PROKoFYEVNA. Go and tell him that he is wanted, my dear sir.

KARP. Why is he wanted?

PROKoFYEVNA. You tell him; he knows why.

KARP. [_Through the door_] Please, sir, you have visitors.

BABaYEV. [_From the door_] Who?

PROKoFYEVNA. Come out, sir, for a minute; you're wanted!

BABaYEV _enters._

SCENE II

KARP, PROKoFYEVNA, BABaYEV

PROKoFYEVNA. Listen! Tatyana Danilovna, the wife of the shopkeeper, has come with her sister, and wants to know if they may come in.

BABaYEV. Ask them in. I'll tell you what! Listen, landlady! Please avoid gossip! It's possible that she'll come again, so you'll please say that she comes to see you. If any one asks you, you know; the city is small, and every one knows every one else, and every one watches every one else, where each goes, and what each does.

PROKoFYEVNA. Oh, sir! What's that to me! I looked but I didn't see. You're a stranger, not of this place.

BABaYEV. Ask them in! You and I, dear landlady, are old friends. [_Pats her on the shoulder._

PROKoFYEVNA. Indeed we are, sir, friends! [_Goes out._

KARP. [_With an impatient wave of his hand_] Sins! [_Goes out._

TATYaNA _and_ LUKeRYA _come in._

SCENE III

BABaYEV, TATYaNA, LUKeRYA

LUKeRYA. How do you do, again! Were you looking for us?

BABaYEV. To be frank, I didn't expect you so soon. Be seated; why are you standing? [_They all sit down_.

LUKeRYA. We fairly ran over here. We had such a time getting away.

TATYaNA. That's enough, Lusha; stop!

LUKeRYA. There's no use concealing matters! You can't do it. Valentin Pavlich has seen our local gentry to-day, himself. You should see what a rumpus we had after you left!

TATYaNA. Ah, Lusha, those things happen in every family; there's no need telling every one! It's no one's affair how we live.

LUKeRYA. Now you understand, Valentin Pavlich, what a peasant is when he a.s.sumes importance?

TATYaNA. It's well for you to talk, since you aren't concerned. You might spare me! He's my husband, and I have to live with him till the brink of the grave.

BABaYEV. You weren't careful in your marriage, Tatyana Danilovna; you weren't careful.

TATYaNA. How queer you are! What are you reproaching me for? Where were you when we had nothing to eat? But now there is no going back. All that remains for me to do is to cry all the rest of my life. [_Cries_.

BABaYEV. Why are you crying now?

TATYaNA. What have I to rejoice over? You? I might be happy if I had freedom. Understand this: on your account I quarrelled with my husband; you'll be going away to-day or to-morrow, while I have to remain with him.

You only made matters worse by coming; until you came he didn't seem so bad, and suddenly he has changed entirely. Before he saw you he fulfilled my every wish, he licked my hands like a dog; but now he has begun to look askance at me and to scold. How can I endure torment all my life with the man I loathe! [_Cries_.

BABaYEV. Now, please stop! Why do you grieve! [_To_ LUKeRYA] Listen, Lukerya Danilovna! You go to the landlady, I can calm her better alone.

LUKeRYA. All right, but don't be too sly! [_Goes out_.

SCENE IV

BABaYEV _and_ TATYaNA

BABaYEV. [_Draws nearer and puts one arm around_ TATYaNA] Darling, Tanechka, now stop! Why do you weep so! Let's think, together, how we can help your grief.

TATYaNA. There's no use thinking! There's no way.

BABaYEV. Is that so? But what if I take you off to the village?

TATYaNA. Which one? Where?

BABaYEV. To my own village. There everything is the same as when mother lived: the same lanes, ponds, and arbors; everything is familiar to you, and will remind you of the past. There you'd be my housekeeper.

TATYaNA. [_Freeing herself from his arm_] What ideas you do get, my dear sir! How could you get such a foolish notion into your head! Do you think my husband would allow such a thing! Why, he'd find me, at the bottom of the sea!

BABaYEV. For a time we'll be able to hide you so that he won't find you; and meanwhile we can smooth it over with him.

TATYaNA. What! What! That's a bright idea! Stop talking such nonsense!

You'd better advise me how to live with my husband the rest of my life.

BABaYEV. Why so! Much I care for that!

TATYaNA. So, you don't love me a little bit! You're just making believe!

Yes, that's it!