SCENE 1
In Moscow a year later. A drawing-room in the Sarýntsov's town house
is prepared for a dance. Footmen are arranging plants round the
grand piano. Enter Mary Ivánovna in an elegant silk dress, with
Alexándra Ivánovna.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. A ball? No, Only a dance! A "Juvenile Party" as they once
used to say. My children took part in the Theatricals at the Mákofs, and
have been asked to dances everywhere, so I must return the invitations.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. I am afraid Nicholas does not like it.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. I can't help it. [To Footmen] Put it here! [To Alexándra
Ivánovna] God knows how glad I should be not to cause him
unpleasantness. But I think he has become much less exacting.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. No, no! Only he does not show it so much. I saw how
upset he was when he went off to his own room after dinner.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. What can I do? After all, people must live. We have seven
children, and if they find no amusement at home, heaven knows what they
may be up to. Anyhow I am quite happy about Lyúba now.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Has he proposed, then?
MARY IVÁNOVNA. As good as proposed. He has spoken to her, and she has
said, Yes!
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. That again will be a terrible blow to Nicholas.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Oh, he knows. He can't help knowing.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. He does not like him.
MARY IVÁNOVNA [to the Footmen] Put the fruit on the side-board. Like
whom? Alexander Mikáylovich? Of course not; because he is a living
negation of all Nicholas's pet theories. A nice pleasant kindly man of
the world. But oh! That terrible night-mare--that affair of Borís
Cheremshánov's. What has happened to him?
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Lisa has been to see him. He is still there. She
says he has grown terribly thin, and the Doctors fear for his life or
his reason.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes, he is one of the terrible sacrifices caused by
Nicholas's ideas. Why need he have been ruined? I never wished it.
Enter Pianist.
MARY IVÁNOVNA [to Pianist] Have you come to play?
PIANIST. Yes, I am the pianist.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Please take a seat and wait a little. Won't you have a
cup of tea?
PIANIST [goes to piano] No, thank you!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. I never wished it. I liked Bórya, but still he was not a
suitable match for Lyúba--especially after he let himself be carried
away by Nicholas Ivánovich's ideas.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But still, the strength of his convictions is
astonishing. See what he endures! They tell him that as long as he
persists in refusing to serve, he will either remain where he is or be
sent to the fortress; but his reply is always the same. And yet Lisa
says he is full of joy and even merry!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Fanatic! But here comes Alexander Mikáylovich!
Enter Alexander Mikáylovich Starkóvsky,[35] an elegant man in
evening dress.
[35] Alexander in his Christian name, Mikáylovich (= son of Michael)
is his patronymic, and Starkóvsky in his surname which is seldom used
in ordinary social life.
STARKÓVSKY. I am afraid I have come too soon. [Kisses the hands of both
ladies].
MARY IVÁNOVNA. So much the better.
STARKÓVSKY. And Lyúbov Nikoláyevna?[36] She proposed to dance a great
deal so as to make up for the time she has lost, and I have undertaken
to help her.
[36] Lyúbov Nikoláyevna (= Love daughter of Nicholas) is the courteous
way of naming Lyúba. The latter is a pet name.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. She is sorting favours for the cotillion.
STARKÓVSKY. I will go and help her, if I may?
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Certainly.
As Starkóvsky is going out he meets Lyúba in evening, but not
low-necked, dress carrying a cushion with stars and ribbons.
LYÚBA. Ah! here you are. Good! Now you can help me. There are three more
cushions in the drawing-room. Go and fetch them all.
STARKÓVSKY. I fly to do so!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Now, Lyúba; friends are coming, and they will be sure to
hint and ask questions. May we announce it?
LYÚBA. No, Mamma, no. Why? Let them ask! Papa will not like it.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. But he knows or guesses; and he will have to be told
sooner or later. I think it would be better to announce it to-day. Why,
_C'est le secret de la comédie_.[37]
[37] It is only a comedy secret.
LYÚBA. No, no, Mamma, please don't. It would spoil our whole evening.
No, no, you must not.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Well, as you please.
LYÚBA. All right then: after the dance, just before supper.
Enter Starkóvsky.
LYÚBA. Well, have you got them?
MARY IVÁNOVNA. I'll go and have a look at the little ones. [Exit with
Alexándra Ivánovna].
STARKÓVSKY [carrying three cushions, which he steadies with his chin,
and dropping things on the way] Don't trouble, Lyúbov Nikoláyevna, I'll
pick them up. Well, you have prepared a lot of favours. If only I can
manage to lead the dance properly! Ványa, come along.
VÁNYA [bringing more favours] This is the whole lot. Lyúba, Alexander
Mikáylovich and I have a bet on, which of us will win the most favours.
STARKÓVSKY. It will be easy for you, for you know everybody here, and
will gain them easily, while I shall have to charm the young ladies
first before winning anything. It means that I am giving you a start of
forty points.
VÁNYA. But then you are a fiancé, and I am a boy.
STARKÓVSKY. Well no, I am not a fiancé yet, and I am worse than a boy.
LYÚBA. Ványa, please go to my room and fetch the gum and the pin-cushion
from the what-not. Only for goodness' sake don't break anything.
VÁNYA. I'll break everything! [Runs off].
STARKÓVSKY [takes Lyúba's hand] Lyúba, may I? I am so happy. [Kisses her
hand] The mazurka is mine, but that is not enough. One can't say much in
a mazurka, and I must speak. May I wire to my people that I have been
accepted and am happy?
LYÚBA. Yes, to-night.
STARKÓVSKY. One word more: how will Nicholas Ivánovich take it? Have you
told him? Yes?
LYÚBA. No, I haven't; but I will. He will take it as he now takes
everything that concerns the family. He will say, "Do as you think
best." But he will be grieved at heart.
STARKÓVSKY. Because I am not Cheremshánov? Because I am a Maréchal de la
Noblesse?
LYÚBA. Yes. But I have struggled with myself and deceived myself for his
sake; and it is not because I love him less that I am now doing not what
he wants, but it is because I can't lie. He himself says so. I do so
want to _live_!
STARKÓVSKY. And life is the only truth! Well, and what of Cheremshánov?
LYÚBA [excitedly] Don't speak of him to me! I wish to blame him, to
blame him whilst he is suffering; and I know it is because I feel guilty
towards him. All I know is that I feel there is a kind of love--and I
think a more real love than I ever felt for him.
STARKÓVSKY. Lyúba, is that true?
LYÚBA. You wish me to say that I love you with that real love--but I
won't say it. I do love you with a different kind of love; but it is not
the real thing either! Neither the one nor the other is the real
thing--if only they could be mixed together!
STARKÓVSKY. No, no, I am satisfied with mine. [Kisses her hand] Lyúba!
LYÚBA [pushes him away] No, let us sort these things. They are beginning
to arrive.
Enter Princess with Tónya and a little girl.
LYÚBA. Mamma will be here in a moment.
PRINCESS. Are we the first?
STARKÓVSKY. Some one must be! I have suggested making a gutta-percha
dummy to be the first arrival!
Enter Styópa, also Ványa carrying the gum and pin-cushion.
STYÓPA. I expected to see you at the Italian opera last night.
TÓNYA. We were at my Aunt's, sewing for the charity-bazaar.
Enter Students, Ladies, Mary Ivánovna and a Countess.
COUNTESS. Shan't we see Nicholas Ivánovich?
MARY IVÁNOVNA. No, he never leaves his study to come to our gathering.
STARKÓVSKY. Quadrille, please! [Claps his hands. The dancers take their
places and dance].
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA [approaches Mary Ivánovna] He is terribly agitated.
He has been to see Borís, and he came back and saw there was a ball, and
now he wants to go away! I went up to his door and overheard him talking
to Alexander Petróvich.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Well?
STARKÓVSKY. _Rond des dames. Les cavaliers en avant!_[38]
[38] Starkóvsky, directing the dance, says: "Ladies form a circle.
Gentlemen advance!"
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. He has made up his mind that it is impossible for
him to live so, and he is going away.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. What a torment the man is! [Exit].
Curtain.
SCENE 2
Nicholas Ivánovich's room. The dance music is heard in the distance.
Nicholas Ivánovich has an overcoat on. He puts a letter on the
table. Alexander Petróvich, dressed in ragged clothes, is with him.
ALEXANDER PETRÓVICH. Don't worry, we can reach the Caucasus without
spending a penny, and there you can settle down.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. We will go by rail as far as Túla, and from thence
on foot. Well, I'm ready. [Puts letter in the middle of the table, and
goes to the door, where he meets Mary Ivánovna] Oh! Why have you come
here?
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Why indeed? To prevent your doing a cruel thing. What's
all this for? Why d'you do it?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Why? Because I cannot continue living like this. I
cannot endure this terrible, depraved life.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. It is awful. My life--which I give wholly to you and the
children--has all of a sudden become "depraved." [Sees Alexander
Petróvich] _Renvoyez au moins cet homme. Je ne veux pas qu'il soit
témoin de cette conversation._[39]
[39] At least send that man away. I don't wish him to be a witness of
our conversation.
ALEXANDER PETRÓVICH. _Comprenez. Toujours moi partez._[40]
[40] Alexander Petróvich replies in very bad French: "I understand! I
am always to go away!"
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Wait for me out there, Alexander Petróvich, I'll
come in a minute.
Exit Alexander Petróvich.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. And what can you have in common with such a man as that?
Why is he nearer to you than your own wife? It is incomprehensible! And
where are you going?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I have left a letter for you. I did not want to
speak; it is too hard; but if you wish it, I will try to say it quietly.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. No, I don't understand. Why do you hate and torture your
wife, who has given up everything for you? Tell me, have I been going to
balls, or gone in for dress, or flirted? My whole life has been devoted
to the family. I nursed them all myself; I brought them up, and this
last year the whole weight of their education, and the managing our
affairs, has fallen on me....
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [interrupting] But all this weight falls on you,
because you do not wish to live as I proposed.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. But that was impossible! Ask anyone! It was impossible to
let the children grow up illiterate, as you wished them to do, and for
me to do the washing and cooking.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I never wanted that!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Well, anyhow it was something of that kind! No, you are a
Christian, you wish to do good, and you say you love men; then why do
you torture the woman who has devoted her whole life to you?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. How do I torture you? I love you, but ...
MARY IVÁNOVNA. But is it not torturing me to leave me and to go away?
What will everybody say? One of two things, either that I am a bad
woman, or that you are mad.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Well, let us say I am mad; but I can't live like
this.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. But what is there so terrible in it, even if once in a
winter (and only once, because I feared you would not like it) I do give
a party--and even then a very simple one, only ask Mánya and Barbara
Vasílyevna! Everybody said I could not do less--and that it was
absolutely necessary. And now it seems even a crime, for which I shall
have to suffer disgrace. And not only disgrace. The worst of all is that
you no longer love me! You love everyone else--the whole world,
including that drunken Alexander Petróvich--but I still love you and
cannot live without you. Why do you do it? Why? [Weeps].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. But you don't even wish to understand my life; my
spiritual life.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. I do wish to understand it, but I can't. I see that your
Christianity has made you hate your family and hate me; but I don't
understand why!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. You see the others do understand!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Who? Alexander Petróvich, who gets money out of you?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. He and others: Tónya and Vasíly Nikonórovich. But
even if nobody understood it, that would make no difference.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Vasíly Nikonórovich has repented, and has got his living
back, and Tónya is at this very moment dancing and flirting with Styópa.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. I am sorry to hear it, but it does not turn black
into white, and it cannot change my life. Mary! You do not need me. Let
me go! I have tried to share your life and to bring into it what for me
constitutes the whole of life; but it is impossible. It only results in
torturing myself and you. I not only torment myself, but spoil the work
I try to accomplish. Everybody, including that very Alexander Petróvich,
has the right to tell me that I am a hypocrite; that I talk but do not
act! That I preach the Gospel of poverty while I live in luxury,
pretending that I have given up everything to my wife!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. So you are ashamed of what people say? Really, can't you
rise above that?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. It's not that I am ashamed (though I am ashamed),
but that I am spoiling God's work.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. You yourself often say that it fulfils itself despite
man's opposition; but that's not the point. Tell me, what do you want of
me?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Haven't I told you?
MARY IVÁNOVNA. But, Nicholas, you know that that is impossible. Only
think, Lyúba is now getting married; Ványa is entering the university;
Missy and Kátya are studying. How can I break all that off?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Then what am I to do?
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Do as you say one should do: have patience, love. Is it
too hard for you? Only bear with us and do not take yourself from us!
Come, what is it that torments you?
Enter Ványa running.
VÁNYA. Mamma, they are calling you!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Tell them I can't come. Go, go!
VÁNYA. Do come! [He runs off].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. You don't wish to see eye to eye--nor to understand
me.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. It is not that I don't wish to, but that I can't.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. No, you don't wish to, and we drift further and
further apart. Only enter into my feelings; put yourself for a moment in
my place, and you will understand. First, the whole life here is
thoroughly depraved. You are vexed with the expression, but I can give
no other name to a life built wholly on robbery; for the money you live
on is taken from the land you have stolen from the peasants. Moreover, I
see that this life is demoralising the children: "Whoso shall cause one
of these little ones to stumble," and I see how they are perishing and
becoming depraved before my very eyes. I cannot bear it when grown-up
men dressed up in swallow-tail coats serve us as if they were slaves.
Every dinner we have is a torture to me.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. But all this was so before. Is it not done by
everyone--both here and abroad?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. But _I_ can't do it. Since I realised that we are
all brothers, I cannot see it without suffering.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. That is as you please. One can invent anything.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [hotly] It's just this want of understanding that is
so terrible. Take for instance to-day! I spent this morning at Rzhánov's
lodging-house, among the outcasts there; and I saw an infant literally
die of hunger; a boy suffering from alcoholism; and a consumptive
charwoman rinsing clothes outside in the cold. Then I returned home, and
a footman with a white tie opens the door for me. I see my son--a mere
lad--ordering that footman to fetch him some water; and I see the army
of servants who work for us. Then I go to visit Borís--a man who is
sacrificing his life for truth's sake. I see how he, a pure, strong,
resolute man, is deliberately being goaded to lunacy and to
destruction, that the Government may be rid of him! I know, and they
know, that his heart is weak, and so they provoke him, and drag him to a
ward for raving lunatics. It is too dreadful, too dreadful. And when I
come home, I hear that the one member of our family who understood--not
me but the truth--has thrown over both her betrothed to whom she had
promised her love, and the truth, and is going to marry a lackey, a
liar ...
MARY IVÁNOVNA. How very Christian!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Yes, it is wrong of me, and I am to blame, but I
only want you to put yourself in my place. I mean to say that she has
turned from the truth ...
MARY IVÁNOVNA. You say, "from the truth"; but other people--the
majority--say from "an error." You see Vasíly Nikonórovich once thought
he was in error, but now has come back to the Church.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. That's impossible ----
MARY IVÁNOVNA. He has written to Lisa! She will show you the letter.
That sort of conversion is very unstable. So also in Tónya's case; I
won't even speak of that fellow Alexander Petróvich, who simply
considers it profitable!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [getting angry] Well, no matter. I only ask _you_ to
understand me. I still consider that truth is truth! All this hurts me
very much. And here at home I see a Christmas-tree, a ball, and hundreds
of roubles being spent while men are dying of hunger. I cannot live so.
Have pity on me, I am worried to death. Let me go! Good-bye.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. If you go, I will go with you. Or if not with you, I will
throw myself under the train you leave by; and let them all go to
perdition--and Missy and Kátya too. Oh my God, my God. What torture!
Why? What for? [Weeps].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [at the door] Alexander Petróvich, go home! I am not
going. [To his wife] Very well, I will stay. [Takes off his overcoat].
MARY IVÁNOVNA [embracing him] We have not much longer to live. Don't let
us spoil everything after twenty-eight years of life together. Well,
I'll give no more parties; but do not punish me so.
Enter Ványa and Kátya running.
VÁNYA and KATYA. Mamma, be quick--come.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Coming, coming. So let us forgive one another! [Exit with
Kátya and Ványa].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. A child, a regular child; or a cunning woman? No, a
cunning child. Yes, yes. It seems Thou dost not wish me to be Thy
servant in this Thy work. Thou wishest me to be humiliated, so that
everyone may point his finger at me and say, "He preaches, but he does
not perform." Well, let them! Thou knowest best what Thou requirest:
submission, humility! Ah, if I could but rise to that height!
Enter Lisa.
LISA. Excuse me. I have brought you a letter from Vasíly Nikonórovich.
It is addressed to me, but he asks me to tell you.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Can it be really true?
LISA. Yes. Shall I read it?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Please do.
LISA [reading] "I write to beg you to communicate this to Nicholas
Ivánovich. I greatly regret the error which led me openly to stray from
the Holy Orthodox Church, to which I rejoice to have now returned. I
hope you and Nicholas Ivánovich will follow the same path. Please
forgive me!"
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. They have tortured him into this, poor fellow. But
still it is terrible.
LISA. I also came to tell you that the Princess is here. She came
upstairs to me in a dreadfully excited state and is determined to see
you. She has just been to see Borís. I think you had better not see
her. What good can it do for her to see you?
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. No. Call her in. Evidently this is fated to be a day
of dreadful torture.
LISA. Then I'll go and call her. [Exit].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [alone] Yes--could I but remember that life consists
only in serving Thee; and that if Thou sendest a trial, it is because
Thou holdest me capable of enduring it, and knowest that my strength is
equal to it: else it would not be a trial.... Father, help me--help me
to do Thy will.
Enter Princess.
PRINCESS. You receive me? You do me that honour? My respects to you. I
don't give you my hand, for I hate you and despise you.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. What has happened?
PRINCESS. Just this, that they are moving him to the Disciplinary
Battalion; and it is you who are the cause of it.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Princess, if you want anything, tell me what it is;
but if you have come here merely to abuse me, you only injure yourself.
You cannot offend me, for with my whole heart I sympathise with you and
pity you!
PRINCESS. What charity! What exalted Christianity! No, Mr. Sarýntsov,
you cannot deceive me! We know you now. You have ruined my son, but you
don't care; and you go giving balls; and your daughter--my son's
betrothed--is to be married and make a good match, that you approve of;
while you pretend to lead a simple life, and go carpentering. How
repulsive you are to me, with your new-fangled Pharisaism.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Don't excite yourself so, Princess. Tell me what you
have come for--surely it was not simply to scold me?
PRINCESS. Yes, that too! I must find vent for all this accumulated
pain. But what I want is this: He is being removed to the Disciplinary
Battalion, and I cannot bear it. It is you who have done it. You! You!
You!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Not I, but God. And God knows how sorry I am for
you. Do not resist this will. He wants to test you. Bear the trial
meekly.
PRINCESS. I cannot bear it meekly. My whole life was wrapped up in my
son; and you have taken him from me and ruined him. I cannot be calm. I
have come to you--it is my last attempt to tell you that you have ruined
him and that it is for you to save him. Go and prevail on them to set
him free. Go and see the Governor-General, the Emperor, or whom you
please. It is your duty to do it. If you don't do it, I know what I
shall do. You will have to answer to me for it!
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Teach me what to do. I am ready to do anything.
PRINCESS. I again repeat it--you must save him! If you do not--beware!
Good-bye. [Exit].
Nicholas Ivánovich (alone). Lies down on sofa. Silence. The door
opens and the dance music sounds louder. Enter Styópa.
STYÓPA. Papa is not here, come in!
Enter the adults and the children, dancing in couples.
LYÚBA [noticing Nicholas Ivánovich] Ah, you _are_ here. Excuse us.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [rising] Never mind. [Exit dancing couples].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Vasíly Nikonórovich has recanted. I have ruined
Borís. Lyúba is getting married. Can it be that I have been mistaken?
Mistaken in believing in Thee? No! Father help me!
Curtain.
Tolstoy left the following notes for a fifth act which was never
written.
ACT V
Disciplinary Battalion. A cell. Prisoners sitting and lying. Borís is
reading the Gospel and explaining it. A man who has been flogged is
brought in. "Ah, if there were but a Pugachev[41] to revenge us on such
as you." The Princess bursts in, but is turned out. Conflict with an
officer. Prisoners led to prayers. Borís sent to the Penitentiary Cell:
"He shall be flogged!"
[41] Pugachev was the leader of a formidable rebellion in Russia in
the eighteenth century.
Scene changes.
The Tsar's Cabinet. Cigarettes; jokes; caresses. The Princess is
announced. "Let her wait." Enter petitioners, flattery, then the
Princess. Her request is refused. Exit.
Scene changes.
Mary Ivánovna talks about illness with the doctor. "He has changed, has
become more gentle, but is dispirited." Enter Nicholas Ivánovich and
speaks to Doctor about the uselessness of treatment. But for his wife's
sake he agrees to it. Enter Tónya with Styópa. Lyúba with Starkóvsky.
Conversation about land. Nicholas Ivánovich tries not to offend them.
Exeunt all. Nicholas Ivánovich with Lisa. "I am always in doubt whether
I have done right. I have accomplished nothing. Borís has perished,
Vasíly Nikonórovich has recanted. I set an example of weakness.
Evidently God does not wish me to be his servant. He has many other
servants--and can accomplish his will without me, and he who realises
this is at peace." Exit Lisa. He prays. The Princess rushes in and
shoots him. Everybody comes running into the room. He says he did it
himself by accident. He writes a petition to the Emperor. Enter Vasíly
Nikonórovich with Doukhobors.[42] Dies rejoicing that the fraud of the
Church is exposed, and that he has understood the meaning of his life.
[42] Tolstoy did not fully realise the facts (described in _A Peculiar
People_) of the Doukhobors' submission to their leader, or of their
belief in him as an incarnation of the Deity. In fact, when he wrote
this play, Tolstoy regarded the Doukhobors as a type of what all
Christians should be.
_This play was begun in the 'eighties, and continued in 1900 and 1902._
END OF "THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS."
[ Transcriber's Note:
The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The first
line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
forty-five; and her husband, Peter Semyónovich Kóhovstsef, a fat
forty-five; and her husband, Peter Semyónovich Kóhovtsef, a fat
on the verandah at a table with a samovar and coffee-pot. Mary
on the verandah at a table with a samovár and coffee-pot. Mary
[9] He was very nice, and like everybody else
[9] He was very nice, and like everybody else.
is your duty as a mother to _prendre tes mésures_.[11]
is your duty as a mother to _prendre tes mesures_.[11]
MARY IVÁNOVNA. I'm coming, coming? [Rises and exit].
MARY IVÁNOVNA. I'm coming, coming! [Rises and exit].
for vodka, and abandon our own families.
for vódka, and abandon our own families?
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Re-heat the samovar, please.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Re-heat the samovár, please.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. I should think they also need this samovar.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. I should think they also need this samovár.
other 44,990 trees will very soon be cut down also.
There are 449,990 trees remaining. This might either be a typesetting
mistake or an error made by Styópa.
can be proved historically; there is but one irrefragible proof....
can be proved historically; there is but one irrefragable proof....
PRIEST. How can we trust in it, when there are contradictions.
PRIEST. How can we trust in it, when there are contradictions?
[Enter Nurse].
Enter Nurse.
coming
coming!
LYÚBA. Yes, do, and I'll go and wake Lisa and Tánya.
LYÚBA. Yes, do, and I'll go and wake Lisa and Tónya.
what I feel. (To Tónya) If what I say should offend you--who are our
what I feel. [To Tónya] If what I say should offend you--who are our
SCENE 2. [in ACT II]
SCENE 2
STARKÓVSKY. And Lyubóv Nikoláyevna?[36] She proposed to dance a great
STARKÓVSKY. And Lyúbov Nikoláyevna?[36] She proposed to dance a great
[36] Lyúbov Nikolávna (= Love daughter of Nicholas) is the courteous
[36] Lyúbov Nikoláyevna (= Love daughter of Nicholas) is the courteous
]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Light Shines in Darkness, by Leo Tolstoy