insignificance; I read their thoughts, and suffer from
humiliation.

SORIN. Tell me, by the way, what is Trigorin like? I can't understand
him, he is always so silent.

TREPLIEFF. Trigorin is clever, simple, well-mannered, and a little, I
might say, melancholic in disposition. Though still under forty, he is
surfeited with praise. As for his stories, they are--how shall I put
it?--pleasing, full of talent, but if you have read Tolstoi or Zola you
somehow don't enjoy Trigorin.

SORIN. Do you know, my boy, I like literary men. I once passionately
desired two things: to marry, and to become an author. I have succeeded
in neither. It must be pleasant to be even an insignificant author.

TREPLIEFF. [Listening] I hear footsteps! [He embraces his uncle] I
cannot live without her; even the sound of her footsteps is music to me.
I am madly happy. [He goes quickly to meet NINA, who comes in at that
moment] My enchantress! My girl of dreams!

NINA. [Excitedly] It can't be that I am late? No, I am not late.

TREPLIEFF. [Kissing her hands] No, no, no!

NINA. I have been in a fever all day, I was so afraid my father would
prevent my coming, but he and my stepmother have just gone driving. The
sky is clear, the moon is rising. How I hurried to get here! How I urged
my horse to go faster and faster! [Laughing] I am _so_ glad to see you!
[She shakes hands with SORIN.]

SORIN. Oho! Your eyes look as if you had been crying. You mustn't do
that.

NINA. It is nothing, nothing. Do let us hurry. I must go in half an
hour. No, no, for heaven's sake do not urge me to stay. My father
doesn't know I am here.

TREPLIEFF. As a matter of fact, it is time to begin now. I must call the
audience.

SORIN. Let me call them--and all--I am going this minute. [He goes
toward the right, begins to sing "The Two Grenadiers," then stops.]
I was singing that once when a fellow-lawyer said to me: "You have a
powerful voice, sir." Then he thought a moment and added, "But it is a
disagreeable one!" [He goes out laughing.]

NINA. My father and his wife never will let me come here; they call this
place Bohemia and are afraid I shall become an actress. But this lake
attracts me as it does the gulls. My heart is full of you. [She glances
about her.]

TREPLIEFF. We are alone.

NINA. Isn't that some one over there?

TREPLIEFF. No. [They kiss one another.]

NINA. What is that tree?

TREPLIEFF. An elm.

NINA. Why does it look so dark?

TREPLIEFF