Page:Plays by Anton Tchekoff (1916).djvu/36



The dining-room of ''house. It is night. The tapping of the rattle is heard in the garden''. is dozing in an arm-chair by an open window and is sitting beside him, also half asleep.

. [Rousing himself] Who is here? Is it you, Sonia?

. It is I.

. Oh, it is you, Nelly. This pain is intolerable.

. Your shawl has slipped down. [She wraps up his legs in the shawl] Let me shut the window.

. No, leave it open; I am suffocating. I dreamt just now that my left leg belonged to some one else, and it hurt so that I woke. I don’t believe this is gout, it is more like rheumatism. What time is it?

. Half past twelve.

. I want you to look for Batushka’s works in the library to-morrow. I think we have him.

. What is that?

. Look for Batushka to-morrow morning; we used to have him, I remember. Why do I find it so hard to breathe?

. You are tired; this is the second night you have had no sleep.

. They say that Turgenieff got angina of the heart from gout. I am afraid I am getting angina too. Oh, damn this horrible, accursed old age! Ever since I have