Four Plays | Page 7

are you talking about, master! Girls of our sort must look out for themselves!
LEON��D. Look out for yourselves how?
L��ZA. [_Looks him in the face and smiles_] Why, everybody knows. What are you talking like a child for?
LEON��D. [_Sadly_] What shall I do now? Indeed, I don't know. They all run away from me.
L��ZA. But don't lose courage; just make love a little bit. Heavens, our hearts aren't of stone!
LEON��D. But see here! I asked her: she said she didn't love me.
L��ZA. Well, if you aren't a queer one! Whoever asked girls right out whether they were in love or not! Even if one of us girls was in love, she wouldn't say so.
LEON��D. Why?
L��ZA. Because she's bashful. Only let me go, sir! [_She gets free_] There goes the old fury!
LEON��D. Come out here into the garden after supper, when mamma goes to bed.
L��ZA. You don't lose any time!
LEON��D. Please come.
L��ZA. Well, we'll see later. [VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA _enters_] Master, please come to tea, your mamma is waiting.
LEON��D. All right, I'm coming.

SCENE V
The same and VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. I saw you, my dear, I saw you.
L��ZA. There was nothing to see. [_She goes out._
LEON��D. Well, what did you see? What are you going to complain about? I shall simply say that you lie. Whom are they going to believe quicker, you or me?
[_He makes a grimace and goes out._
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. There, that's the way they all treat me. I can't stand it! My heart is just sick. I'm a martyr in this world. [_She plucks a flower viciously and pulls off its petals_] I believe that if I had the power I'd do this to all of you! I'd do this to all of you! I'd do this to all of you! You just wait, you young scamp! I'll catch you. My heart boils, it boils, it boils over! And now I must smirk before the mistress as if I were a fool. What a life! What a life! The sinners in hell do not suffer as I suffer in this house! [_She goes out._

II
_A parlor. Rear centre, a door opening into the garden. Doors at the sides; in the centre a round table._

SCENE I
_From a side door there enter a footman with a samovar and a maid with a tea-service; they place both on the table and go out._ GAVR��LOVNA and POT��PYCH enter after them. GAVR��LOVNA prepares the tea. VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA enters from the garden.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. My dear, you always serve me only water.
GAVR��LOVNA. It isn't good for you to drink strong tea, madam.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. It's not your business to worry about me!
GAVR��LOVNA. It dries up the chest, and you're all dried up as it is.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. What a life! What a life! I am not dried up from tea-drinking, my dear, but from the insults of the world.
GAVR��LOVNA. Insults! You insult everybody yourself, as if something were stirring you up!
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. Don't you dare talk to me like that. Just remember who you are. I once owned serfs myself; at my place, such people as you didn't dare peep, they walked the chalk. I didn't let your sort get high-headed!
GAVR��LOVNA. That time's gone by. God gives a vicious cow no horns.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. Oh, you monsters, wretches! You want me to die. Soon I shall die, soon; my soul feels its fast approaching end! Raising her eyes heavenward Shelter me from men, O lid of my coffin! Take me to thee, moist earth! Then you'll be happy; then you'll be joyful!
POT��PYCH. We? What's it to us?.... Tend to your own business.
GAVR��LOVNA. While God is patient with your sins.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. For my sins I have already been tortured here. I mourn now the sins of others.
GAVR��LOVNA. It would be better for you not to bother with other people's sins. Now you're getting ready to die, yet you talk about the sins of others. Aren't you afraid?
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. Afraid of what? Why should I be afraid?
GAVR��LOVNA. Of that little black man with the hook. He's waiting for you now, I guess.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. Where am I? Where am I? My God! Just as if I were in a slough; monsters....
From the left side MADAM ULANB��KOV, N��DYA, L��ZA, and GR��SHA come in.

SCENE II
The same and MADAM ULANB��KOV, GR��SHA, N��DYA, and L��ZA.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. Did our benefactress deign to attend prayer service?
MADAM ULANB��KOV. Yes, I went to vespers in town; to-day is a holiday there.
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. Did you distribute generous alms among the people present?
MADAM ULANB��KOV. No, I only called in Pustaya Street at old man NEGLIG��NTOV's. He asked me to set up his nephew; you see, the nephew is my godson. I'm sorry for these people!
VASIL��SA PEREGR��NOVNA. And you, dear soul, are a benefactress to all. To all alike, to all! You do favors to people who aren't even worth your looking at.
MADAM ULANB��KOV. [_Sits down_]