The Chekhov Collection: Novellas, Short Stories, Plays, Letters & Diary. Anton Chekhov

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СКАЧАТЬ and weep. That is what you ought to do, and the great thing is not to forget to do right.

      IVANOFF. Again I feel as if I were going crazy; again!

      SASHA. Well, heaven help you! You must forget me entirely. In two weeks you must send me a line and I shall be content with that. But I shall write to you —

      BORKIN looks in at the door.

      BORKIN. Ivanoff, may I come in? [He sees SASHA] I beg your pardon, I did not see you. Bonjour! [He bows.]

      SASHA. [Embarrassed] How do you do?

      BORKIN. You are plumper and prettier than ever.

      SASHA. [To IVANOFF] I must go, Nicholas, I must go. [She goes out.]

      BORKIN. What a beautiful apparition! I came expecting prose and found poetry instead. [Sings]

      “You showed yourself to the world as a bird — —”

      IVANOFF walks excitedly up and down.

      BORKIN. [Sits down] There is something in her, Nicholas, that one doesn’t find in other women, isn’t there? An elfin strangeness. [He sighs] Although she is without doubt the richest girl in the country, her mother is so stingy that no one will have her. After her mother’s death Sasha will have the whole fortune, but until then she will only give her ten thousand roubles and an old flat-iron, and to get that she will have to humble herself to the ground. [He feels in his pockets] Will you have a smoke? [He offers IVANOFF his cigarette case] These are very good.

      IVANOFF. [Comes toward BORKIN stifled with rage] Leave my house this instant, and don’t you ever dare to set foot in it again! Go this instant!

      BORKIN gets up and drops his cigarette.

      IVANOFF. Go at once!

      BORKIN. Nicholas, what do you mean? Why are you so angry?

      IVANOFF. Why! Where did you get those cigarettes? Where? You think perhaps that I don’t know where you take the old man every day, and for what purpose?

      BORKIN. [Shrugs his shoulders] What business is it of yours?

      IVANOFF. You blackguard, you! The disgraceful rumours that you have been spreading about me have made me disreputable in the eyes of the whole countryside. You and I have nothing in common, and I ask you to leave my house this instant.

      BORKIN. I know that you are saying all this in a moment of irritation, and so I am not angry with you. Insult me as much as you please. [He picks up his cigarette] It is time though, to shake off this melancholy of yours; you’re not a schoolboy.

      IVANOFF. What did I tell you? [Shuddering] Are you making fun of me?

      Enter ANNA.

      BORKIN. There now, there comes Anna! I shall go.

      IVANOFF stops near the table and stands with his head bowed.

      ANNA. [After a pause] What did she come here for? What did she come here for, I ask you?

      IVANOFF. Don’t ask me, Annie. [A pause] I am terribly guilty. Think of any punishment you want to inflict on me; I can stand anything, but don’t, oh, don’t ask questions!

      ANNA. [Angrily] So that is the sort of man you are? Now I understand you, and can see how degraded, how dishonourable you are! Do you remember that you came to me once and lied to me about your love? I believed you, and left my mother, my father, and my faith to follow you. Yes, you lied to me of goodness and honour, of your noble aspirations and I believed every word ——

      IVANOFF. I have never lied to you, Annie.

      ANNA. I have lived with you five years now, and I am tired and ill, but I have always loved you and have never left you for a moment. You have been my idol, and what have you done? All this time you have been deceiving me in the most dastardly way ——

      IVANOFF. Annie, don’t say what isn’t so. I have made mistakes, but I have never told a lie in my life. You dare not accuse me of that!

      ANNA. It is all clear to me now. You married me because you expected my mother and father to forgive me and give you my money; that is what you expected.

      IVANOFF. Good Lord, Annie! If I must suffer like this, I must have the patience to bear it. [He begins to weep.]

      ANNA. Be quiet! When you found that I wasn’t bringing you any money, you tried another game. Now I remember and understand everything. [She begins to cry] You have never loved me or been faithful to me — never!

      IVANOFF. Sarah! That is a lie! Say what you want, but don’t insult me with a lie!

      ANNA. You dishonest, degraded man! You owe money to Lebedieff, and now, to escape paying your debts, you are trying to turn the head of his daughter and betray her as you have betrayed me. Can you deny it?

      IVANOFF. [Stifled with rage] For heaven’s sake, be quiet! I can’t answer for what I may do! I am choking with rage and I — I might insult you!

      ANNA. I am not the only one whom you have basely deceived. You have always blamed Borkin for all your dishonest tricks, but now I know whose they are.

      IVANOFF. Sarah, stop at once and go away, or else I shall say something terrible. I long to say a dreadful, cruel thing [He shrieks] Hold your tongue, Jewess!

      ANNA. I won’t hold my tongue! You have deceived me too long for me to be silent now.

      IVANOFF. So you won’t be quiet? [He struggles with himself] Go, for heaven’s sake!

      ANNA. Go now, and betray Sasha!

      IVANOFF. Know then that you — are dying! The doctor told me that you are dying.

      ANNA. [Sits down and speaks in a low voice] When did he

      IVANOFF. [Clutches his head with both hands] Oh, how guilty I am — how guilty! [He sobs.]

      THE CURTAIN FALLS.

      About a year passes between the third and fourth acts.

      ACT IV

       Table of Contents

      A sitting-room in LEBEDIEFF’S house. In the middle of the wall at the back of the room is an arch dividing the sitting-room from the ballroom. To the right and left are doors. Some old bronzes are placed about the room; family portraits are hanging on the walls. Everything is arranged as if for some festivity. On the piano lies a violin; near it stands a violoncello. During the entire act guests, dressed as for a ball, are seen walking about in the ballroom.

      Enter LVOFF, looking at his watch.

      LVOFF. It is five o’clock. The ceremony must have begun. First the priest will bless them, and then they will be led to the church to be married. Is this how virtue and justice triumph? Not being able to rob Sarah, he has tortured her to death; and now he has found another victim whom he will deceive until he has robbed СКАЧАТЬ