happening to you? [She picks up the gull and stands
looking at it.]

TREPLIEFF. [After a pause] So shall I soon end my own life.

NINA. You have changed so that I fail to recognise you.

TREPLIEFF. Yes, I have changed since the time when I ceased to recognise
you. You have failed me; your look is cold; you do not like to have me
near you.

NINA. You have grown so irritable lately, and you talk so darkly and
symbolically that you must forgive me if I fail to follow you. I am too
simple to understand you.

TREPLIEFF. All this began when my play failed so dismally. A woman never
can forgive failure. I have burnt the manuscript to the last page. Oh,
if you could only fathom my unhappiness! Your estrangement is to me
terrible, incredible; it is as if I had suddenly waked to find this
lake dried up and sunk into the earth. You say you are too simple to
understand me; but, oh, what is there to understand? You disliked
my play, you have no faith in my powers, you already think of me as
commonplace and worthless, as many are. [Stamping his foot] How well
I can understand your feelings! And that understanding is to me like
a dagger in the brain. May it be accursed, together with my stupidity,
which sucks my life-blood like a snake! [He sees TRIGORIN, who
approaches reading a book] There comes real genius, striding along like
another Hamlet, and with a book, too. [Mockingly] "Words, words, words."
You feel the warmth of that sun already, you smile, your eyes melt and
glow liquid in its rays. I shall not disturb you. [He goes out.]

TRIGORIN. [Making notes in his book] Takes snuff and drinks vodka;
always wears black dresses; is loved by a schoolteacher--

NINA. How do you do?

TRIGORIN. How are you, Miss Nina? Owing to an unforeseen development of
circumstances, it seems that we are leaving here today. You and I shall
probably never see each other again, and I am sorry for it. I seldom
meet a young and pretty girl now; I can hardly remember how it feels
to be nineteen, and the young girls in my books are seldom living
characters. I should like to change places with you, if but for an hour,
to look out at the world through your eyes, and so find out what sort of
a little person you are.

NINA. And I should like to change places with you.

TRIGORIN. Why?

NINA. To find out how a famous genius feels. What is it like to be
famous? What sensations does it give you?

TRIGORIN. What sensations? I don't believe it gives any