Selected plays

OLGA. You can go now.

FERAPONT. Yes, miss [goes out].

OLGA. Nanny darling, give them everything. We don't want anything, give it all to them. . . . I'm tired, I can hardly stand on my feet. . . . We mustn't let the Vershinins go home. . . . The little girls can sleep in the drawing-room, and Alexandr Ignatyevitch down below at the baron's. . . . Fedotik can go to the baron's, too, or sleep in our dining-room. . . . As ill-luck will have it, the doctor is drunk, frightfully drunk, and no one can be put in his room. And Vershinin's wife can be in the drawing-room too.

ANFISA [wearily]. Olyushka darling, don't send me away; don't send me away!

OLGA. That's nonsense, nanny. No one is sending you away.

ANFISA [lays her head on OLGA'S shoulder]. My own, my treasure, I work, I do my best. . . . I'm getting weak, everyone will say 'Send her away!' And where am I to go? Where? I'm eighty. Eighty-one.

OLGA. Sit down, nanny darling. . . . You are tired, poor thing . . . [makes her sit down]. Rest, dear good nanny. . . . How pale you are!

[Enter NATASHA.]

NATASHA. They're saying we must form a committee at once for the assistance of those whose houses have been burnt. Well, that's a good idea. Indeed, we ought always to be ready to help the poor, it's the duty of the rich. Bobik and baby Sophie are both asleep, sleeping as though nothing were happening. There are such a lot of people everywhere, wherever you go, the house is full. There is influenza in the town now; I'm so afraid the children may get it.

OLGA [not listening]. In this room you can't see the fire, it's quiet here.

NATASHA. Yes . . . my hair must be untidy [in front of the mirror]. They say I have grown fatter . . . but it's not true! Not a bit! Masha is asleep, she is tired out, poor dear. . . . [To ANFISA coldly] Don't dare to sit down in my presence! Get up! Go out of the room! [ANFISA goes out; a pause]. Why you keep that old woman, I can't understand!

OLGA [taken aback]. Excuse me, I don't understand either. . . .

NATASHA. She is no use here. She's a peasant; she ought to be in the country. . . . You spoil people! I like order in the house! There ought to be no useless servants in the house. [Strokes her cheek.] You are tired, poor darling. Our headmistress is tired! When baby Sophie is a big girl and goes to the high-school, I shall be afraid of you.

OLGA. I won't be headmistress.

NATASHA. You'll be elected, Olechka. That's a settled thing.

OLGA. I'll refuse. I can't, . . . It's too much for me . . . [drinks water]. You were so rude to nanny just now. . . . Excuse me, I can't endure it, . . . It makes me feel faint.

NATASHA [perturbed]. Forgive me, Olya; forgive me. . . . I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

[MASHA gets up, takes her pillow, and goes out in a rage.]

OLGA. You must understand, my dear, it may be that we have been strangely brought up, but I can't endure it, . . . Such an attitude oppresses me, it makes me ill. . . . I feel simply unnerved by it, . . .

NATASHA. Forgive me; forgive me . . . [kisses her].