UNCLE VANYA

ACT TWO

The dining room of Serebryakov’s house.  Night. The watchman is heard in the distance beating his board. Serebryakov is sitting in an armchair dozing. Elena Andreyevna, also dozing, is sitting in an armchair beside him.)

SEREBRYAKOV  (waking up.) Who’s there? Sonya, is that you?

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  It’s me.

SEREBRYAKOV  It’s you, Elene... This pain is unbearable.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Your blanket has fallen on the floor. (Wraps his legs in the blanket.) I’ll close the window, Alexander.

SEREBRYAKOV  No, it’s stuffy... I just dozed off and it seemed in my dream that my left leg belonged to someone else. I woke with a horrendous pain. No, this is not gout, it’s more likely to be rheumatism. What time is it?

(Pause.)

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Twenty past twelve.

(Pause.)

SEREBRYAKOV  Have a look for Batushkov in the library tomorrow. I think we have him.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  What’s that?

SEREBRYAKOV  Have a look for Batushkov in the morning. I seem to remember we had a copy.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  You’re tired. This is the second night you’ve had no sleep.

SEREBRYAKOV  It’s said that Turgenev developed angina from his gout. I’m afraid it might happen with me. This cursed, this disgusting old age. Damn and blast it. When I grew old I became disgusting even to myself. And I know it’s equally disgusting to you all when you look at me.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  You talk about your old age as if we were responsible for your growing old.

SEREBRYAKOV  I’m disgusting to you in the first place.

(Elena Andreyevna walks away and sits farher off.)

Of course, you’re right. I’m not stupid and I understand. You’re young, healthy, beautiful, you want to live, and I’m an old man, practically a corpse. Well then. Do you think I don’t understand? Of course it’s stupid that I’m still hanging on. But wait, not long and I’ll soon free you all. I don’t have much longer to drag it out.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  I’m exhausted... For God’s sake do stop talking.

SEREBRYAKOV  It turns out that because of me everyone is exhausted, bored to death, squandering their youth, and I alone am enjoying life to the full and am satisfied. Of course, of course! 

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Oh do be quiet! You’re torturing me!

SEREBRYAKOV  I’m torturing everyone. Of course.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  (tearfully.) It’s unbearable! Tell me, what do you want from me?

SEREBRYAKOV  Nothing.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Then do stop talking. I beg you.

SEREBRYAKOV  It’s a strange business. If Ivan Petrovich starts talking, or that old idiot, Marya Vasilyevna, -- it doesn’t matter, everyone listens, but if I open my mouth to say one word, then everyone starts to feel themselves hard done by. Even my voice is disgusting. Well, let’s grant it, I’m disgusting, I’m an egoist, I’m a despot, but don’t I, even in my old age, have some right to be an egoist? Have I not deserved it? Do I not, I ask you, have some right to a peaceful old age and to people’s respect?

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Nobody is disputing your rights.

(The window bangs in the wind.)

The wind’s got up. I’ll close the window. (She closes it.) Nobody is disputing your rights.

(Pause. The workman in the garden beats on his board and sings.)

SEREBRYAKOV  To spend all one’s life working in the cause of science, to get accustomed to one’s study, to the lecture hall, to respected colleagues – then suddenly, without rhyme or reason, to find oneself in this tomb, everyday to meet stupid people, to listen to piffling conversation... I want to live, I love success, I love renown, the noise and bustle, but here – it’s like being in exile. Every minute to yearn for the past, to watch the success of others, to be afraid of dying... I can’t do it. I haven’t the strength. And here they can’t even forgive me for being old!

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Wait, have patience. In five or six years I will be old as well.

(Enter Sonya.)

SONYA  Papa, you yourself sent for Dr. Astrov, but when he got here you refused to see him. That’s impolite. We’ve disturbed the man unnecessarily...

SEREBRYAKOV  What do I want with your Doctor Astrov. He knows as much about medicine as I do about astronomy.

SONYA  We can’t summon the whole medicine faculty here for the sake of your gout.

SEREBRYAKOV  I’m not even going to talk to that weirdo.

SONYA  As you please. (She sits down.) It doesn’t matter to me.

SEREBRYAKOV  What time is it now?

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Nearly one.

SEREBRYAKOV  It’s stuffy... Sonya, hand me those drops from the table!

SONYA  Certainly. (Gives him a bottle of drops.)

SEREBRYAKOV  (Irritated.) Oh not those ones! You can’t ask for anything here!

SONYA  Please, don’t play the spoilt child with me. Some people might find it amusing, but you can spare me, if you don’t mind. I’m not impressed. And I haven’t the time. I have to be up early, it’d haymaking.

(Uncle Vanya enters in a dressing gown and with a candle.)

UNCLE VANYA  There’s a storm gathering.

(Lightning.)

There you are! Hélène and Sonya, go off and get some sleep. I’ve come to give you a break.

SEREBRYAKOV  (Terrified.) No, no! Don’t leave me with him. He’ll talk the life out of me.

UNCLE VANYA  But they’ve got to have some rest! This is a second night they’ve had no sleep.

SEREBRYAKOV  Let them go and sleep. But you must go. I beg you. In the name of our former friendship, do not protest. We will talk afterwards.

UNCLE VANYA  (With a laugh.) Our former friendship... former...

SONYA  Be quiet, Uncle Vanya.

SEREBRYAKOV  (To his wife.) My dearest. Don’t leave me with him! He’ll talk me to death.

UNCLE VANYA  This is almost getting to be amusing.

(Enter Marina with a candle.)

SONYA  Nanny, you should be in bed. It’s late.

MARINA  The samovar’s still on the table. One can’t just go to bed.

SEREBRYAKOV  Everyone is awake, they are worn out, I’m the only one who’s living in bliss.

MARINA  (Goes up to Serebryakov.) What is it dear boy? Are you in pain? My legs are absolutely throbbing, absolutely throbbing. (Puts his blanket straight.) You’ve had this illness a long time... Vera Petrovna, dear soul, Sonya’s mother, often she would not sleep, she endured a lot... She really did love you...

(Pause.)

Old people, just like the young, they want someone to have sympathy for them, but nobody has time for the old. (She kisses Serebyakov on the shoulder.) Come on, dear boy, let’s take you to bed... Come on dear... I’ll brew you a lime tea and I’ll get something to warm your legs... Then I’ll say prayers for you...

SEREBRYAKOV  (touched.) Let’s go then, Marina.

MARINA  My legs also are absolutely throbbing, absolutely throbbing! (She and Sonya wheel him out.) Vera Petrovna, she also used to suffer, she wept a lot... You Sonya were very young then and silly... Come on, come on dear boy...

(Serebryakov, Sonya and Marina all leave.)

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  I’m worn out with him. I can hardly stand up. 

UNCLE VANYA  You with him, and I’m worn out with myself. This is the third night I’ve not slept.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  This house has a curse on it. Your mother hates everything except her brochures and the professor; the professor is bad tempered, he doesn’t trust me and he’s afraid of you; Sonya is angry with her father, is angry with me, and she hasn’t spoken one word to me over the last two weeks; you hate my husband and openly despise your mother; I’m all strung up and twenty times today I wanted to cry... There is a curse on this house.

UNCLE VANYA  Let’s not start philosophising.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  You, Ivan Petrovich, you’re educated and clever, and it seems you must be aware that the world is destroyed not by bandits, or fires, but by hatred, enmities, and by all these petty differences... You would be better employed making peace among everyone, not forever grumbling.

UNCLE VANYA  Teach me how to make peace with myself first. (Seizes he hand.) My dearest...

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Leave me alone! (Takes her hand away.) Go, go!

UNCLE VANYA  It’s raining now and everything in nature is freshened up and is breathing softly. But the storm brings no relief to me. Day and night like an evil spirit the thought tortures me that my life has gone by never to return. There is no past because I wasted it stupidly on trifling rubbish, and the present is horrifying because of its absurdity. Here you have my life and my love: where can I offer them, what use can I make of them? My feelings are lost in vain, like a ray of sunlight falling into a pit, and I myself am wasting away.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  When you talk to me about your love I grow numb and don’t know what to say. Excuse me, there’s nothing I can say to you. (She tries to leave.) Good night.

UNCLE VANYA  (Barring her way.) And if you only knew how much I suffer from the thought that here, alongside me in this same house, another life is wasting away – yours! What are you waiting for? What cursed philosophy is holding you back? Listen to me. Listen...

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  (Looks searchingly at him.) Ivan Petrovich, you’re drunk!

UNCLE VANYA  It may be... It may be so...

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Where’s the doctor?

UNCLE VANYA  In there, he’s staying the night with me. It may be, it may be so... Anything might be!

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  So you both drank today. But what for.

UNCLE VANYA  Well at least it’s like life... No objections please, Hélène.

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  Before you never used to drink, and you never talked so much either... Go and get some sleep. I’m finding this boring.

UNCLE VANYA  (Falling on his knees and grasping her hand.) My dearest one! My wondrous sweetheart!

ELENA  ANDREYEVNA  (Deeply annoyed.) Leave me alone. This is after all quite revolting. (She leaves.)

UNCLE VANYA  alone.) She’s gone.

(Pause.)

Ten years ago I met her at my late sister’s. She was seventeen then, and I was thirty seven. Why didn’t I fall in love with her then and propose to her. Why, it was all so possible! And now she would have been my wife... Yes... And then we would have both been wakened by the storm; she would have been frightened by the thunder and I would have held her in my arms and whispered to her “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.” What a sublime thought, so wonderful, I even laugh at it... but, my God, my thoughts are getting confused... Why am I old. Why does she not understand me? All her posturing, her meaningless morality, those stupid unconnected thoughts about the end of the world – God how I hate it.

(Pause.)

And how I’ve been deceived! I adored this professor, this pitiful gout ridden stooge, I worked for him like an ox. Sonya and I squeezed the last droplets out of this estate for him. Like peasant merchants we traded in oil, peas, milk, we hardly ate a thing so as collect from our pennies and farthings thousands, just to send to him. I was proud of him and his learning, I lived and breathed it! Everything that he wrote or pronounced seemed to me like emanations of genius... My God! And now? Now he’s retired and it’s become clear, the sum total of his life: after he’s gone not a single line of his work will survive, he’s completely unknown, a nonentity! A soap bubble! And I have been deceived... – I see it now, -- stupidly deceived...

(Astrov enters wearing a jacket but no waistcoat, and no tie; he is merry. Telyegin follows carrying a guitar.)

ASTROV  Play!

TELYEGIN  Everyone is asleep!

ASTROV  Play!

(TelYegin strums softly.)

(To Uncle Vanya.)  You’re on your own here? No girls? (Puts his arms on his hips as if to begin dancing. He sings quietly.) “The hut is shaking, the stove is hot, for the poor master no bed, no cot...” The storm woke me. It was a fair downpour. What time is it?

UNCLE VANYA  God knows.

ASTROV  I thought I heard Elena Andryevna’s voice.

UNCLE VANYA  She was here just now.

ASTROV  What a gorgeous woman. (He looks at the bottles on the table.) All these medicines. What a load of prescriptions there are here! From Kharkov, from Moscow, from Tula... He’s pestered every town in the country with his gout. Is he ill, or just pretending?

UNCLE VANYA  he’s ill.

(Pause.)

ASTROV  Why are you so sad today. Are you sorry for the professor, or what?

UNCLE VANYA  Leave me alone.

ASTROV  Or in love with the professor’s wife.

UNCLE VANYA  She’s a friend.

ASTROV  Already?

UNCLE VANYA  What do you mean by that?

ASTROV  A woman can be a man’s friend only in the following sequence: first an acquaintance, then a lover, then finally a friend.

UNCLE VANYA  That’s a lousy, vulgar philosophy.

ASTROV  Really? Yes... I must admit it, I’m becoming vulgar. Well you see, I’m drunk. Usually I only drink like this only once a month. When I get into this condition then I become arrogant and rude in the extreme. I don’t give a fig for anything! I take on the most difficult operations and perform them brilliantly; I sketch out vast plans for the future; at the same time I don’t feel myself to be a weirdo in any way, and I believe that I will be bringing enormous benefits to the human race... enormous! And at the same time I have my own personal philosophy, and all of you, brethren, you appear like so many beetles, or microbes. (To TelYegin.) Waffles, play.

TELYEGIN  My friend, I would be glad to play for you, with all my heart, but consider – in the house they’re all asleep!

ASTROV  Play!

(Telyegin strums quietly.)

I need more to drink. Let’s go, in there, it seems, we still have some cognac. Then in the morning we’ll set out for my place. S’okay? I have an assistant who never says “okay”, but always “s’okay”. He’s a great rogue. Well then, s’okay? (He sees Sonya who enters.) Pardon me, I have no tie. (He leaves; Telyegin follows him.)

SONYA  And you, Uncle Vanya, you’ve been drinking again with the doctor. A fine pair of tipplers. Well he’s always been like that, but why you? At your age it doesn’t suit you at all.

UNCLE VANYA  Age has got nothing to do with it. When you have no real life then you live with mirages. At least it’s better than nothing.

SONYA  our hay is all cut, everyday it rains, it’s all rotting in the fields, and you busy yourself with mirages. You’ve given up on the farm... I’m doing everything on my own, I’m completely worn out... (In a frightened tone.) Uncle, there are tears in your eyes!

UNCLE VANYA  What tears? It’s nothing... Nonsense. You just looked at me like your dear mother... My dearest... (Eagerly kisses her hands and her face.) My sister... My dearest sister... Where is she now? If only she knew. Ah, if only she knew.

SONYA  What, Uncle? Knew what?

UNCLE VANYA  It’s hard, it’s all wrong... It’s nothing... Afterwards... It’s nothing... I must go... (He leaves.)

SONYA  (Knocks on the door.)  Mikhail Lvovich, are you asleep? Can you spare a minute?

ASTROV  (From behind the door.) I’ll be with you right away! (A few moments afterwards he enters. He is already wearing a tie and a waistcoat.) What can I do for you?

SONYA  You can drink if you must and if it doesn’t disgust you, but please, don’t encourage uncle Vanya to drink, it harms him.

ASTROV  Very well. We won’t drink anymore.

(Pause.)

I’ll set off for home right now. It’s signed and sealed. When they’ve harnessed the horses it’ll be dawn.

SONYA  It’s still raining. Wait till the morning.

ASTROV  The storm is passing, we’re only under the edge of it. I’ll set off. And please, don’t call me out again for your father. I tell him it’s gout – he says it’s rheumatism. I ask him to lie down, he sits up. And today he refused absolutely to speak with me.

SONYA  He’s had too much his own way. (She looks into the sideboard.) Do you want a bite to eat?

ASTROV   Well, why not?

SONYA  I like to have a snack in the night. There is something here in the sideboard, I think. They say that in his life he had great success with women, and his women-folk over indulged him. Here, have some cheese.

(They both stand by the sideboard and eat.)

ASTROV  I’ve had nothing to eat all day, I’ve only had drink. Your father has a difficult character. (He takes a bottle from the sideboard.) May I? (He pours a glass and downs it.) There’s nobody here and we may speak freely. You know, it seems to me I could not survive for one month in this house, it would stifle me... Your father is completely wrapped up in his gout and his books, Uncle Vanya with his melancholy, your granny, and last of all your stepmother...

SONYA  What about my stepmother?

ASTROV  In human beings there should always be beauty: in the face, in the dress, in the soul, the thoughts. She is beautiful, no doubt of that, but... after all she only eats, sleeps, goes for a stroll, charms us all with her beauty, and nothing more. She has no obligations, others work for her... Is it not so? But a life led in idleness cannot be a pure life.

(Pause.)

However, perhaps I am judging her too harshly. I’m dissatisfied with life, like your Uncle Vanya, and we are both becoming grumblers.

SONYA  Are you dissatisfied with life?

ASTROV  Generally speaking I love life, but I cannot endure our provincial, Russian, narrow minded life and I utterly despise it with all my being. And as regards my own personal, individual life, so help me God, there is absolutely nothing good in it. You know, when you are going through a dark wood at night, and if at the same time a small light glimmers in the distance, then you don’t notice your tiredness, the darkness, or the sharp branches which fly in your face... I work – as indeed you know – I work like no one else in the district, fate tosses me about without rest, at times I suffer unbearably, but for me there is no light in the distance. I don’t expect anything for myself, I don’t love people... For a long time now I have not loved anyone.

SONYA  Nobody?

ASTROV  Nobody. I feel a certain tenderness for your old nanny – for old times sake. The peasants are all the same, primitive, they live in dirt, and it’s difficult to get on with the intelligentisia. They wear you out. All of them, are good acquaintances, have petty thoughts and feelings, and they don’t see beyond the ends of their noses – to put it bluntly, they are stupid. Those who are a bit more intelligent and broad minded are hysterical, consumed with self analysis and self reflection. They are the sort who whine, they hate, they slander viciously, they sidle up to a person, look at him askance and decide “Oh, he’s a psychopath,” or “He’s a phrasemonger.” And when they can’t decide what label to attach to my forehead they say “”That’s a weird man, very weird!” I love the woods – that’s weird; I don’t eat meat – that’s also weird. A direct, pure, uninhibited relationship with nature and with people is nowhere to be found... Nowhere! (He starts to have another drink.)

SONYA  (Preventing him.) No, I beg you, please, please, don’t have any more.

ASTROV  Why?

SONYA  It is so much unlike you. You are refined, you have a gentle voice... Even more, unlike all those others whom I know, you are one of the best. Why do you want to be like all those other tedious people who drink and play cards? Don’t be like them, I beg you. You are always saying that people do not create things, they only destroy all that which is given them from on high. Why then, why are you destroying yourself? There’s no need, no need, please, I implore you not to.

ASTROV  (Reaches his hand out to her.) I won’t drink any more.

SONYA  Give me your word.

ASTROV  My word of honour.

SONYA  (Clasps his hand firmly.) Thank you!

ASTROV  Enough! I’ve sobered up. Look, I’m completely sober and I’ll stay like that till the end of my days. (Looks at his watch.) So, where were we? I was saying, my time is already past, it’s too late... I’ve grown old, I’m worn out with work, I’ve become common, my feelings are dulled, and it seems I could no longer become attached to anyone. I don’t love anyone ... and I could no longer fall in love. One thing that still stirs me is beauty. I am not indifferent to what is beautiful. It seems to me that if, for example, Elena Andreyevna here took it upon herself to do it, she could set my head in a whirl in half a day... But that would not be love, not devotion... (He covers his face with his hands.)

SONYA  What is the matter?

ASTROV  It’s nothing... During Lent a patient died on the operating table.

SONYA  It’s more than time to forget that.

(Pause.)

Tell me, Mikhail Lvovich... If I had a friend, or a younger sister, and if you found out that she, you know, that she loved you, how would you respond to that?

ASTROV  (Shrugs his shoulders.) I don’t know. I reckon, not at all. I let her know that I could not love her... that my head cannot busy itself with such things. Whatever, if I’m going to go, it’s time. Goodbye dear girl, otherwise we shall never stop talking. (He shakes her hand.) I’ll go through the sitting room, if you don’t mind, or else I’m afraid your uncle will stop me. (He leaves.)

SONYA  (Alone.) He didn’t say anything to me... His heart and his mind are a closed book to me, but why do I feel so happy? (She laughs from sheer happiness.) I said to him, you’re refined, you’re noble, you have such a gentle voice... Did that sound out of place? His voice still resounds, it caresses, I still feel it in the air. But when I spoke to him about a younger sister, he didn’t understand... (She wrings her hands.) Oh how dreadful it is that I’m not pretty! It’s dreadful. And I know I’m not pretty, I know it, I know it... Last Sunday when we came out of church, I heard them talking about me, and one woman said “She’s good hearted, generous, but it’s a pity she’s so ugly...” Ugly...

(Elena Andreyevna enters.)

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  (She opens the window.) The storm has passed. How wonderfully fresh it is!

(Pause.)

Where’s the doctor?

SONYA   He’s gone.

(Pause.)

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  Sonya!

SONYA   What is it?

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  How long are you going to be sulking with me? We haven’t done anything wrong to each other. Why should we be enemies? It’s gone on too long...

SONYA  I wanted to say so myself... (Embraces her.)  Enough of being angry.

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  That’s so much better.

(Both of them are moved.)

SONYA  Has pap gone to bed?

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  No, he’s sitting in the drawing room... We haven’t spoken to each other for weeks, and God knows why. (She notices that the sideboard is open.) What’s this?

SONYA  Mikhail Lvovich had something to eat.

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  There’s some wine. Let’s drink to friendship.

SONYA  Yes let’s.

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  From the same glass... (She pours it out.) It’s better that way. So, we drink as friends?

SONYA  As friends. (They drink and kiss.)  I’ve longed to make up with you, but somehow I was always ashamed... (She cries.)

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  Why are you crying?

SONYA  It’s nothing. It’s just me.

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  Now, now, enough, enough... (She cries.)  You silly, now I’ve started crying.

(Pause.)

Youhave been angry with me as if I married your father for his money... Perhaps you believe those slanders, but I swear to you that I married him for love. I was carried away by his learning and his fame. It was not a real love, it was artificial, but then it seemed to me at the time that it was real. I am not a schemer. But you, since the day of our marriage, have not stopped punishing me with your clever, suspicious eyes.

SONYA  Shush, peace, peace. Let’s forget it.

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  You shouldn’t look at people in that way. It doesn’t suit you. You should take people on trust, otherwise life becomes impossible.  

(Pause.)

SONYA  Tell me honestly, as a friend... Are you happy?

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  No.

SONYA  I knew that. Just one more question. Tell me frankly – do you wish that your husband was younger?

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  What an innocent you are. Of course I would wish it! (She laughs.) Go on, ask me another one, ask me...

SONYA  Do you like the doctor.

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  Yes, very much.

SONYA  (She laughs.) I expect I look stupid... Do I? He’s gone, but I can still hear his voice and his footsteps and if I look in the dark window I seem to see his face. Let me tell you how I feel... But I can’t speak out so loud, I’m ashamed. Come to my room , there we can talk. Do I look stupid to you? Tell me honestly... Tell me something about him.

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  What should I say?

SONYA  He’s clever... he’s capable of anything, he can do anything... He cures people, he sows forests...

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  It’s not the medicine and the sowing of forests that matters... My dear, you must see, it is his talent! And do you know what talent means? Boldness, free thoughts, a wide ranging outlook... He sows a woodland and he is already considering what the result of it will be in a thousand years time, he is already dreaming of future human happiness. Such people are rare, we have to love them... He drinks, at times he’s coarse, --- well does it matter? Talented people in Russia are so rare, they can’t be perfect. Just consider what sort of life this doctor has! Impassable mud on the roads, frosts, storms, huge distances, an uneducated, wild people, everywhere poverty and disease, and for anyone caught in those circumstances who works and struggles to alleviate them day after day, it’s pretty difficult to preserve themselves pure and perfect and sober to the age of forty... (Kisses her.) With all my heart I wish you happiness, you deserve happiness... (She stands up.) But I’m such a tedious, routine person... In music, in my husband’s house, in romance – everywhere, in a word, I’ve just been a routine person. When you come to think of it Sonya, I’m a very, very unhappy person. (Walks agitatedly up and down the stage.) Happiness is not for me in this world. Not at all! Why are you laughing?

SONYA  (She laughs, covering her face with her hands.) I’m so happy... So happy!

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  I feel like playing something... I’d like to play something on the piano.

SONYA.  Do play. (Embraces her.) I couldn’t sleep now. Do play something!

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  I will. But your father’s not sleeping. When he’s not well music irritates him. You go and ask him. If he doesn’t mind, then I’ll play. Go and ask.

SONYA  I’ll go right away. (She leaves.)

(In the garden the watchman is beating his board.)

ELENA ANDREYEVNA  It’s so long since I’ve played. I’ll play and cry, I’ll cry like a fool. (Through the window.) Is that you, Efim, keeping the watch?

(The voice of the watchman “It’s me.”)

Don’t beat the bounds here. The master’s not well.

(The voice of the watchman “I’ll leave right now. Hey Rover, Spot, Rover!”)

SONYA  (Returning.) He says no!

(Curtain.)