Page:Five Russian plays and one Ukrainian.pdf/173

Rh (stamping his feet): Out of it! Oh, hell! (Tucking up his sleeves.) Give me her! I can commit a crime. (Enter deputation of five persons, all in frock-coats. One carries a velvet-bound address and another the cup. The rest of the staff stand at the door of the office. Tatiana on the sofa, and Merchutkin in Shipuchin’s arms, both groan softly.)

(reads loudly): Esteemed and beloved Mr. Shipuchin, casting a retrospective regard upon the past of our financial establishment and turning an abstract glance upon the history of its gradual development, we receive in the highest degree a pleasurable sensation. It is true that in the earliest period of its existence, the small dimensions of its original capital, the absence of any important operations and the general indefiniteness of its position furnished a cause for Hamlet’s question, “To be or not to be,” and at one moment there were even voices which advocated the advantage of the entire closure of the bank. Then you were placed at the head of the establishment! Your knowledge, energy, and innate tact have been the cause of its extraordinary success and its present remarkably