in the least remarkable who could inspire envy or a passionate desire to imitate him. . . . They only eat, drink, sleep, and then die . . . others are born, and they also eat and drink and sleep, and not to be bored to stupefaction they vary their lives by nasty gossip, vodka, cards, litigation; and the wives deceive their husbands, and the husbands tell lies and pretend that they see and hear nothing, and an overwhelmingly vulgar influence crushes the children, and the divine spark is quenched in them and they become the same sort of pitiful, dead creatures, all exactly alike, as their fathers and mothers. . . . [To FERAPONT, angrily] What do you want?
FERAPONT. Eh? There are papers to sign.
ANDREY. You're a nuisance!
FERAPONT [handing him the papers]. The porter from the local court was saying just now that there was as much as two hundred degrees of frost in Petersburg last winter.
ANDREY. The present is hateful, but when I think of the future, it's so nice! I feel so light-hearted, so free. A light dawns in the distance, I see freedom. I see how I and my children will become free from sloth, from kvass, from goose and cabbage, from naps after dinner, from mean, parasitic living. . . .
FERAPONT. He says that two thousand people were frozen to death. The people were terrified. It was either in Petersburg or Moscow, I don't remember.
ANDREY [in a rush of tender feeling]. My dear sisters, my wonderful sisters! [Through tears] Masha, my sister!
NATASHA [in the window]. Who's talking so loud out there? Is that you, Andryusha? You'll wake baby Sophie. Il ne faut pas faire du bruit, la Sophie est dormee deje. Vous etes un ours. [Getting angry] If you want to talk, give the carriage with the baby to somebody else. Ferapont, take the baby carriage from the master!
FERAPONT. Yes, ma'am [takes the baby carriage] .
ANDREY [in confusion]. I'm talking quietly.
NATASHA [petting her child, inside the room]. Bobik! Naughty Bobik! Little rascal!
ANDREY [looking through the papers]. Very well, I'll look through them and sign what needs signing, and then you can take them back to the Board. . . . [Goes into the house reading the papers; FERAPONT pushes the baby carriage farther into the garden.]
NATASHA [speaking indoors]. Bobik, what is mamma's name? Darling, darling! And who is this? This is auntie Olya. Say to auntie, 'Good morning, Olya!'
[Two wandering musicians, a man and a girl, enter and play a violin and a harp; from the house enter VERSHININ with OLGA and ANFISA, and stand off a minute listening in silence; IRINA comes up.]
OLGA. Our garden is like a public passage; they walk and ride through. Nanny, give those people something.
ANFISA [gives money to the musicians]. Go away, and God bless you, my dear souls! [The musicians bow and go away.] Poor things. They must be hungry. Why else would they do it? [To IRINA] Good morning, Irisha! [Kisses her.] Well, my little girl, I'm having a time of it! Living in the high-school, in a government apartment, with dear Olyushka -- that's what the Lord has granted to me in my old age! I've never lived so well in my life, sinful woman that I am. . . . It's a big flat, and I have a room to myself and my own bed. All at the government expense. I wake up in the night and, O
