MAN IN OVERCOAT

You take hold of him on that side, and I'll take this one. Well, old man, get a move on you. You won't have to suffer long now.

Pa.s.sER-BY

There he goes hop, hop. That's right. Go it, go it, old man, and you won't get left. _(He goes away)_

FRIAR _(smiling happily)_

They started him going all right. Clever, isn't it? He is galloping away at a great rate too. Good-bye, old gran'pa.

LIPA _(crying)_

Lord! Lord!

FRIAR _(pained)_

What's the matter? Don't cry, for pity's sake. What are you crying for? There is no cause for crying.

LIPA

No cause do you say, Va.s.sya? I am crying for joy. Why aren't you glad, Va.s.sya? Don't you believe in the miracle?

FRIAR

Yes, I do. But I can't bear to see all this. They all behave like drunks, and shout and make a noise. You can't understand what they are talking about. They crushed that woman. _(With pain and disgust)_ They squeezed the life out of her. Oh, Lord, I simply can't! And the whole business. Father Kirill keeps grunting "Oui, oui, oui." _(Laughs sadly)_ Why is he grunting?

LIPA _(sternly)_

You learned that from Savva.

FRIAR

No, I didn't. Tell me, why is he grunting? _(Laughs sadly)_ Why?

_[Yegor Tropinin enters dressed in holiday attire, his beard and hair combed. He looks extremely solemn and stern._

YEGOR

Why are you here, eh? And in that kind of dress? You're a fine sight.

LIPA

I had no time to get dressed.

YEGOR

But you found time to get here. What you have no business to do you have time for, but what you should do you have no time for. Go home and get dressed. It isn't proper. Who has ever seen such a thing?

LIPA

Oh, papa!

YEGOR

There is nothing to "oh" about. It's all right, papa is papa, but you see I am properly dressed. I dressed and then went out. That's the right way to do. Yes. It's a pleasure to look at myself sideways. I dressed as was proper, yes. On a day like this you ought to give a hand at the counter. Tony has disappeared, and Polya can't do all the work herself. You needn't be making such a face now.

MERCHANT _(pa.s.sing by)_

Congratulate you on the miracle, Mr. Tropinin!

YEGOR

Thank you, brother, the same to you. Wait, I'll go with you. You are a goose, Olympiada. You have always been a goose, and you have remained a goose to this day.

MERCHANT

You'll have a fine trade now.

YEGOR

If it please the Lord! Why are you so late? Have you been sleeping?

You keep sleeping, all of you, all the time. _(They go out)_

FRIAR

I scattered all the fireflies I caught on the road when I ran last night. And now the crowd has trampled them down. I wish I had left them in the woods. Listen to the way they are shouting. I wonder what's the matter. They must have squeezed somebody to death again.

LIPA _(closing her eyes)_

When you talk, Va.s.sya, your words seem to pa.s.s by me. I hear and I don't hear. I think I should like to stay this way all my life without moving from the spot. I should like to remain forever with my eyes shut, listening to what is going on within me. Oh, Lord! What happiness! Do you understand, Va.s.sya?

FRIAR

Yes, I understand.

LIPA

No. Do you understand what it is that has happened to-day? Why, it means that G.o.d has said--G.o.d Himself has said: "Wait and do not fear.

You are miserable. Never mind, it's nothing, it's only temporary. You must wait. Nothing has to be destroyed. You must work and wait." Oh, it will come, Va.s.sya, it will come. I feel it now, I know it.

FRIAR

What will come?

LIPA

Life, Va.s.sya, real life will come. Oh, mercy! I still feel like crying for joy. Don't be afraid.