BABAYEV. Yes, yes, that'll be splendid!

TATYANA. Now I'll give you a kiss because you're so clever! [_Kisses him_]
So you will come to-morrow evening?

BABAYEV. And then you'll visit me?

TATYANA. Be sure to come! Then we'll visit you. Now I'm not afraid of you.

BABAYEV. How beautiful you are! You're even lovelier than you used to be.

TATYANA. Let that be a secret. Good-by. Come on, Lusha!

LUKERYA. [_Approaching_] Good-by! Good night, pleasant dreams--of plucking
roses, of watering jasmine! [_Going_] But what a man you are! Oh, oh, oh!
He's clever, I must say! I just looked and wondered. [_They go out_.

BABAYEV. Now the novel is beginning; I wonder how it'll end!

ACT II

TABLEAU I

_A room in_ KRASNOV'_s house; directly in front a door leading to a
vestibule; to the right a window and a bed with chintz curtains; to the
left a stove-couch and a door into the kitchen; in the foreground a plain
board table and several chairs; along the back wall and window benches;
along the left wall a cupboard with cups, a small mirror, and a wall
clock_.

SCENE I

TATYANA _stands before the mirror putting on a kerchief_; AFONYA _is lying
on the stove-couch_; LUKERYA _comes in with a figured table-cloth_.

LUKERYA. There, Tanya, I've borrowed a cloth from the neighbor to cover our
table. Ours is awfully poor. [_Lays the cloth on the table_.

TATYANA. Have you started the samovar?

LUKERYA. Long ago; it'll boil soon. Well, you see it's just as I told you;
that kerchief is much more becoming to you. But why did you stick the pin
through it? [_Adjusting it_] There, that's much better.

AFONYA. Where are you dressing up to go to? Why are you prinking so at that
mirror?

TATYANA. Nowhere; we're going to stay at home.

LUKERYA. What business is it of yours? Do you think we ought to be as
slovenly as yourself?

AFONYA. But who are you fixing up for? For your husband? He loves you more
than you deserve even without the fine clothes. Or is it for some one else?

LUKERYA. Hear him! A fool, a fool! yet he understands that she's dressing
up for some one else.

TATYANA. Why should I dress for my husband? He knows me anyway. When I
dress, of course it's for a stranger.

AFONYA. Who are you going to flirt with? Who are you going to charm? Have
you no conscience?

LUKERYA. What's the use of arguing with a fool! All he has to do is to
chatter. Lies on the stove-couch and plots trouble.

TATYANA. What kind o