m; and yet, perhaps it is as it should be. [He shrugs his
shoulders] How can I tell? [Gaily] On my honour, Sasha, I really am
quite a respectable man. Judge for yourself: I have always liked to
discuss things, but I have never in my life said that our women were
corrupt, or that such and such a woman was on the down-hill path. I have
always been grateful, and nothing more. No, nothing more. Dear child,
how comical you are! And what a ridiculous old stupid I am! I shock all
good Christian folk, and go about complaining from morning to night.
[He laughs and then leaves her suddenly] But you must go, Sasha; we have
forgotten ourselves.

SASHA. Yes, it is time to go. Good-bye. I am afraid that that honest
doctor of yours will have told Anna out of a sense of duty that I am
here. Take my advice: go at once to your wife and stay with her. Stay,
and stay, and stay, and if it should be for a year, you must still
stay, or for ten years. It is your duty. You must repent, and ask her
forgiveness, and weep. That is what you ought to do, and the great thing
is not to forget to do right.

IVANOFF. Again I feel as if I were going crazy; again!

SASHA. Well, heaven help you! You must forget me entirely. In two weeks
you must send me a line and I shall be content with that. But I shall
write to you--

BORKIN looks in at the door.

BORKIN. Ivanoff, may I come in? [He sees SASHA] I beg your pardon, I did
not see you. Bonjour! [He bows.]

SASHA. [Embarrassed] How do you do?

BORKIN. You are plumper and prettier than ever.

SASHA. [To IVANOFF] I must go, Nicholas, I must go. [She goes out.]

BORKIN. What a beautiful apparition! I came expecting prose and found
poetry instead. [Sings]

"You showed yourself to the world as a bird----"

IVANOFF walks excitedly up and down.

BORKIN. [Sits down] There is something in her, Nicholas, that one
doesn't find in other women, isn't there? An elfin strangeness. [He
sighs] Although she is without doubt the richest girl in the country,
her mother is so stingy that no one will have her. After her mother's
death Sasha will have the whole fortune, but until then she will only
give her ten thousand roubles and an old flat-iron, and to get that she
will have to humble herself to the ground. [He feels in his pockets]
Will you have a smoke? [He offers IVANOFF his cigarette case] These are
very good.

IVANOFF. [Comes toward BORKIN stifled with rage] Leave my house this
instant, and don't you ever