Characters
RAISA PAVLOVNA GURMYZHSKAYA, a widow, a wealthy landowner, slightly over 50. She dresses modestly, almost in mourning, and always carries a work-box.
AKSINYA DANILOVNA (AKSYUSHA), her distant relative, a poor girl about 20, dressed neatly but plainly, a little better than a chambermaid.
YEVGENY APOLLONYCH MILONOV, about 45, richly dressed, smoothly combed, wearing a pink cravat. A wealthy neighbour of Gurmyzhskaya.
UAR KIRILYCH BODAYEV, about 60, a retired cavalryman, grey-haired, clean-shaven (except for large side-whiskers and mustache), wearing a black, tightly buttoned frock coat, with crosses and medals worn in military fashion, and a crutch in his hand. Somewhat deaf. A wealthy neighbour of Gurmyzhskaya.
IVAN PETROV VOSMIBRATOV, a merchant who deals in timber.
PYOTR, his son.
ALEKSEI SERGEYICH BULANOV, a young man who did not finish gymnasium (high school).
KARP, Gurmyzhskaya’s footman.
ULITA, the housekeeper.
The Setting
Gurmyzhskaya’s estate, about five versts from the district town. A large drawing-room. Directly opposite are two doors: one to the entrance, the other to the dining room. To the audience’s right are a window and a door to the garden. To the left are two doors: one to the inner rooms, the other to the corridor. Rich, antique furniture, trellises, flowers, a work-table by the window, and a round table with several armchairs on the left.
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
Karp is standing by the door to the garden. Aksyusha enters.
AKSYUSHA Raisa Pavlovna called for me?
KARP Quite so, Miss; but the guests have arrived now, so they are in the garden.
AKSYUSHA (Taking a letter from her pocket.) Listen, Karp Savelyich, can you possibly…
KARP What would you like, Miss?
AKSYUSHA …Deliver this. You know to whom.
KARP How can I, Miss? It feels a bit awkward now. Whether it’s true or not, your aunt has a strong desire for you to marry the young gentleman.
AKSYUSHA Well, never mind; do as you please. (Turns away toward the window.)
KARP Please, hand it over. Why not, for you… (Takes the letter.)
AKSYUSHA (Looking out the window.) Did Raisa Pavlovna sell the forest?
KARP Sold it to Ivan Petrov. We are selling everything, Miss, but what for?
AKSYUSHA She doesn’t want the heirs to get it; and the money can be given away to strangers.
KARP Presumably so, Miss. A strange business, indeed.
AKSYUSHA She says she wants to give that money as my dowry.
KARP God grant it!
AKSYUSHA (Very seriously.) God forbid, Karp Savelyich!
KARP Well, as you wish, Miss. I mean that it’s still better for it to go as a dowry than to go where the rest has gone.
AKSYUSHA Where the rest has gone… and where did the rest go?
KARP Well, that’s impossible for you to understand, Miss, and my tongue won’t turn to tell you. Here comes Alexei Sergeyich. (Moves away from the door.)
Aksyusha looks out the window. Bulanov enters.
SCENE TWO
Aksyusha, Bulanov, Karp, and later Ulita.
BULANOV (To Karp.) Well, did you roll my cigarettes?
KARP No, sir.
BULANOV Why not? I told you to.
KARP You ordered a great deal, sir! But when am I to do it?
BULANOV No, you’ve become very impudent here. That’s what. I’ll tell Raisa Pavlovna.
KARP You won’t tell her; you’re afraid to even smoke in her presence.
BULANOV Afraid… See that they are rolled! Don’t make me tell you ten times! (Noticing Aksyusha, he approaches her and puts his hand on her shoulder with great familiarity.)
AKSYUSHA (Turning quickly.) What are you doing! Are you mad?
BULANOV (Offended.) Oh!! Excuse me! Why do you look like such a duchess, my beauty?
AKSYUSHA (Almost in tears.) Why do you insult me? I have done nothing to you. Why am I a plaything for everyone here? I am a human being just like you.
BULANOV (Indifferently.) No, listen; I genuinely like you.
AKSYUSHA Oh, what do I care about that! What right do you have to touch me?
BULANOV Why are you always angry, about nothing at all? Such a fuss! One can’t even touch you! My own, and I can’t touch you! Who is to stop me?
AKSYUSHA (Sternly.) And if I am not yours, if I belong to another? Then what?
BULANOV What are these whims! I’m tired of it. You’ll spoil the whole business this way.
AKSYUSHA What business?
BULANOV What business… As if you don’t know? This is the business: Raisa Pavlovna wishes me to marry you. And what Raisa Pavlovna wishes…
AKSYUSHA Must be?
BULANOV Of course. We are both poor people… Should we wait until we are kicked out? No, thank you kindly. Where would I go? Back to my mama? Beating forty crows around a strange yard?
KARP Quiet, sir! Ulita is coming.
Ulita enters, looking for something.
What do you want here?
ULITA I think I forgot…
KARP You forgot nothing; you are wasting your time. You have your own department, we don’t visit yours.
Ulita exits.
That’s better! A most accursed woman!
BULANOV The calculation is straightforward; one would think it could be understood.
AKSYUSHA But I do understand.
BULANOV Then there is no need to be stubborn. Who are you playing the inaccessible lady for here? After all, Raisa Pavlovna promises to give a lot of money; what more do you want? You should be crossing yourself with both hands.
AKSYUSHA Some things can be bought with money, but others cannot.
BULANOV (Smiling contemptuously.) Philosophy! (Seriously.) You don’t know the value of money, that’s why you talk that way. You haven’t seen poverty, apparently? And here, a pleasant life awaits… People will sell their souls to the devil for money, let alone refuse it.
Ulita appears.
KARP Why are you slinking back and forth? Haven’t you been seen here? These are the clean rooms.
ULITA Can’t a person even enter!
KARP Why can’t you find peace? You rush about like a scalded cat. When you are called, that’s another matter.
Ulita exits.
AKSYUSHA You can’t force love, Alexei Sergeyich.
BULANOV Well, I will get my way; you won’t escape me. After all, you won’t find anyone better than me here.
AKSYUSHA (Softly.) You are mistaken. If I wanted to look, I would find one, or perhaps I already have. (To Karp.) If Raisa Pavlovna asks, I will be in my room. (Exits.)
SCENE THREE
Bulanov and Karp.
KARP (Approaching.) Oh, sir, sir!
BULANOV What is it, Karp?
KARP You are very young.
BULANOV I know I am young.
KARP And that is not good.
BULANOV What am I supposed to do?
KARP It’s not to your advantage… You should try hard…
BULANOV No matter how hard I try, I won’t suddenly gain years: I’m only just out of the gymnasium.
KARP What does the gymnasium matter! Others haven’t even been to the gymnasium, and look how clever they are.
BULANOV Clever at what?
KARP At everything, and especially when something is floating past your hands.
Ulita appears from the corridor.
Again? Ptooey! Shoo, you wicked woman!
ULITA (Disappearing.) Bully!
BULANOV (Thoughtfully.) Yes? Well, what of it?
KARP That’s just it, “yes.” Why are you bothering the young lady? What advantage is there in that?
BULANOV Still…
KARP You must be careful, sir; Ulita isn’t crawling about for nothing, she’ll carry tales instantly. And will the mistress like it? It’s still unknown where Raisa Pavlovna intends to place you. Even though she is the mistress, her affairs are womanly: it’s quite impossible to know what’s on her mind. Suddenly one thing, and the next moment another; she has seven changes of mind, not in a week, but in a day. You talk about getting married; but perhaps she will make you do something else! You have no will of your own; you were brought here for sustenance, because your mama is in poverty… And you want… You must look into her eyes all the time.
BULANOV Into her eyes?
KARP Absolutely. Just walk around and look, because you are dependent on her… And then in time, from conversation or something else, you can understand… The mistress is coming. (Exits.)
Bulanov adjusts his hair and twirls his mustache. Gurmyzhskaya, Milonov, and Bodayev enter.
SCENE FOUR
Gurmyzhskaya, Milonov, Bodayev, Bulanov.
GURMYZHSKAYA I told you, gentlemen, and I repeat it again: no one understands me, absolutely no one. Only our Governor understands me, and Father Grigory…
MILONOV And I, Raisa Pavlovna.
GURMYZHSKAYA Perhaps.
MILONOV Raisa Pavlovna, believe me, everything lofty and everything beautiful…
GURMYZHSKAYA I believe you, I willingly believe you. Be seated, gentlemen!
BODAYEV (Clearing his throat.) I’m sick of it.
GURMYZHSKAYA What is it?
BODAYEV (Gruffly.) Nothing. (Sits down a little way off.)
GURMYZHSKAYA (Noticing Bulanov.) Alexis, Alexis! Are you dreaming? Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the young nobleman Alexei Sergeyich Bulanov.
Bulanov bows.
His fate is very interesting, I will tell you about it right now. Alexis, take a walk in the garden, my friend.
Bulanov exits. Gurmyzhskaya and Milonov sit down at the table.
MILONOV A relative of yours, probably?
GURMYZHSKAYA No, not a relative. But do only relatives have a right to our compassion? All people are our neighbors. Gentlemen, do I live for myself? Everything I possess, all my money belongs to the poor;
Bodayev listens closely.
I am only an accountant for my own money, and the master of it is every poor, every unfortunate person.
BODAYEV I will not pay a single kopeck as long as I live; let them confiscate the estate.
GURMYZHSKAYA Who won’t you pay?
BODAYEV The District Council, I’m talking about.
MILONOV Ah, Uar Kirilych, the subject is not the District Council.
BODAYEV No benefit, only robbery.
GURMYZHSKAYA (Loudly.) Move closer, you can’t hear us.
BODAYEV Yes, I can’t hear. (Sits down at the table.)
GURMYZHSKAYA This young man, gentlemen, is the son of a friend of mine. I met her last year in St. Petersburg. A long time ago, we lived exactly like sisters; but then we drifted apart: I became a widow, and she got married. I did not advise her to; having experienced it myself, I developed an aversion to matrimony.
BODAYEV To matrimony, but not to men?
GURMYZHSKAYA Uar Kirilych!
BODAYEV How should I know; I am just asking. There are all kinds of temperaments.
GURMYZHSKAYA (Jokingly.) And to men, especially men like you.
BODAYEV (Standing up, leaning on his crutch, and bowing.) I am exceedingly grateful to you for that.
MILONOV Raisa Pavlovna adorns our entire province with the strictness of her life; our moral atmosphere, if I may say so, is fragrant with her virtues.
BODAYEV About six years ago, when the rumor went around that you would come to live on the estate, we were all terrified by your virtue: wives began to reconcile with their husbands, children with their parents; in many houses, people even started speaking more quietly.
GURMYZHSKAYA You joke, you joke. But do you think I gained this respect without a struggle? But we are straying from our conversation. When we met in St. Petersburg, my friend had been a widow for a long time, and, of course, she deeply regretted not having listened to my advice. With tears, she presented her only son to me. The boy, as you can see, is of age.
BODAYEV Fit for the army.
GURMYZHSKAYA Do not judge by appearances. The poor boy is weak in health, and, imagine what misfortune! Because of this, he lagged behind his comrades, so that he was still in the gymnasium, and, it seems, even in the middle grades. He already has a mustache, and completely different thoughts, and ladies have started to take an interest in him; yet he must go to school with mischievous boys. This humiliated him, he was bored, he withdrew from people, and wandered alone through the remote streets.
BODAYEV Not the Nevsky Prospect, I hope?
GURMYZHSKAYA He suffered, and his mother suffered too; but she had no means to help. Her estate was completely ruined, the son had to study to feed his mother; but the time and the desire for studying had passed. Well, now, gentlemen, judge me as you like. I decided to do three good deeds at once.
BODAYEV Three? How interesting.
GURMYZHSKAYA To comfort the mother, to provide means for the son, and to settle my niece.
BODAYEV Indeed, three.
GURMYZHSKAYA I brought the young man here for the summer; let them get acquainted; then I will marry them and give my niece a good dowry. Well, now, gentlemen, I am at peace, you know my intentions. Although I am beyond suspicion, but if any malicious tongues should be found, you can explain what the matter is.
MILONOV Everything lofty and everything beautiful will find its appreciation, Raisa Pavlovna. Who would dare…
BODAYEV Well, why not dare? You can’t forbid anyone; there is no censorship for that.
GURMYZHSKAYA However, I care little about public opinion; I do good and will continue to do so, and then let them say what they want. Lately, gentlemen, some terrible premonition has been tormenting me, the thought of imminent death never leaves me for a moment. Gentlemen, I will die soon, I even wish, I wish to die.
MILONOV What are you saying! What are you saying! Live! Live!
GURMYZHSKAYA No, no, do not ask me.
MILONOV But there will be tears, bitter tears.
GURMYZHSKAYA No, gentlemen, if I don’t die today, or tomorrow, I will die soon in any case. I must fulfill my duty regarding my heirs. Gentlemen, help me with your advice.
MILONOV Excellent, excellent.
GURMYZHSKAYA My only close relative is my husband’s nephew. I hope to settle my niece during my lifetime. I haven’t seen my nephew in fifteen years and have no news of him; but he is alive, I know. I hope there is nothing to prevent me from naming him as my sole heir.
MILONOV I suppose so.
BODAYEV Why even discuss it?
GURMYZHSKAYA Thank you. That is what I thought myself. He does not forget me, he sends me gifts every year, but he does not write letters. Where he is is unknown, and I cannot write to him; and yet I owe him money. A debtor of his father brought me an old debt; the sum is small, but it weighs on me. He seems to be hiding from me; I received all the gifts from different parts of Russia: one from Arkhangelsk, one from Astrakhan, one from Kishinev, one from Irkutsk.
MILONOV What is his occupation?
GURMYZHSKAYA I don’t know. I prepared him for military service. After his father’s death, he was a boy of fifteen, almost without any fortune. Although I myself was young, I had firm ideas about life and raised him according to my own method. I prefer a severe, simple upbringing, what is called “on a shoestring” (literally, “on copper money”); not out of stinginess, no, but on principle. I am sure that simple, uneducated people live happier lives.
BODAYEV Nonsense! You can’t buy anything good with copper money, much less happiness.
GURMYZHSKAYA But he doesn’t complain about his upbringing, he even thanks me. I, gentlemen, am not against education, but neither am I for it. The corruption of morals is at two extremes: in ignorance and in an excess of education; good morals are in the middle.
MILONOV Excellent, excellent.
GURMYZHSKAYA I wanted this boy to pass through the severe school of life himself; I prepared him to be a cadet and left him to his own resources.
BODAYEV That is easier.
GURMYZHSKAYA I occasionally sent him money, but, I confess, very little, very little.
BODAYEV And he became a thief, of course.
GURMYZHSKAYA You are mistaken. Just look at what he wrote me. I always carry this letter with me. (Takes a letter from her box and hands it to Milonov.) Read it, Yevgeny Apollonych!
MILONOV (Reading.) “My aunt and benefactress, Raisa Pavlovna! I write this letter, which I present relative to the circumstances of my life, with sorrow at my shortcomings, but not with despair. Oh, fate, fate! Under the burden of my own lack of education, ashamed compared to my comrades, I foresee no success in achieving my career.”
BODAYEV So far, not much to boast about for either you or him.
GURMYZHSKAYA Listen further.
MILONOV “But I shall not be dismayed! Before me is glory, glory! Though your meager charity has more than once exposed me to the brink of poverty and ruin; yet I kiss your hand. From my youthful years of immaturity until full age, I was in uncertainty of my destiny; but now everything is open before me.”
BODAYEV And are you not ashamed that your nephew, a nobleman, writes like a military recruit?
GURMYZHSKAYA It is not about the words. In my opinion, it is beautifully written; I see in it an uncorrupted feeling.
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