“And she swore by ev'ry power …”
Splendidly!… Where are they all?
AFRÉMOV.They're playing billiards.
FÉDYA.That's right—we will too [Sings]
“Rest here, just an hour …”
Come along!
Curtain.
Prince Abrézkov, a sixty-year-old bachelor with moustaches, a retired army man, elegant, very dignified and melancholy-looking. Anna Dmítrievna Karénina (Victor's mother), a fifty-year-old “grande dame” who tries to appear younger, and intersperses her remarks with French expressions.Anna Dmítrievna's sitting-room, furnished with expensive simplicity, and filled with souvenirs.Anna Dmítrievna is writing. Footman enters.
Prince Abrézkov, a sixty-year-old bachelor with moustaches, a retired army man, elegant, very dignified and melancholy-looking. Anna Dmítrievna Karénina (Victor's mother), a fifty-year-old “grande dame” who tries to appear younger, and intersperses her remarks with French expressions.
Anna Dmítrievna's sitting-room, furnished with expensive simplicity, and filled with souvenirs.
Anna Dmítrievna is writing. Footman enters.
FOOTMAN.Prince Abrézkov …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Yes, certainly … [Turns round and touches herself up before the looking-glass].
Enter Abrézkov.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.J'espère que je ne force pas la consigne.…[8][Kisses her hand].
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.You know thatvous êtes toujours le bienvenu[9]—and to-day especially! You got my note?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I did, and this is my answer.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Ah, my friend! I begin quite to despair.Il est positivement ensorcelé![10]I never before knew him so insistent, so obstinate, so pitiless, and so indifferent to me. He has quite changed since that woman dismissed her husband!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.What are the facts? How do matters actually stand?
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.He wants to marry her come what may.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.And how about the husband?
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.He agrees to a divorce.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Dear me!
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.And he, Victor, lends himself to it, with all the abominations—lawyers, proofs of guilt—tout ça est dégoutant![11]And it doesn't seem to repel him. I don't understand him—he was always so sensitive, so reserved …
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.He is in love! Ah, when a man really loves …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Yes, but how is it that in our day love could be pure—could be a loving friendship, lasting through life? That kind of love I understand and value.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Nowadays the young generation no longer contents itself with those ideal relations.La possession de l'âme ne leur suffit plus.[12]It can't be helped!…What can one do with him?
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.You must not say that ofhim—but it's as if he were under a spell. It's just as if he were someone else.… You know, I called on her. He begged me so. I went there, did not find her in, and left my card.Elle m'a fait demander si je ne pourrais la recevoir;[13]and to-day [looks at the clock] at two o'clock, that is in a few minutes' time, she will be here. I promised Victor I would receive her, but you understand how I am placed! I am not myself at all; and so, from old habit, I sent for you. I need your help!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Thank you.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.This visit of hers, you understand,will decide the whole matter—Victor's fate! I must either refuse my consent—but how can I?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Don't you know her at all?
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.I have never seen her. But I'm afraid of her. A good woman could not consent to leave her husband, and he a good man, too! As a fellow-student of Victor's he used to visit us, you know, and was very nice. But whatever he may be,quels quesoient les torts qu'il a eu vis-à-vis d'elle,[14]one must not leave one's husband. She ought to bear her cross. What I don't understand is how Victor, with the convictions he holds, can think of marrying a divorced woman! How often—quite lately—he has argued warmly with Spítsin in my presence, that divorce was incompatible with true Christianity; and now he himself is going in for it!Si elle a pu le charmer à un tel point[15]… I am afraid of her! But I sent for you to know whatyouhave to say to it all, and instead of that I have been doing all the talking myself! What do you think of it? Tell me your opinion. What ought I to do? You have spoken with Victor?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I have: and I think he loves her. He has grown used to loving her; and love has got a great hold on him. He is a man who takes things slowly but firmly. What has once entered his heart will never leave it again; and he will never love anyone but her; and he can never be happy without her, or with anyone else.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.And how willingly Várya Kazántseva would have married him! What a girl she is, and how she loves him!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV[smiling].C'est compter sans son hôte![16]That is quite out of the question now. I think it's best to submit, and help him to get married.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.To a divorced woman—and have him meet his wife's husband?… I can't think how you can speak of it so calmly. Is she a woman a mother could wish to see as the wife of her only son—and such a son?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.But what is to be done, my dear friend? Of course it would be better if he married a girl whom you knew and liked; but since that's impossible … Besides it's not as if he were going to marry a gipsy, or goodness knows who …! Lisa Protásova is a very nice good woman. I know her, through my niece Nelly, and know her to be a modest, kind-hearted, affectionate and moral woman.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.A moral woman—who makes up her mind to leave her husband!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.This is not like you! You're unkind and harsh! Her husband is the kind of man of whom one says that they are their own worst enemies; but he is an even greater enemy to his wife. He is a weak, fallen, drunken fellow. He has squandered all his property and hers too. She has a child.… How can you condemn her for leaving such a man? Nor has she left him: he left her.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Oh, what mud! What mud! And I have to soil my hands with it!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.And how about your religion?
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Of course, of course! To forgive, “As we forgive them that trespass against us.”Mais, c'est plus fortquemoi![17]
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.How could she live with such a man? If she had not loved anyone else she would have had to leave him. She would have had to, for her child's sake. The husband himself—an intelligent kind-hearted man when he is in his senses—advises her to do it.…
Enter Victor, who kisses his mother's hand and greets Prince Abrézkov.
VICTOR.Mother, I have come to say this: Elisabeth Andréyevna will be here in a minute, and I beg, I implore you—if you still refuse your consent to my marriage …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA[interrupting him] Of course I still refuse my consent …
VICTOR[continues his speech and frowns] In that case I beg, I implore you, not to speak to her of your refusal! Don't settle matters negatively …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.I don't expect we shall mention the subject. For my part, I certainly won't begin.
VICTOR.And she is even less likely to. I only want you to make her acquaintance.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.The one thing I can't understand is how you reconcile your desire to marry Mrs. Protásova, who has a husband living, with your religious conviction that divorce is contrary to Christianity.
VICTOR.Mother, this is cruel of you! Are we really so immaculate that we must always be perfectly consistent when life is so complex? Mother, why are you so cruel to me?
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.I love you. I desire your happiness.
VICTOR[to Prince Abrézkov] Prince!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Of course you desire his happiness. But it is not easy for you and me, with our grey hairs, to understand the young; and it is particularly difficult for a mother grown accustomed to her own idea of how her son is to be happy. Women are all like that.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Yes, yes indeed! You are all against me! You may do it, of course.Vous êtes majeur.[18]… But you will kill me!
VICTOR.You are not yourself. This is worse than cruelty!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV[to Victor] Be quiet, Victor. Your mother's words are always worse than her deeds.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.I shall tell her how I think and feel, but I will do it without offending her.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Of that I am sure.
Enter footman.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Here she is.
VICTOR.I'll go.
FOOTMAN.Elisabeth Andréyevna Protásova.
VICTOR.I am going.Please, Mother![Exit.]
Prince Abrézkov also rises.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Ask her in. [To Prince Abrézkov] No, you must please stay here!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I thought you'd find atête-à-têteeasier.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.No, I'm afraid … [Is restless] If I want to be lefttête-à-têtewith her, I will nod to you.Cela dépendra.[19]… To be left alone with her may make it difficult for me. But I'll do like that if … [Makes a sign].
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I shall understand. I feel sure you will like her. Only be just.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.How you are all against me!
Enter Lisa, in visiting dress and hat.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA[rising] I was sorry not to find you in, and it is kind of you to call.
LISA.I never dreamed that you'd be so good as to call.… I am so grateful to you for wishing to see me.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA[pointing to Prince Abrézkov] You are acquainted?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Yes, certainly. I have had the pleasure of being introduced. [They shake hands and sit down] My niece Nelly has often mentioned you to me.
LISA.Yes, she and I were great friends [glancing timidly at Anna Dmítrievna], and we are still friendly. [To Anna Dmítrievna] I never expected that you would wish to see me.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.I knew your husband well. He wasfriendly with Victor, and used to come to our house before he left for Tambóv. I think it was there you married?
LISA.Yes, it was there we married.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.But after his return to Moscow he never visited us.
LISA.Yes, he hardly went out anywhere.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.And he never introduced you to me.
Awkward silence.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.The last time I met you was at the theatricals at the Denísovs'. They went off very well; and you were acting.
LISA.No … Yes … Of course … I did act. [Silence again]. Anna Dmítrievna, forgive me if what I am going to say displeases you, but I can't and don't know how to dissemble! I have come because Victor Miháylovich said … because he—I mean, because you wished to see me.… But it is best to speak out [with a catch in her voice] … It is very hard for me.… But you are kind.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I'd better go.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Yes, do.
Prince Abrézkov takes leave of both women, and exit.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Listen, Lisa … I am very sorry for you, and I like you. But I love Victor. He is the one being I love in the world. I know his soul as I know my own. It is a proud soul. He was proud as a boy of seven.… Not proud of his name or wealth, but proud of his character and innocence, which he has guarded. He is as pure as a maiden.
LISA.I know.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.He has never loved any woman. You are the first. I do not say I am not jealous. I am jealous. But we mothers—your son is still a baby, and it is too soon for you—we are prepared for that. I wasprepared to give him up to his wife and not to be jealous—but to a wife as pure as himself …
LISA.I … have I …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Forgive me! I know it was not your fault, but you are unfortunate. And I know him. Now he is ready to bear—and will bear—anything, and he would never mention it, but he would suffer. His wounded pride would suffer, and he would not be happy.
LISA.I have thought of that.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Lisa, my dear, you are a wise and good woman. If you love him you must desire his happiness more than your own. And if that is so, you will not wish to bind him and give him cause to repent—though he would neversaya word.
LISA.I know he wouldn't! I have thought about it, and have asked myself that question. I have thought of it, and have spoken of it to him. But what can I do, when he says he does not wish to live without me? I said to him: “Let us be friends, but do not spoil your life; do not bind your pure life to my unfortunate one!” But he does not wish for that.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.No, not at present.…
LISA.Persuade him to leave me, and I will agree. I love him for his own happiness and not for mine. Only help me! Do not hate me! Let us lovingly work together for his happiness!
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Yes, yes! I have grown fond of you. [Kisses her. Lisa cries] And yet, and yet it is dreadful! If only he had loved you before you married …
LISA.He says he did love me then, but did not wish to prevent a friend's happiness.
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Ah, how hard it all is! Still, we will love one another, and God will help us to find what we want.
VICTOR[entering] Mother, dear! I have heard everything!I expected this: you are fond of her, and all will be well!
LISA.I am sorry you heard. I should not have said it if …
ANNA DMÍTRIEVNA.Still, nothing is settled. All I can say is, that if it were not for all these unfortunate circumstances, I should have been glad. [Kisses her].
VICTOR.Only, please don't change!
Curtain.
A plainly furnished room; bed, table, sofa. Fédya alone.
A knock at the door. A woman's voice outside.Why have you locked yourself in, Theodore Vasílyevich? Fédya! Open …!
FÉDYA[gets up and unlocks door] That's right! Thank you for coming. It's dull, terribly dull!
MÁSHA.Why didn't you come to us? Been drinking again? Eh, eh! And after you'd promised!
FÉDYA.D'you know, I've no money!
MÁSHA.And why have I taken it into my head to care for you!
FÉDYA.Másha!
MÁSHA.Well, what about “Másha, Másha”? If you were really in love, you'd have got a divorce long ago. They themselves asked you to. You say you don't love her, but all the same you keep to her! I see you don't wish …
FÉDYA.But you know why I don't wish!
MÁSHA.That's all rubbish. People say quite truly that you're an empty fellow.
FÉDYA.What can I say to you? That your words hurt me, you know without being told!
MÁSHA.Nothing hurts you!
FÉDYA.You know that the one joy I have in life is your love.
MÁSHA.Mylove—yes; but yours doesn't exist.
FÉDYA.All right. I'm not going to assure you. Besides, what's the good? You know!
MÁSHA.Fédya; why torment me?
FÉDYA.Which of us torments?
MÁSHA[cries] You are unkind!
FÉDYA[goes up and embraces her] Másha! What's it all about? Stop that. One must live, and not whine. It doesn't suit you at all, my lovely one!
MÁSHA.You do love me?
FÉDYA.Whom else could I love?
MÁSHA.Only me? Well then, read what you have been writing.
FÉDYA.It will bore you.
MÁSHA.It's you who wrote it, so it's sure to be good.
FÉDYA.Well then listen. [Reads] “One day, late in autumn, my friend and I agreed to meet on the Murýgin fields, where there was a close thicket with many young birds in it. The day was dull, warm, and quiet. The mist …”
Enter two old gipsies, Másha's parents, Iván Makárovich and Nastásia Ivánovna.
NASTÁSIA[stepping up to her daughter] Here you are then, you damned runaway sheep! [To Fédya] My respects to you, sir! [To Másha] Is that how you treat us, eh?
IVÁN[to Fédya] It's wrong, sir, what you're doing! You're ruining the wench! Oh, but it's wrong … You're doing a dirty deed.
NASTÁSIA.Put on your shawl! March at once!… Running away like this! What can I say to the choir?Gallivanting with a beggar—what can you get out of him?
MÁSHA.I don't gallivant! I love this gentleman, that's all. I've not left the choir. I'll go on singing, and what …
IVÁN.Say another word, and I'll pull the hair off your head!… Slut!… Who behaves like that? Not your father, nor your mother, nor your aunt!… It's bad, sir! We were fond of you—often and often we sang to you without pay. We pitied you, and what have you done?
NASTÁSIA.You've ruined our daughter for nothing … our own, our only daughter, the light of our eyes, our priceless jewel—you've trodden her into the mire, that's what you've done! You've no conscience.
FÉDYA.Nastásia Ivánovna, you suspect me falsely. Your daughter is like a sister to me. I care for her honour. You must think no evil … but I love her! What is one to do?
IVÁN.But you didn't love her when you had money! If you'd then subscribed ten thousand roubles or so to the choir, you might have had her honourably. But now you've squandered everything, and carry her off by stealth! It's a shame, sir, a shame!
MÁSHA.He has not carried me off! I came to him myself, and if you take me away now, I shall come back again. I love him, and there's an end of it! My love is stronger than all your locks … I won't!
NASTÁSIA.Come, Másha dearest! Come, my own! Don't sulk. You've done wrong, and now come along.
IVÁN.Now then, you've talked enough! March! [Seizes her hand] Excuse us, sir! [Exit the three gipsies].
Enter Prince Abrézkov.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Excuse me. I have been an unwilling witness of an unpleasant scene.…
FÉDYA.Whom have I the honour?… [Recognises the Prince] Ah, Prince Abrézkov! [They shake hands].
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.An unwilling witness of an unpleasant scene. I should have been glad not to hear, but having overheard it, I consider it my duty to tell you so. I was directed here, and had to wait at the door for those people to come out—more particularly as their very loud voices rendered my knocking inaudible.
FÉDYA.Yes, yes—please take a seat. Thank you for telling me: it gives me the right to explain that scene to you. I don't mind what you may think of me, but I should like to tell you that the reproaches you heard addressed to that girl, that gipsy singer, were unjust. That girl is as morally pure as a dove; and my relations with her are those of a friend. There may be a tinge of romance in them, but it does not destroy the purity—the honour—of the girl. That is what I wished to tell you; but what is it you want of me? In what way can I be of service?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.In the first place, I …
FÉDYA.Forgive me, Prince. My present social standing is such, that my former slight acquaintance with you does not entitle me to a visit from you, unless you have some business with me. What is it?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I won't deny it. You have guessed right. I have business with you; but I beg you to believe that the alteration in your position in no wise affects my attitude towards you.
FÉDYA.I am sure of it.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.My business is this. The son of my old friend, Anna Dmítrievna Karénina, and she herself, have asked me to ascertain directly from you what are your relations … May I speak out?… your relations with your wife, Elisabeth Andréyevna Protásova.
FÉDYA.My relations with my wife, or rather with her whowasmy wife, are entirely at an end.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.So I understood, and that is why I accepted this difficult mission.
FÉDYA.At an end, and, I hasten to add, not by her fault, but by mine—by my innumerable faults. She is, as she always was, quite irreproachable.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Well then, Victor Karénin, or rather his mother, asked me to find out what your intentions are.
FÉDYA[growing excited] What intentions? I have none. I set her quite free! Moreover, I will never disturb her peace. I know she loves Victor Karénin. Well, let her! I consider him a very dull, but very good and honourable man, and I think that she will, as the phrase goes, be happy with him; and—que le bon Dieu les bénisse![20]That's all …
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Yes, but we …
FÉDYA[interrupting] And don't suppose that I feel the least bit jealous. If I said that Victor is dull, I withdraw the remark. He is an excellent, honourable, moral man: almost the direct opposite of myself. And he has loved her from childhood. Perhaps she too may have loved him when she married me—that happens sometimes! The very best love is unconscious love. I believe she always did love him; but as an honest woman she did not confess it even to herself. But … a shadow of some kind always lay across our family life—but why am I confessing to you?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Please do! Believe me, my chief reason for coming to you was my desire to understand the situation fully.… I understand you. I understand that the shadow, as you so well express it, may have been …
FÉDYA.Yes, it was; and that perhaps is why I could not find satisfaction in the family life she provided for me, but was always seeking something, and being carriedaway. However, that sounds like excusing myself. I don't want to, and can't, excuse myself. I was (I say with assurance,was) a bad husband. I saywas, because in my consciousness I am not, and have long not been, her husband. I consider her perfectly free. So there you have my answer to your question.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Yes, but you know Victor's family, and himself too. His relation to Elisabeth Andréyevna is, and has been all through, most respectful and distant. He assisted her when she was in trouble …
FÉDYA.Yes, I by my dissipation helped to draw them together. What's to be done? It had to be so!
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.You know the strictly Orthodox convictions of that family. Having myself a broader outlook on things, I do not share them; but I respect and understand them. I understand that for him, and especially for his mother, union with a woman without a Church marriage is unthinkable.
FÉDYA.Yes, I know his stu … his strictness, his conservatism in these matters. But what do they want? A divorce? I told them long ago that I am quite willing; but the business of taking the blame on myself, and all the lies connected with it, are very trying.…[21]
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I quite understand you, and sympathise. But how can it be avoided? I think it might be arranged that way—but you are right. It is dreadful, and I quite understand you.
FÉDYA[pressing the Prince's hand] Thank you, dear Prince! I always knew you were a kind and honourable man. Tell me what to do. How am I to act? Put yourself in my place. I am not trying to improve. I am a good-for-nothing; but there are things I cannot do quietly. I cannot quietly tell lies.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.I don't understand you! You, a capable, intelligent man, so sensitive to what is good—how can you let yourself be so carried away—so forget what you expect of yourself? How have you ruined your life and come to this?
FÉDYA[forcing back tears of emotion] I have led this disorderly life for ten years, and this is the first time a man like you has pitied me! I have been pitied by my boon-companions, by rakes and by women; but a reasonable, good man like you … Thank you! How did I come to my ruin? First, through drink. It is not that drink tastes nice; but do what I will, I always feel I am not doing the right thing, and I feel ashamed. I talk to you now, and feel ashamed. As for being aMaréchal de la noblesse, or a Bank Director—I should feel ashamed, so ashamed! It is only when I drink that I do not feel this shame. And music: not operas or Beethoven, but gipsies!… That is life! Energy flows into one's veins! And then those dear black eyes, and those smiles! And the more delicious it is, the more ashamed one feels afterwards.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.How about work?
FÉDYA.I have tried it, but it's no good. I am always dissatisfied with it—but what's the use of talking about myself! I thank you.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Then what am I to say?
FÉDYA.Tell them I will do what they wish. They want to get married, and that there should be no obstacle to their marriage?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Of course.
FÉDYA.I'll do it! Tell them I will certainly do it.
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.But when?
FÉDYA.Wait a bit. Well, say in a fortnight. Will that do?
PRINCE ABRÉZKOV.Then I may tell them so?
FÉDYA.You may. Good-bye, Prince! Thank you once again!
[Exit Prince].
FÉDYA[sits for a long time and smiles silently] That's the way, that's the way! It must be so, must be, must be! Splendid!
Curtain.
A private room in a restaurant. A waiter shows in Fédya and Iván Petróvich Alexándrov.
WAITER.Here, please. No one will disturb you here. I'll bring some paper directly.
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.Protásov, I'll come in too.
FÉDYA[seriously] If you like, but I'm busy and … All right, come in.
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.You wish to reply to their demands? I'll tell you what to say. I should not do it that way—always speak straight out, and act with decision.
FÉDYA[to waiter] A bottle of champagne!
Exit waiter.
FÉDYA[taking out a revolver and putting it on the table] Wait a bit!
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.What's that? Do you want to shoot yourself? You can if you like. I understand you! They wish to humiliate you, and you will show them the sort of man you are! You will kill yourself with a revolver, and them with magnanimity. I understand you. I understand everything, because I am a genius.
FÉDYA.Of course—of course. Only … [Enter waiter with paper and ink].
FÉDYA[covers the revolver with a napkin] Uncork it—let's have a drink. [They drink. Fédya writes] Wait a bit!
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.Here's to your … great journey! You know I'm above all this. I'm not going to restrainyou! Life and death are alike to Genius. I die in life, and live in death. You will kill yourself that two people should pity you; and I—I shall kill myself that the whole world may understand what it has lost. I won't hesitate, or think about it! I seize it [snatches revolver]—now! And all is over. But it is too soon yet. [Lays down revolver] Nor shall I write anything; they must understand it themselves.… Oh, you …
FÉDYA[writing] Wait a bit.
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.Pitiful people! They fuss, they bustle, and don't understand—don't understand anything at all.… I'm not talking to you, I am only expressing my thoughts. And, after all, what does humanity need? Very little—only to value its geniuses. But they always are executed, persecuted, tortured.… No! I'm not going to be your toy! I will drag you out into the open! No-o-o! Hypocrites!
FÉDYA[having finished writing, drinks and reads over his letter] Go away, please!
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.Go away? Well, good-bye then! I am not going to restrain you. I shall do the same. But not yet. I only want to tell you …
FÉDYA.All right! You'll tell me afterwards. And now, dear chap, just one thing: give this to the manager [gives him money] and ask if a parcel and a letter have come for me.… Please do!
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.All right—then you'll wait for me? I have still something important to tell you—something that you will not hear in this world nor in the next, at any rate not till I come there.… Am I to let him haveallof this?
FÉDYA.As much as is necessary. [Exit Iván Petróvich.]
Fédya sighs with relief; locks the door behind Iván Petróvich; takes up the revolver, cocks it, puts it to his temple; shudders, and carefully lowers it again. Groans.
FÉDYA.No; I can't! I can't! I can't! [Knock at the door] Who's there?
[Másha's voice from outside] It's me!
FÉDYA.Who's “me”? Oh, Másha … [opens door].
MÁSHA.I've been to your place, to Popóv's, to Afrémov's, and guessed that you must be here. [Sees revolver] That's a nice thing! There's a fool! A regular fool! Is it possible you really meant to?
FÉDYA.No, I couldn't.
MÁSHA.Do I count for nothing at all? You heathen! You had no pity for me? Oh, Theodore Vasílyevich, it's a sin, a sin! In return for my love …
FÉDYA.I wished to release them. I promised to, and I can't lie.
MÁSHA.And what about me?
FÉDYA.What about you? It would have set you free too. Is it better for you to be tormented by me?
MÁSHA.Seems it's better. I can't live without you.
FÉDYA.What sort of life could you have with me? You'd have cried a bit, and then gone on living your own life.
MÁSHA.I shouldn't have cried at all! Go to the devil, if you don't pity me! [Cries].
FÉDYA.Másha, dearest! I meant to do it for the best.
MÁSHA.Best for yourself!
FÉDYA[smiles] How's that, when I meant to kill myself?
MÁSHA.Of course, best for yourself! But what is it you want? Tell me.
FÉDYA.What I want? I want a great deal.
MÁSHA.Well, what? What?
FÉDYA.First of all, to keep my promise. That is the first thing, and quite sufficient. To lie, and do all the dirty work necessary to get a divorce … I can't!
MÁSHA.Granted that it's horrid—I myself …
FÉDYA.Next, they must really be free—my wife and he. After all, they are good people; and why should they suffer? That's the second thing.
MÁSHA.Well, there isn't much good in her, if she's thrown you over.
FÉDYA.She didn't—I threw her over.
MÁSHA.All right, all right! It's always you. She is an angel! What else!
FÉDYA.This—that you are a good, dear girlie—and that I love you, and if I live I shall ruin you.
MÁSHA.That's not your business. I know quite well what will ruin me.
FÉDYA[sighs] But above all, above all … What use is my life? Don't I know that I am a lost good-for-nothing? I am a burden to myself and to everybody—as your father said. I'm worthless.…
MÁSHA.What rubbish! I shall stick to you. I've stuck to you already, and there's an end of it! As to your leading a bad life, drinking and going on the spree—well, you're a living soul! Give it up, and have done with it!
FÉDYA.That's easily said.
MÁSHA.Well, then, do it.
FÉDYA.Yes, when I look at you I feel as if I could really do anything.
MÁSHA.And so you shall! Yes, you'll do it! [Sees the letter] What's that? You've written to them? What have you written?
FÉDYA.What have I written?… [Takes the letter and is about to tear it up] It's no longer wanted now.
MÁSHA[snatches the letter] You've said you would kill yourself? Yes? You did not mention the revolver—only said that you'd kill yourself?
FÉDYA.Yes, that I should be no more.
MÁSHA.Give it me—give it, give it!… Have you readWhat to Do?
FÉDYA.I think I have.
MÁSHA.It's a tiresome novel, but there's one very, very good thing in it. That what's his name?—Rakhmánov—goesand pretends he has drowned himself. And you—can you swim?
FÉDYA.No.
MÁSHA.That's all right. Let me have your clothes—everything, and your pocket-book too.
FÉDYA.How can I?
MÁSHA.Wait a bit, wait, wait! Let's go home; then you'll change your clothes.
FÉDYA.But it will be a fraud.
MÁSHA.All right! You go to bathe, your clothes remain on the bank, in the pocket is your pocket-book and this letter.
FÉDYA.Yes, and then?
MÁSHA.And then? Why, then we'll go off together and live gloriously.
Enter Iván Petróvich.
IVÁN PETRÓVICH.There now! And the revolver? I'll take it.
MÁSHA.Take it; take it! We're off.
Curtain.
TheProtásovs'drawing-room.
KARÉNIN.He promised so definitely, that I am sure he will keep his word.
LISA.I am ashamed to say it, but I must confess that what I heard about that gipsy girl makes me feel quite free. Don't think it is jealousy; it isn't, but you know—it sets me free. I hardly know how to tell you.…
KARÉNIN.You don't know how to tell me … Why?
LISA[smiling] Never mind! Only let me explain whatI feel. The chief thing that tormented me was, that I felt I loved two men; and that meant that I was an immoral woman.
KARÉNIN.Youimmoral?
LISA.But since I knew that he had got someone else, and that he therefore did not need me, I felt free, and felt that I might truthfully say that I love you. Now things are clear within me, and only my position torments me. This divorce! It is such torture—and then this waiting!
KARÉNIN.It will soon, very soon, be settled. Besides his promise, I sent my secretary to him with the petition ready for signature, and told him not to leave till it is signed. If I did not know him so well, I should think he was purposely behaving as he does.
LISA.He? No, it is the result both of his weakness and his honesty. He doesn't want to say what is not true. Only you were wrong to send him money.
KARÉNIN.I had to. The want of it might be the cause of the delay.
LISA.No, there is something bad about money.
KARÉNIN.Well, anyhow,heneed not have been so punctilious …
LISA.How selfish we are becoming!
KARÉNIN.Yes, I confess it. It's your own fault. After all that waiting, that hopelessness, I am now so happy! And happiness makes one selfish. It's your fault!
LISA.Do you think it's you only? I too—I feel full of happiness, bathed in bliss! I have everything—Mísha has recovered, your mother likes me, and you—and above all, I, I love!
KARÉNIN.Yes? And no repenting? No turning back?
LISA.Since that day everything has changed in me.
KARÉNIN.And will not change again?
LISA.Never! I only wish you to have done with it all as completely as I have.
Enter nurse, with baby. Lisa takes the baby on her lap.
KARÉNIN.What wretched people we are!
LISA[kissing baby] Why?
KARÉNIN.When you married, and I heard of it on my return from abroad, and was wretched because I felt that I had lost you, it was a relief to me to find that you still remembered me. I was content even with that. Then when our friendship was established and I felt your kindness to me, and even a little gleam of something in our friendship that was more than friendship, I was almost happy. I was only tormented by a fear that I was not being honest towards Fédya. But no! I was always so firmly conscious that any other relation than one of purest friendship with my friend's wife was impossible—besides which, I knew you—that I was not really troubled about that. Afterwards, when Fédya began to cause you anxiety, and I felt that I was of some use to you, and that my friendship was beginning to alarm you—I was quite happy, and a sort of vague hope awoke in me. Still later, when he became altogether impossible and you decided to leave him, and I spoke to you plainly for the first time, and you did not say “No,” but went away in tears—then I was perfectly happy; and had I then been asked what more I wanted, I should have answered “Nothing”! But later on, when there came the possibility of uniting our lives: when my mother grew fond of you and the possibility began to be realised; when you told me that you loved and had loved me, and then (as you did just now) that he no longer existed for you and that you love only me—what more, one would think, could I wish for? But no! Now the past torments me! I wish that past had not existed, and that there were nothing to remind me of it.
LISA[reproachfully] Victor!
KARÉNIN.Lisa, forgive me! If I tell you this, it is only because I don't want a single thought of mine aboutyou to be hidden from you. I have purposely told you, to show how bad I am, and how well I know that I must struggle with and conquer myself.… And now I've done it! I love him.
LISA.That's as it should be. I did all I could, but it was not I that did what you desired: it happened in my heart, from which everything but you has vanished.
KARÉNIN.Everything?
LISA.Everything, everything—or I would not say so.
Enter footman.
FOOTMAN.Mr. Voznesénsky.
KARÉNIN.He's come with Fédya's answer.
LISA[to Karénin] Ask him in here.
KARÉNIN[rising and going to the door] Well, here is the answer!
LISA[gives baby to nurse; exit nurse] Is it possible, Victor, that everything will now be decided? [Kisses Karénin].
Enter Voznesénsky.
KARÉNIN.Well?
VOZNESÉNSKY.He has gone.
KARÉNIN.Gone! And without signing the petition?
VOZNESÉNSKY.The petition is not signed, but a letter was left for you and Elisabeth Andréyevna [Takes letter out of his pocket and gives it to Karénin] I went to his lodgings, and was told he was at the restaurant. I went there, and Mr. Protásov told me to return in an hour and I should then have his answer. I went back, and then …
KARÉNIN.Is it possible that this means another delay? More excuses! No, that would be downright wicked. How he has fallen!
LISA.But do read the letter! [Karénin opens letter].
VOZNESÉNSKY.You do not require me any longer?
KARÉNIN.Well, no. Good-bye! Thank you … [Pauses in astonishment as he reads].
Exit Voznesénsky.
LISA.What—what is it?
KARÉNIN.This is awful!
LISA[takes hold of letter] Read!
KARÉNIN[reads] “Lisa and Victor, I address myself to you both. I won't lie and call you ‘dear’ or anything else. I cannot master the feeling of bitterness and reproach (I reproach myself, but all the same it is painful) when I think of you and of your love and happiness. I know everything. I know that though I was the husband, I have—by a series of accidents—been in your way.C'est moi qui suis l'intrus.[22]But all the same, I cannot restrain a feeling of bitterness and coldness towards you. I love you both in theory, especially Lisa, Lisette! But actually I am more than cold towards you. I know I am wrong, but cannotchange.”
LISA.How can he …
KARÉNIN[continues reading] “But to business! This very feeling of discord within me forces me to fulfil your desire not in the way you wish. Lying, acting so disgusting a comedy, bribing the Consistorium, and all those horrors, are intolerably repulsive to me. Vile as I may be, I am vile in a different way, and cannot take part in those abominations—simply cannot! The solution at which I have arrived is the simplest: to be happy, you must marry. I am in the way; consequently I must destroy myself.…”
LISA[seizes Victor's hand] Victor!
KARÉNIN[reads] “… must destroy myself. And I will do it. When you get this letter, I shall be no more.
“P.S.What a pity you sent me money to pay for the divorce proceedings! It is unpleasant, and unlike you! But it can't be helped. I have so often made mistakes, why shouldn't you make one? I return the money. Myway of escape is shorter, cheaper, and surer. All I ask is, don't be angry with me, and think kindly of me. And, one thing more—there is a clockmaker, Evgényev, here. Can't you help him, and set him on his feet? He's a good man, though weak.—Good-bye,
“Fédya.”
LISA.He has taken his life! Yes …
KARÉNIN[rings, and runs out to the hall] Call Mr. Voznesénsky back!
LISA.I knew it! I knew it! Fédya, dear Fédya!
KARÉNIN.Lisa!
LISA.It's not true, not true that I didn't love him and don't love him! I love only him! I love him! And I've killed him. Leave me!
Enter Voznesénsky.
KARÉNIN.Where is Mr. Protásov? What did they tell you?
VOZNESÉNSKY.They told me he went out this morning, left this letter, and had not returned.
KARÉNIN.We shall have to find out about it, Lisa. I must leave you.
LISA.Forgive me, but I too can't lie! Go now—go, and find out …
Curtain.