Ivanov

You are not a child, Anyuta, you must be sensible.⁠ ⁠… To the Count. And what do you want to go there for? Shabelsky I’d go to hell, into the jaws of a crocodile, so long as I need not stay here! I am bored! I am bored to stupefaction! Everybody is sick of me. You leave me at home so that she should not be bored alone, but I do nothing but snap and nag at her! Anna Petrovna Leave him alone, Count, leave him alone! Let him go if he enjoys it. Ivanov Anyuta, why do you speak like that? You know I am not going for pleasure! I have to speak about the loan. Anna Petrovna I don’t know why you justify yourself! Go! No one is keeping you! Ivanov Come, don’t let us nag at each other! Surely it isn’t necessary? Shabelsky In a tearful voice. Nicolas, dear boy, I implore you, take me with you! I shall have a look at the knaves and fools there and perhaps it will amuse me! I haven’t been anywhere since Easter! Ivanov Irritably. Oh, very well, come along! How sick I am of you all! Shabelsky Yes? Oh, merci, merci⁠ ⁠… cheerfully takes him by the arm and leads him aside. May I wear your straw hat? Ivanov Yes, only make haste! The Count runs indoors. Ivanov How sick I am of you all! But, good God, what am I saying? Anyuta, I talk to you in an unpardonable way. I never used to be like this before. Well, goodbye, Anyuta, I shall be back by one. Anna Petrovna Kolya, darling, stay at home! Ivanov Agitated. My precious, my poor unhappy darling, I entreat you, don’t prevent my going out in the evening. It’s cruel and unfair of me, but let me be unfair! I feel miserably depressed at home! As soon as the sun sets, I am overcome by acute misery. Such misery! Don’t ask why it is. I don’t know myself. I swear I don’t! Here it is misery; I go to the Lebedyevs and there it is worse still; I come back and here misery again, and it goes on like that all night.⁠ ⁠… It’s simply desperate! Anna Petrovna Kolya⁠ ⁠… but if you stay? We will talk as we used to.⁠ ⁠… We’ll have supper together; we will read.⁠ ⁠… The old grumbler and I have learned a lot of duets for you⁠ ⁠… puts her arms round him. Do stay! A pause. I don’t understand you. This has been going on for a whole year. Why have you changed? Ivanov I don’t know, I don’t know.⁠ ⁠… Anna Petrovna And why don’t you want me to go with you in the evening? Ivanov If you will have it, I’ll tell you. It’s rather cruel to say it, but it is better to speak out.⁠ ⁠… When I am depressed I⁠ ⁠… I begin not to love you. I run away even from you at such times. In short, I must get away from home. Anna Petrovna Depression! I understand⁠—I understand.⁠ ⁠… Do you know what, Kolya? Try to sing, to laugh, to get cross, as you used to.⁠ ⁠… Stay, we will laugh, drink homemade wine, and we’ll drive away your depression in an instant. Shall I sing to you? Or we’ll go and sit in your study in the dark as we used to, and you shall tell me about your depression.⁠ ⁠… Your eyes are so full of suffering! I will look into them and weep, and we shall both feel better⁠ ⁠… she laughs and cries. Or, Kolya, what is it? The flowers come again every spring, but joys do not? Yes? Well, go, go.⁠ ⁠… Ivanov Pray for me, Anyuta! He moves forward, stops, and ponders. No, I cannot goes out. Anna Petrovna Go⁠ ⁠… sits down at the table. Lvov Pacing up and down the stage. Anna Petrovna, you must make it a rule as soon as the clock strikes six to come indoors and stay there till morning. The damp of the evening is bad for you. Anna Petrovna Yes, sir! Lvov What do you mean by that? I am speaking seriously. Anna Petrovna And I don’t want to be serious coughs. Lvov There, you see, you are coughing already. Enter Shabelsky. Shabelsky Comes out in a hat and overcoat. Where is Nikolay? Is the carriage there? Goes up quickly and kisses Anna Petrovna’s hand. Good night, my charmer! Grimacing. Gewalt! Vill you pardon me? Goes out quickly. Lvov The buffoon! A pause; the sound of a concertina far away. Anna Petrovna How dull it is! The coachmen and the cooks have got up a ball, while I⁠ ⁠… I seem to be forsaken.⁠ ⁠… Yevgeny Konstantinitch, why are you striding up and down? Come here, sit down! Lvov I can’t sit still a pause. Anna Petrovna

They are playing the “Greenfinch” in the kitchen.

Sings. Greenfinch, greenfinch, where have you been?
Drinking vodka under the hill?

A pause. Doctor, have you got a father and mother?

Lvov My father is dead, but I have a mother. Anna Petrovna Do you miss your mother? Lvov I have no time to miss her. Anna Petrovna Laughs. The flowers come again every spring, but joys do not. Who was it said that to me? Let me see.⁠ ⁠… I believe it was Nikolay himself listens. There’s the owl screeching again! Lvov Well, let it screech. Anna Petrovna I begin to think, doctor, that fate has been unfair to me. Numbers of people who are perhaps no better than I are happy and pay nothing for their happiness. I have paid for everything, absolutely everything! And what a price! Why take from me such terribly high interest?⁠ ⁠… My good friend, you are all on your guard with me⁠—you are so considerate, you are afraid to tell me the truth; but do you suppose I don’t know what’s the matter with me? I know very well. But it’s boring to talk about it. In a Jewish accent. Vill you pardon me, please?