Part of the park on Sorin’s estate.

A stage, hastily knocked together for a private performance, with a curtain which is at present closed, hiding a view of a lake.

A few chairs, a small table.

The sun has just gone down. On the stage behind the curtain are Yakov and other workmen; coughing and hammering can be heard. Masha and Medvedenko enter, returning from a stroll.

Medvedenko Why do you always wear black?

Masha I’m in mourning for my life. I’m unhappy.

Medvedenko Why are you? I don’t see why. You’ve got your health, [and] your father may not be rich but he doesn’t go short here. Look at me with my twenty-three roubles a month – I don’t go about in mourning. And that’s before they take off the pension.

Masha Money isn’t everything. A pauper can be happy.

Medvedenko A happy pauper? Yes … yes, in theory, but in practice what you’ve got is me and my mother, my two sisters and little brother, and my salary of twenty-three roubles a month. It isn’t as if we don’t have to eat and drink – is it? – [or] don’t need tea – and sugar – tobacco … it’s everywhere you turn.

Masha looks at the stage.

Masha [It’s] nearly time for the performance, anyway.

Medvedenko Oh, yes: the performance. Nina Zarechnaya: appearing in: a play by: Konstantin Gavrilovich. They’re in love and today their two souls will merge into one in an effort to create a single work of art. Your soul and mine, by way of contrast, don’t meet at all. I love you and can’t stay at home for longing for you, every day I walk four miles here and back again, and you don’t care. Well, why should you? I have no money, large family to support … Who wants to marry a man who can’t even feed himself?

Masha takes snuff.

Masha That’s all rot. I’m touched that you love me but I can’t return your feelings and that’s all there is to it, [so] have a pinch of snuff.

Medvedenko I don’t want a pinch of snuff … thank you all the same.

Masha It’s stifling. There’ll be a storm tonight, I shouldn’t wonder. You’re always either philosophizing or talking about money. You think there’s nothing worse than being poor. I’d a thousand times rather go about in rags and beg than – well, I wouldn’t expect you to [understand] …

Sorin, leaning on a stick, and Konstantin enter.

Sorin With me, what it is is, the country somehow doesn’t agree with me and never will, that’s what and there you have it. Last night I went to bed at ten – woke up at nine – had the feeling I’d slept so long my brain was stuck to my skull, and the rest of it. (He laughs.) Then after dinner I dropped off without knowing it and now I feel a complete wreck, it’s like one long nightmare, that’s what.

Konstantin You’re right, you ought to live in town.

(Having caught sight of Masha and Medvedenko.) Look out, you two – members of the public aren’t allowed – you’ll be called when it starts. Please go away.

Sorin Be a good girl and speak to your father about letting the dog off its chain, otherwise it howls all night – my sister never slept a wink again.

Masha You can speak to him yourself – I’m not [going to], and I’d rather you didn’t ask me. (to Medvedenko) Come on, then.

Medvedenko You’ll let us know when it’s starting …

They both go off.

Sorin So the dog will be howling all night again. It’s a funny thing – I never get my own way in the country, never have. In the old days one used to take a month’s leave to come down here and relax, recoup, and the rest of it, and from the moment you got here you’d be so pestered with every kind of nonsense, you couldn’t wait to get away. Leaving was always the best part of coming here. But now I’m retired there’s nowhere else to go, I have to live here like it or not, and there you have it.

Yakov Konstantin Gavrilovich, sir – we’re going for a swim.

Konstantin All right, but [be back in your] places in ten minutes. Not long now.

Yakov Yes, sir.

Konstantin Now there’s a theatre for you. Curtain – wings – then nothing but empty space – no scenery, sightlines straight to the lake and the horizon. Curtain up eight-thirty on the dot, as the moon is rising.

Sorin First rate.

Konstantin If Nina’s late, of course, the whole effect will be lost. She ought to be here by now. Her father and stepmother watch her like hawks. Getting out of the house is like breaking out of prison. Your hair and beard could do with a comb – actually, a pair of scissors, do you think?

Sorin (combing his beard) It’s the tragedy of my life. I looked like a down-and-out even as a young man, as if I drank and the rest of it – [it] used to put all the women off [me]. Why is my sister out of sorts?

Konstantin Because she’s bored and she’s jealous, that’s why. She’s taken against the performance just because Nina’s acting and might catch the fancy of her writer fellow. She doesn’t know anything about my play and she already hates it.

Sorin Oh, now really, come now …

Konstantin She’s cross in advance because here on this pathetic little stage it’s Nina who’s going to get the applause and not her. She’s a case, my mother. Talented all right – not stupid – quite capable of shedding tears over a novel – [she] can reel off Nekrasov by heart – wonderful with the sick … But just try praising Eleonora Duse in her presence – oh-ho-ho! – no one’s got to be praised but her – she’s the one who has to be written up, bravo’d, encore’d, and generally send people into raptures over her amazing performance in La Dame aux Camelias or one of those – but here in the country this drug is not available so she gets bored and crotchety – she has to take it out on someone, so it’s us, it’s all our fault. And then, she’s superstitious – terrified of three candles on the table, the thirteenth of the month … And mean, too – she’s got seventy thousand in the bank, I know that for a fact, but ask her for a loan and she’ll start to weep.

Sorin What it is is you’ve convinced yourself your mother won’t like your play, that’s what, and you’re upsetting yourself before the fact and the rest of it – calm down, your mother adores you.

Konstantin (plucking the petals from a flower) She loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, she loves me – not: you see? My mother doesn’t love me. Of course she doesn’t! – she wants to live and love and dress like a girl, and there am I, twenty-five years old, a constant reminder that she’s not as young as she thinks. When I’m not there she’s thirty-two, when I am she’s forty-three, no wonder she hates me. Furthermore, she knows I don’t believe in her theatre. She worships the theatre, she thinks she’s serving humanity and the sacred flame of art, while I happen to think [that] the modern theatre is a narrow-minded and predictable ragbag of worn-out routines. Up goes the curtain, and there in a room with a wall missing, inexplicably bathed in artificial light, are these great artists, these high priests of the sacred mystery, demonstrating how people eat, drink, make love, walk about and wear their coats; and when they strain to squeeze out from their trite little scenes some trite little moral for us to take home for use about the house – when I’m handed this same old stuff in a thousand variations over and over and over, then I’m afraid I run – like Maupassant ran when he clapped eyes on the Eiffel Tower and took to his heels thinking his brain was about to be crushed by the sheer weight of all that vulgarity.

Sorin But we must have theatre.

Konstantin We need a new kind of theatre. If we can’t make it new [it’s] better to have none. I love my mother, I love her very much, but what a futile life [she leads] … forever obsessed with that novelist, her name constantly bandied about in the newspapers – I’m so tired of it; though it’s also simple egotism – not wanting a famous actress for a mother, thinking I’d be happier if she were just anybody … Honestly, Uncle, can you think of anything more hopeless and stupid than being me in mother’s drawing-room when she’s got celebrities in … writers and artists everywhere you look; and me, the only nobody in the lot, indulged only because I’m her son. Who am I? What am I? Sent down from university without a degree for having opinions which are not necessarily those of the editor as the saying goes – I have no talents, no money, and in my passport I’m down as shopkeeper class, from Kiev – I’m from the Kiev shop-keeping classes! My father actually did keep a shop in Kiev, but he had a name as an actor. So anyway – when all those artists and writers in her drawing-room’d politely turned their glance on me I’d have the feeling they were sizing up my insignificance. I knew what they were thinking, and I felt so humiliated.

Sorin A propos – could you tell me – what sort of fellow is this writer of hers? I can’t make him out, he never says anything.

Konstantin Intelligent – unaffected – a melancholy streak, I’d say … a decent fellow, famous at still well under forty, and tired of it all. As for his writing – well, how can I put it? – a very pretty talent, but if you’ve been reading Tolstoy or Zola you don’t feel any urge to read Trigorin.

Sorin Still – I’m rather keen on literary men. There was a time when there were two things I passionately wanted – to get married and to be a literary man. Never managed either one. Even to be an unknown literary man must be very nice, that’s what.

Konstantin I can hear her coming. (He embraces his uncle.) I can’t live without her! – even the sound of her footsteps is enchanting – I could go mad, I’m so happy –

Konstantin quickly hurries to meet Nina as she enters.

My angel! – my dream –

Nina (agitatedly) I’m not late – tell me I’m not late.

Konstantin (kissing her hand) No … no … no …

Nina I’ve been worried sick all day – oh, I was so terrified my father would stop me coming. But they’ve gone out – he and my stepmother. The sky was red, the moon was rising, and I was urging on the horse – come on – come on – come on! (She laughs.) I feel happy now, though. (She shakes Sorin firmly by the hand.)

Sorin Oooh, do I see tears? That won’t do!

Nina It’s nothing – I’m just out of breath. I’ve got to go in half an hour, we have to hurry, I can’t be late. I simply can’t – don’t make me late, for God’s sake – my father doesn’t know I’m here.

Konstantin It’s time to start anyway – we must call everyone.

Sorin I’ll go, I’ll go – all done, that’s what and there you have it. (He goes and sings.)

Two grenadiers were riding to France,
Home from their prison in Russia …

He looks round.

I once started to sing like that, and one of the assistant prosecutors said to me, ‘You have a powerful voice, Your Excellency,’ then he thought for a moment and added, ‘powerful, but perfectly horrible.’ (He laughs and goes out.)

Nina My father and his wife don’t let me come here – they say you’re all bohemians. They’re terrified I’ll go on the stage. But I’m drawn here like a seagull drawn to the lake. Oh, my heart’s so full of you.

Konstantin [It’s all right,] we’re alone here.

Nina I think there’s someone …

Konstantin There isn’t anyone.

They kiss.

Nina What kind of tree is that?

Konstantin Elm.

Nina Why does it look so dark?

Konstantin The light’s going now – everything starts looking dark. Don’t leave too soon, please don’t!

Nina I can’t stay on.

Konstantin What if I came back with you, Nina? I’ll stand the whole night in your garden looking up at your window.

Nina You’d better not! – The watchman would see you! – Tresor isn’t used to you, he’ll bark.

Konstantin I love you.

Nina Shh …

Konstantin Who’s that? – is that you, Yakov?

Yakov Yes, sir, it’s me.

Konstantin Everyone [get] ready, we’ll be starting. Is the moon up?

Yakov Yes, sir.

Konstantin Have you got the methylated spirits? – and the sulphur? We must have the smell of sulphur as soon as the red eyes appear. (to Nina) Go on then – everything’s ready for you – Are you nervous?

Nina Very. I don’t mind your mother, I’m not nervous about her, but to have Trigorin here, I’ve got stagefright just thinking about acting in front of him, I feel so unworthy – such a famous writer! Is he young?

Konstantin He is, yes.

Nina All those wonderful stories he writes!

Konstantin I wouldn’t know, I haven’t read them.

Nina Your play’s difficult to do. Being as there aren’t any real people in it.

Konstantin Real people! The idea is to show life the way we experience it in dreams – not the way it is or [the way] you think it ought to be.

Nina Yes, but there isn’t much action in your play, it’s all – you know – lines. I think there ought definitely to be love in a play …

They both go behind the stage.
   Polina and Dorn enter.

Polina It’s getting damp. Do go back and put on your galoshes.

Dorn I’m too hot.

Polina You don’t look after yourself. It’s plain mulish ness. You’re a doctor, you know perfectly well dampness in the air is bad for you, [but] you just do it to upset me. Last night you deliberately sat the whole evening out on the verandah …

Dorn (hums) ‘Say not your youth was ruined.’

Polina You were so carried away talking to madam you never noticed the cold. You like her – admit you do.

Dorn I’m fifty-five.

Polina Oh, tarradiddle – that’s not old for a man. You’ve worn well and you’re still attractive to women.

Dorn What is it you want me to do about it?

Polina You men would kiss the ground for an actress – not one of you wouldn’t.

Dorn (hums) ‘Again I stand before you …’
    If it so happens that artists in our society are treated differently from, say, tradesmen, that’s only natural, that’s called idealism.

Polina You’ve always had women throwing themselves at you – that’s idealism too, is it?

Dorn Well, in a way … What women liked most about me was that I was a damn good doctor. If you remember ten or fifteen years ago, I was the only decent obstetrician in the whole province. And besides – I was always straight with them.

Polina Oh, my dear –!

Dorn Hush – they’re coming.

Enter Arkadina on Sorin’s arm, with Trigorin,
Shamraev, Medvedenko and Masha.

Shamraev In 1873 at the Poltava Fair, she was amazing – gave a superb performance, quite wonderful. Do you happen to know what became of the comedian Chadin? He gave an incomparable Raspliuyev – better than Sadovsky, you have my word, ma’am. What is he doing now?

Arkadina You keep asking me about people from before the Flood! How should I know?

Shamraev Pashka Chadin. They don’t make them like that any more. The theatre’s not what it was. There used to be mighty oaks! – now we’ve got nothing but stumps.

Dorn There aren’t as many outstanding actors nowadays, that’s true, but the average level is much higher.

Shamraev There I have to disagree. But it’s all a matter of taste. De gustibus aut bene aut nihil.

Konstantin comes out from behind the stage.

Arkadina My darling! – isn’t it starting?

Konstantin In a minute – if you could just be patient.

Arkadina

Konstantin

A horn sounds behind the stage.

Ladies and gentlemen, the performance is about to begin. Your attention, please. Here we go, then. (He taps with a stick and speaks in a loud voice.) Harken, ye ancient and hallowed shades that haunt the hours of night about this lake – send us asleep, perchance to dream of what will be two hundred thousand years from now!

Sorin Two hundred thousand years from now there’ll be nothing.

Konstantin Then let them show us the nothing that will be!

Arkadina Let them, do. We’re asleep.

The curtain parts; the view over the lake is revealed, the moon above the horizon, its reflection in the water; Nina, all in white, is sitting on a large rock.

Nina Mankind and monkeys – ostriches and partridges, antlered stags, ganders, spiders – unfathomable fishes that dwell in the deep and all creatures too small to be seen – every living thing and life itself – all has come to the end of its melancholy round and is now extinct. Thousands of centuries have passed since the earth bore any living creature, and this poor moon lights its lantern all for nothing. No more do the cranes wake and cry in the meadows, no more are the may-bugs heard in the lime groves. There is nothing but the cold – the cold, cold emptiness – emptiness and more emptiness – terrible it is – terrible – it is terrible … (Pause.) The bodies of all creatures that ever lived are as dust – their indestruc tible matter is become stones, water, clouds – and their souls are become one soul, and that soul is – me! – I am the souls of Alexander the Great, of Caesar, of Shakespeare, of Napoleon and of the lowest of the leeches. In me, godlike reason is fused with animal instinct, every memory is in my memory, and every life is lived again in me.

Marsh light appears.

Arkadina (quietly) Sounds like one of those Decadents …

Konstantin Mama!

Nina I am all alone. Once in a hundred years I open my lips to speak and my voice echoes dismally in the void and there is no one to hear me … not even you, pale fires – born at the turn of the night, from the rotting swamps, to wander the earth till day is breaking – devoid of thought or will or any pulse of life. The Devil – Lord of Eternal Matter – fearful of life coming to life in you, has caused a ceaseless exchanging of your atoms as in rocks and water, so [that] you are forever altering as you alter, and in the whole universe spirit is the only constant. (Pause.) I’m like a prisoner cast into a deep empty well, not knowing where I am or what awaits me. One thing only has been made known to me – [that] in the bitter struggle with the Devil who commands the forces of matter, I am destined to be victorious, and then will follow a wondrous fusion of Matter and Spirit to bring about the rule of the Cosmic Will. Yet first, the Moon and bright Sirius and the Earth, little by little, over millennia after millennia, must come to dust. Until that time, there shall be only the horror – the horror – the horror.

Pause: two red spots appear in the background over the lake.

Look where he comes! – my mighty adversary the Devil approaches – I see his terrible crimson eyes –

Arkadina I can smell sulphur – is that part of it?

Konstantin Yes.

Arkadina (laughing) Oh, yes – I see – it’s an effect!

Konstantin Mama!

Nina He’s so lonely without Man …

Polina (to Dorn) Now you’ve taken off your hat – put it on before you catch cold.

Arkadina The doctor’s taken his hat off to the Devil, Lord of Eternal Matter.

Konstantin Right! The play’s over! Curtain!

Arkadina What are you so cross about?

Konstantin That’s enough! Curtain! Can we have the curtain closed please?

The curtain is closed.

I must apologize. I quite forgot that writing and acting in plays is only for the chosen few. I have defied the monopoly! I’m – I – (He wants to say something more but waves his hand and goes off.)

Arkadina What’s got into him?

Sorin Irina – my dear girl – that’s no way to treat a young man’s self-respect.

Arkadina Why, what did I say?

Sorin You’ve hurt him.

Arkadina But he told us himself it was going to be a bit of fun and I took it as a bit of fun.

Sorin Even so …

Arkadina Now it turns out he’s written a masterpiece. I ask you! So he got up this show and stank out the place with sulphur not to amuse us after all but to teach us the kind of thing we ought to be writing and acting in. Really, it’s becoming a bore … and his constant digs and pointed little remarks, I don’t care what anyone says, it’d bore anybody – he’s a petulant, conceited little boy.

Sorin He was trying to please you.

Arkadina Was he? Then why couldn’t he choose a proper play instead of making us sit through this oh-so-decadent-my-dear gibberish. I don’t mind listening to gibberish once in a while if it’s to entertain, but this was apparently supposed to be a new theatrical form, the art of the future. Since when has the exhibition of a morbid personality been a new art form?

Trigorin We write as we must, and as best we can.

Arkadina He’s welcome to write as he must but don’t drag me into it.

Dorn When Jupiter’s angry, Jupiter’s wrong.

Arkadina Jupiter wasn’t a woman. (She lights a cigarette.) Anyway, I’m not angry, I’m just annoyed that a young man should spend his time being such a bore. I hadn’t the slightest intention of offending him.

Medvedenko It’s quite unsound, you know, to take spirit and matter separately, for the simple reason that, for all we know, spirit itself is nothing else but the totality of material atoms. (animatedly to Trigorin) But actually, what someone should do is put on a play showing what life is like for schoolteachers, it’s a hard life, you know, very hard.

Arkadina I’m sure you’re right but can we not talk about plays or atoms. What a lovely evening! – is that singing? Can you hear? Heaven.

Polina It’s coming from across the lake.

Arkadina (to Trigorin) Come and sit by me. A dozen years ago you could have heard music and singing across the water almost every evening. There are six properties on this side. There was laughter – noise – gunfire … and the love affairs, love affairs going on all the time – and the leading man in all of this, the idol of all six estates, was none other than – your very own – Dr Yevgeny Sergeyevich. He’s still attractive but in those days he was irresistible. However, my conscience is beginning to prick me. How could I have hurt my poor little boy’s feelings like that? – Now I’m worried about him. (She calls loudly.) Kostya! – Darling! – Kostya.

Masha I’ll go and look for him.

Arkadina Would you? There’s a dear.

Masha Halloo-oo – Halloo-oo …

Masha goes off.
   Nina enters from behind the stage.

Nina We’re obviously not going on, I might as well come out. Hello! (She kisses Arkadina and Polina.)

Sorin Bravo! Bravo!

Arkadina Yes, bravo! – We were all enchanted. With those looks, and that lovely voice it’s a sin for you to be hidden away in the country. I’m convinced you must have talent. You hear? – you definitely have to go on the stage!

Nina Oh, it’s what I dream of! But it won’t ever come true.

Arkadina Who can tell? Now – let me introduce – Trigorin, Boris Alexeyevich.

Nina Oh, I’m so pleased to – I’ve read all your books …

Arkadina (making her sit down beside them) No need to be shy, my sweet, he’s a famous man but a simple soul. Look – he’s as bashful as you are.

Dorn I suppose it’s all right to open the curtain now – it’s rather sinister like that.

Shamraev Yakov, open the curtain, would you.

The curtain goes up.

Nina (to Trigorin) It’s certainly an unusual play, didn’t you think?

Trigorin I didn’t understand a word. But I liked watching it. You did it with such sincerity. And the scenery was wonderful. (Pause.) There must be plenty of fish in this lake.

Nina Oh, yes.

Trigorin I love fishing. There’s nothing nicer than sitting on the bank as the evening comes on, watching the float.

Nina I’d have thought that for someone who has experienced the joy of creation, all other pleasures must be insignificant.

Arkadina Oh, you mustn’t talk like that. When people make pretty speeches at him he wants to run away and hide.

Shamraev I remember once in Moscow at the opera, the famous Silva took a bottom C. Well, by no coincidence, it happened that the bass from our church choir was up in the gallery. Imagine our astonishment when suddenly we heard above our heads, ‘Bravo, Silva!’ a whole octave lower, like this … (in a deep bass) ‘Bravo, Silva!’ – The entire audience froze.

Pause.

Dorn An angel flew over.

Nina I’ve got to go. Goodbye.

Arkadina Go where? Where do you have to go so early? We shan’t let you go.

Nina My father’s waiting for me.

Arkadina Too dreadful of him – really …

They kiss each other.

But if you must, you must. What a shame – it’s a shame to lose you.

Nina If you only knew how much I’d like to stay.

Arkadina Somebody should see you home, my precious.

Nina Oh – no! – no –

Sorin Please stay a while –

Nina I really can’t.

Sorin Just for an hour, no more – surely –

Nina hesitates a moment.

Nina (through her tears) No – I simply can’t. (She shakes hands and goes off quickly.)

Arkadina Poor girl! – literally. They say her mother left her entire fortune to the husband and the girl’s going to get nothing because he’s leaving it all to his second wife. Perfectly scandalous.

Dorn Oh yes, her dear papa’s a regular swine, to give him his due.

Sorin We should go in, too, good people – it’s getting damp. My legs hurt.

Arkadina Your legs are like peg-legs, they barely work – well, off we go then, foolish, fond old man.

Dorn speaks to no one in particular; no one in particular takes note.

Dorn I don’t know – perhaps I’m fooling myself, or I’ve lost my mind, but I liked the play. There is something in it. When that little girl was saying how lonely it was …

Shamraev (offering his arm to his wife) My dear?

Dorn … and then the Devil appeared with his red eyes, my hands were shaking with excitement. There was something fresh and artless about it …

Meanwhile Arkadina has taken Sorin by the arm.

Sorin There’s that dog howling again. (to Shamraev) Would you be good enough to have him let off the chain?

Shamraev Not possible, Piotr Nikolayevich – I’m afraid of thieves getting into the barn. I’ve got the millet in there. (to Medvedenko, who is walking beside him) Yes, a whole octave lower – ‘Bravo, Silva!’. And he wasn’t an opera singer, mind – simply a member of our church choir.

Medvedenko And how much would a member of the choir get paid?

Dorn That’s him coming, I think. I feel one should say something encouraging …

But no one is listening to him. He is left alone. 
   Konstantin enters.

Konstantin Cleared off already.

Dorn I’m here.

Konstantin Mashenka’s been looking for me all over the park. Unbearable woman.

Dorn Konstantin Gavrilovich, I liked your play very much indeed. It was a bit strange, and of course we never heard the end, but all the same it made a powerful impression. You’re a young man with talent. You must carry on.

Konstantin shakes his hand warmly and embraces him impetuously.

Oh – go along – what a sensitive creature [he is]! Tears in his eyes! … What is it I’m trying to say? You took your subject from the realm of abstract ideas: which is right, because a work of art must express a serious idea. Without seriousness there can be no art … Now he’s gone quite pale!

Konstantin So what you’re saying is – I should go on?

Dorn Yes … but only write about what’s important and permanent. You know, I’ve lived a pick-and-choose sort of life, plenty of variety, I’m not complaining, but let me tell you, if I’d ever experienced that transcendent feeling artists get in the moment of inspiration, then I believe I would have had nothing but contempt for my physical life and everything that goes with it and I’d have left the earth behind me and soared away into the skies.

Konstantin Excuse me – sorry – where’s Nina?

Dorn And there’s another thing. When you write something, you must have a clearly defined thought. You have to know why you’re writing. Otherwise – if you set off along that enchanted path without a definite goal in mind – you’ll lose your way, and your talent will turn on itself and destroy you.

Konstantin Where is Nina?

Dorn What? She went home.

Konstantin What am I going to do? I have to see her! – it’s vital that I see her – I’m going after her.

Masha enters.

Dorn Now, you mustn’t get so worked up – my dear boy –

Konstantin I’m going anyway – I have to go.

Masha Come indoors, Konstantin – your mother’s waiting, she’s worried about you.

Konstantin Tell her I’ve gone away. I wish you’d all leave me alone! Just leave me! Stop following me about!

Dorn No, no, don’t talk like that – that’s not the right way to …

Konstantin (through tears) Goodbye, Doctor. Thank you … (He goes.)

Dorn Oh … youth … youth …

Masha When there’s nothing more to be said, people say ‘Youth, youth’.

Masha takes snuff. Dorn takes her snuff box and flings it away.

Dorn Disgusting habit! (Pause.) They’ll be playing cards now. I’d better go.

Masha Stay a minute.

Dorn What is it?

Masha There’s something quite apart from all this I want to … [tell you]. Can we talk for a bit? I don’t love my father … but I feel I can open my heart to you … I feel somehow [that] you’re close to me. You have to help me. Help me or I’ll do something stupid and make a shambles of my life, I’ll ruin it – I can’t go on …

Dorn What? Help you how?

Masha I’m so unhappy. No one knows the agony I’m going through. (She lays her head against Dorn’s breast, quietly.) I love Konstantin.

Dorn Another one! These sensitive creatures! They’re all so sensitive! And [there’s] all this love about! – It’s that lake! – they’re all bewitched! (tenderly) But what can I do, my child? – what can I do?

Curtain.