The Russian Masters: Works by Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev and More. Максим Горький

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СКАЧАТЬ It would be nice to go in, bathing, but it's too hot to walk to the river. Polya, why don't you speak? Say something.

      PELAGUEYA

      What?

      LIPA

      Scrubbing, scrubbing, all the time.

      PELAGUEYA

      Yes.

      LIPA

      And in a day from now the floors will be dirty again. I don't see what pleasure you get from working the way you do.

      PELAGUEYA.

      I have to.

      LIPA

      I just took a peep at the street. It's awful. Not a human being in sight, not even a dog. All is dead. And the monastery has such a queer look. It seems to be hanging in the air. You have the feeling that if you were to blow on it, it would begin to swing and fly away. Why are you so silent, Polya? Where is Savva? Have you seen him?

      PELAGUEYA

      He's in the pasture playing jackstones with the children.

      LIPA

      He's a funny fellow.

      PELAGUEYA

      I don't see anything funny about it. He ought to be working, that's what he ought to be doing, not playing like a baby. I don't like your Savva.

      LIPA (lazily)

      No, Polya, he is good.

      PELAGUEYA

      Good? I spoke to him and told him how hard the work was for me. "Well," he says, "if you want to be a horse, pull." What did he come here for? I wish he'd stayed where he was.

      LIPA

      He came home to see his folks. Why, it's ten years since he left. He was a mere boy then.

      PELAGUEYA

      A lot he cares for his folks. Yegor Ivanovich is just dying to get rid of him. The neighbors don't know what to make of him either. He dresses like a workingman and carries himself like a lord, doesn't speak to anybody and just rolls his eyes like a saint. I am afraid of his eyes.

      LIPA

      Nonsense. He has beautiful eyes.

      PELAGUEYA

      Can't he see that it's hard for me to be doing all the housework myself? A while ago he saw me carrying a pail full of water. I was straining with all my might. He didn't even say good morning; just, passed on. I have met a lot of people in my life, but never anybody whom I disliked so much.

      LIPA

      I'm so hot, everything seems to be turning round like wheels. Listen,

       Polya, if you don't want to work, don't. No one compels you to.

      PELAGUEYA

      If I won't work, who will? Will you?

      LIPA

      No, I won't. We'll hire a servant.

      PELAGUEYA

      Yes, of course, you have plenty of money.

      LIPA

      And what's the use of keeping it?

      PELAGUEYA

      I'll die soon and then you'll get a servant. I won't last much longer. I have had one miscarriage, and I guess a second child will be the end of me. I don't care. It's better than to live the way I do. Oh! (She clasps her waist)

      LIPA

      But for God's sake, who is asking you to? Stop working. Don't scrub.

      PELAGUEYA

      Yes, stop it, and all of you will be going about saying: "How dirty the house is!"

      LIPA (weary from the heat and Pelagueya's talk)

      Oh, I'm so tired of it!

      PELAGUEYA

      Don't you think I feel tired too? What are you complaining about anyhow? You are a lady. All you have to do is pray and read. I don't even get time to pray. Some day I'll drop into the next world all of a sudden just as I am, with my skirt tucked up under my belt: "Good morning! How d'you do!"

      LIPA

      You'll be scrubbing floors in the next world too.

      PELAGUEYA

      No, in the next world it's you who'll be scrubbing floors, and I'll sit with folded hands like a lady. In heaven we'll be the first ones, while you and your Savva, for your pride and your hard hearts—

      LIPA

      Now, Polya, am I not sorry for you?

      YEGOR IVANOVICH TROPININ (enters, still sleepy, his beard turned to one side, the collar of his shirt unbuttoned; breathing heavily) Whew! Say, Polya, bring me some cider. Quick! (Pause) Who opened the window?

      LIPA

      I did.

      YEGOR

      What for?

      LIPA

      It's hot. The stove in the restaurant makes it so close here you can't breathe.

      YEGOR

      Shut it, shut it, I say. If it's too hot for you, you can go down into the cellar.

      LIPA

      But what do you want to have the window shut for?

      YEGOR

      Because. Shut it! You have been told to shut the window—then shut it! What are you waiting for? (Lipa, shrugging her shoulders, closes the window and is about to leave) Where are you going? The moment your father appears, you run away. Sit down!

      LIPA

      But you don't want me.

      YEGOR

      Never mind whether I want you or not—sit down! Oh, my! (He yawns and crosses himself) Where is Savva?

      LIPA

      I don't know.

      YEGOR

      Tell him I'll turn him out.

      LIPA

      Tell him so yourself.

      YEGOR

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