Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second SeriesChekhov, Anton Pavlovich
General
Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904 -- Translations into English; Russian drama -- Translations into English
DUNYASHA. I don’t know what to do about it. He’s a nice young man, but
every now and again, when he begins talking, you can’t understand a word
he’s saying. I think I like him. He’s madly in love with me. He’s an
unlucky man; every day something happens. We tease him about it. They
call him “Two-and-twenty troubles.”
LOPAKHIN. [Listens] There they come, I think.
DUNYASHA. They’re coming! What’s the matter with me? I’m cold all over.
LOPAKHIN. There they are, right enough. Let’s go and meet them. Will she
know me? We haven’t seen each other for five years.
DUNYASHA. [Excited] I shall faint in a minute.... Oh, I’m fainting!
[Two carriages are heard driving up to the house. LOPAKHIN and DUNYASHA
quickly go out. The stage is empty. A noise begins in the next room.
FIERS, leaning on a stick, walks quickly across the stage; he has just
been to meet LUBOV ANDREYEVNA. He wears an old-fashioned livery and a
tall hat. He is saying something to himself, but not a word of it can be
made out. The noise behind the stage gets louder and louder. A voice is
heard: “Let’s go in there.” Enter LUBOV ANDREYEVNA, ANYA, and CHARLOTTA
IVANOVNA with a little dog on a chain, and all dressed in travelling
clothes, VARYA in a long coat and with a kerchief on her head. GAEV,
SIMEONOV-PISCHIN, LOPAKHIN, DUNYASHA with a parcel and an umbrella, and
a servant with luggage--all cross the room.]
ANYA. Let’s come through here. Do you remember what this room is,
mother?
LUBOV. [Joyfully, through her tears] The nursery!
VARYA. How cold it is! My hands are quite numb. [To LUBOV ANDREYEVNA]
Your rooms, the white one and the violet one, are just as they used to
be, mother.
LUBOV. My dear nursery, oh, you beautiful room.... I used to sleep
here when I was a baby. [Weeps] And here I am like a little girl again.
[Kisses her brother, VARYA, then her brother again] And Varya is just as
she used to be, just like a nun. And I knew Dunyasha. [Kisses her.]
GAEV. The train was two hours late. There now; how’s that for
punctuality?
CHARLOTTA. [To PISCHIN] My dog eats nuts too.
PISCHIN. [Astonished] To think of that, now!
[All go out except ANYA and DUNYASHA.]
DUNYASHA. We did have to wait for you!
[Takes off ANYA’S cloak and hat.]
ANYA. I didn’t get any sleep for four nights on the journey.... I’m
awfully cold.
DUNYASHA. You went away during Lent, when it was snowing and frosty, but
now? Darling! [Laughs and kisses her] We did have to wait for you, my
joy, my pet.... I must tell you at once, I can’t bear to wait a minute.
ANYA. [Tired] Something else now...?
DUNYASHA. The clerk, Epikhodov, proposed to me after Easter.
ANYA. Always the same.... [Puts her hair straight] I’ve lost all my
hairpins.... [She is very tired, and even staggers as she walks.]
DUNYASHA. I don’t know what to think about it. He loves me, he loves me
so much!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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