Page:Plays by Anton Tchekoff (1916).djvu/136

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. This is torture! You are a very bad doctor if you think a man can control himself forever. It is all I can do not to answer your insults.

. Look here, whom are you trying to deceive? Throw off this disguise!

. You who are so clever, you think that nothing in the world is easier than to understand me, do you? I married Annie for her money, did I? And when her parents wouldn’t give it to me, I changed my plans, and am now hustling her out of the world so that I may marry another woman, who will bring me what I want? You think so, do you? Oh, how easy and simple it all is! But you are mistaken, doctor; in each one of us there are too many springs, too many wheels and cogs for us to Judge each other by first impressions or by two or three external indications. I cannot understand you, you cannot understand me, and neither of us can understand himself. A man may be a splendid doctor, and at the same time a very bad judge of human nature; you will admit that, unless you are too self-confident.

. Do you really think that your character is so mysterious, and that I am too stupid to tell vice from virtue?

. It is clear that we shall never agree, so let me beg you to answer me now without any more preamble: exactly what do you want me to do? [Angrily] What are you after, anyway? And with whom have I the honour of speaking? With my lawyer, or with my wife’s doctor?

. I am a doctor, and as such I demand that you change your conduct toward your wife; it is killing her.

. What shall I do? Tell me! If you understand me so much better than I understand myself, for heaven’s sake tell me exactly what to do!

. In the first place, don’t be so unguarded in your behaviour.