Page:Plays by Anton Tchekoff (1916).djvu/63

ACT III

thousand roubles, with which we could buy a summer cottage in Finland

. Hold on! Repeat what you just said; I don’t think I heard you quite right.

. I said we would invest the money in bonds and buy a cottage in Finland with the surplus.

. No, not Finland—you said something else.

. I propose to sell this place.

. Aha! That was it! So you are going to sell the place? Splendid. The idea is a rich one. And what do you propose to do with my old mother and me and with Sonia here?

. That will be decided in due time. We can’t do everything at once.

. Wait! It is clear that until this moment I have never had a grain of sense in my head. I have always been stupid enough to think that the estate belonged to Sonia. My father bought it as a wedding present for my sister, and I foolishly imagined that as our laws were made for Russians and not Turks, my sister’s estate would come down to her child.

. Of course it is Sonia’s. Has any one denied it? I don’t want to sell it without Sonia’s consent; on the contrary, what I am doing is for Sonia’s good.

. This is absolutely incomprehensible. Either I have gone mad or—or

. Jean, don’t contradict Alexander. Trust to him; he knows better than we do what is right and what is wrong.

. I shan’t. Give me some water. [He drinks] Go ahead! Say anything you please—anything!

. I can’t imagine why you are so upset. I don’t pretend that my scheme is an ideal one, and if you all object to it I shall not insist.

[A pause.