * *
Honorable Justice of the Peace, Honorable Member of the Children's
Shelter--all honorable.
* * * * *
L. studied and studied--but people who had finished developing could
not understand her, nor could the young. _Ut consecutivum_.
* * * * *
He is dark, with little side-whiskers, dressed like a dandy, dark
eyes, a warm brunet. He exterminates bugs, talks about earthquakes and
China. His fiancée has a dowry of 8,000 roubles; she is very handsome,
as her aunt says. He is an agent for a fire-insurance company, etc.
"You're awfully pretty, my darling, awfully. And 8,000 into the
bargain! You are a beauty; when I looked at you to-day, a shiver ran
down my back."
* * * * *
_He_: Earthquakes are caused by the evaporation of water.
* * * * *
Names: Goose, Pan, Oyster.
"Were I abroad, they would give me a medal for such a surname."
* * * * *