Page:Five Russian plays and one Ukrainian.pdf/73

 : And if I wanted to moralise upon every possible occasion I should say at once that you contemporary young people, whose men are full of effeminacy and women of masculinity, might all be called hermaphrodites.


 * You say, “You contemporary young people,” but what are you?


 * I? My costume, my toilet, all my appearance, don’t they tell you in what epoch I’m living? And this furniture, this illumination, these people!


 * If I’m not mistaken—it’s as they used to live a hundred years ago.


 * You’re not mistaken.


 * Then—why are you—you—I don’t know why, but I’m afraid somehow, though it makes me seem a coward. I don’t understand, you prefer this—obsolete way of life to our modern


 * That's all.


 * But what's the reason?

(smiles): It's a curious one.


 * There are several.


 * Tell me just one!

(takes out an old book): These old notebooks!