Page:Plays by Anton Tchekoff (1916).djvu/97

ACT I

come out again until morning. The damp evening air is bad for you.

. Yes, sir!

. What do you mean by “Yes, sir”? I am speaking seriously.

. But I don’t want to be serious.

. There now, you see, you are coughing already.

comes out of the house in his hat and coat.

. Where is Nicholas? Is the carriage here yet? [Goes quickly to and kisses her hand] Good-night, my darling! [Makes a face and speaks with a Jewish accent] I beg your bardon!

[He goes quickly out.

. Idiot!

A pause; the sounds of a concertina are heard in the distance.

. Oh, how lonely it is! The coachman and the cook are having a little ball in there by themselves, and I—I am, as it were, abandoned. Why are you walking about, Doctor? Come and sit down here.

. I can’t sit down.

. They are playing “The Sparrow” in the kitchen. [She sings]

[A pause] Are your father and mother living, Doctor?

. My mother is living; my father is dead.

. Do you miss your mother very much?

. I am too busy to miss any one.

. [Laughing] The flowers return with every spring, but lost happiness never returns. I wonder who taught me that? I think it was Nicholas himself. [Listens] The owl is hooting again.