"If to-morrow the sun were to forget
To light our earth,
To-morrow then some madman's thought
Would bathe the world in sunshine. . . ."
NATASHA [_laughing_] Scarecrow! You're drunk!
THE ACTOR [_turns to her_] Oh--it's you? Where's the old man, the dear
old man? Not a soul here, seems to me . . . Natasha,
farewell--right--farewell!
NATASHA [_entering_] Don't wish me farewell, before you've wished me
how-d'you-do!
THE ACTOR [_barring her way_] I am going. Spring will come--and I'll
be here no longer--
NATASHA. Wait a moment! Where do you propose going?
THE ACTOR. In search of a town--to be cured--And you, Ophelia, must go
away! Take the veil! Just imagine--there's a hospital to
cure--ah--organisms for drunkards--a wonderful hospital--built of
marble--with marble floors . . . light--clean--food--and all gratis!
And a marble floor--yes! I'll find it--I'll get cured--and then I
shall start life anew. . . . I'm on my way to regeneration, as King
Lear said. Natasha, my stage name is . . . Svertchkoff--Zavoloushski
. . . do you realize how painful it is to lose one's name? Even dogs
have their names . . .
[_Natasha carefully passes the Actor, stops at Anna's bed and looks._]
To be nameless--is not to exist!
NATASHA. Look, my dear--why--she's dead. . . .
THE ACTOR [_shakes his head_] Impossible . . .
NATASHA [_stepping back_] So help me God--look . . .
BUBNOFF [_appearing in doorway_] What is there to look at?
NATASHA. Anna--she's dead!
BUBNOFF. That means--she's stopped coughing! [_Goes to Anna's bed,
looks, and returns to his bunk_] We must tell Kleshtch--it's his
business to know . . .