dare to set foot in it again! Go this
instant!

BORKIN gets up and drops his cigarette.

IVANOFF. Go at once!

BORKIN. Nicholas, what do you mean? Why are you so angry?

IVANOFF. Why! Where did you get those cigarettes? Where? You think
perhaps that I don't know where you take the old man every day, and for
what purpose?

BORKIN. [Shrugs his shoulders] What business is it of yours?

IVANOFF. You blackguard, you! The disgraceful rumours that you have been
spreading about me have made me disreputable in the eyes of the whole
countryside. You and I have nothing in common, and I ask you to leave my
house this instant.

BORKIN. I know that you are saying all this in a moment of irritation,
and so I am not angry with you. Insult me as much as you please. [He
picks up his cigarette] It is time though, to shake off this melancholy
of yours; you're not a schoolboy.

IVANOFF. What did I tell you? [Shuddering] Are you making fun of me?

Enter ANNA.

BORKIN. There now, there comes Anna! I shall go.

IVANOFF stops near the table and stands with his head bowed.

ANNA. [After a pause] What did she come here for? What did she come here
for, I ask you?

IVANOFF. Don't ask me, Annie. [A pause] I am terribly guilty. Think
of any punishment you want to inflict on me; I can stand anything, but
don't, oh, don't ask questions!

ANNA. [Angrily] So that is the sort of man you are? Now I understand
you, and can see how degraded, how dishonourable you are! Do you
remember that you came to me once and lied to me about your love? I
believed you, and left my mother, my father, and my faith to follow you.
Yes, you lied to me of goodness and honour, of your noble aspirations
and I believed every word----

IVANOFF. I have never lied to you, Annie.

ANNA. I have lived with you five years now, and I am tired and ill, but
I have always loved you and have never left you for a moment. You
have been my idol, and what have you done? All this time you have been
deceiving me in the most dastardly way----

IVANOFF. Annie, don't say what isn't so. I have made mistakes, but I
have never told a lie in my life. You dare not accuse me of that!

ANNA. It is all clear to me now. You married me because you expected my
mother and father to forgive me and give you my money; that is what you
expected.

IVANOFF. Good Lord, Annie! If I must suffer like this, I must have the
patience to bear it. [He begins to weep.]

ANNA. Be quiet! When you found