NATALYA STEPANOVNA. To propose to me? Ah! [Falls into an easy-chair and wails] Bring him back! Back! Ah! Bring him here. CHUBUKOV. Bring whom here? NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Quick, quick! I’m ill! Fetch him! [Hysterics.] CHUBUKOV. What’s that? What’s the matter with you? [Clutches at his head] Oh, unhappy man that I am! I’ll shoot myself! I’ll hang myself! We’ve done for her! NATALYA STEPANOVNA. I’m dying! Fetch him! CHUBUKOV. Tfoo! At once. Don’t yell! [Runs out. A pause. NATALYA STEPANOVNA wails.] NATALYA STEPANOVNA. What have they done to me! Fetch him back! Fetch him! [A pause.] [CHUBUKOV runs in.] CHUBUKOV. He’s coming, and so on, devil take him! Ouf! Talk to him yourself; I don’t want to.... NATALYA STEPANOVNA. [Wails] Fetch him! CHUBUKOV. [Yells] He’s coming, I tell you. Oh, what a burden, Lord, to be the father of a grown-up daughter! I’ll cut my throat! I will, indeed! We cursed him, abused him, drove him out, and it’s all you... you! NATALYA STEPANOVNA. No, it was you! CHUBUKOV. I tell you it’s not my fault. [LOMOV appears at the door] Now you talk to him yourself [Exit.] [LOMOV enters, exhausted.] LOMOV. My heart’s palpitating awfully.... My foot’s gone to sleep.... There’s something keeps pulling in my side. NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Forgive us, Ivan Vassilevitch, we were all a little heated.... I remember now: Oxen Meadows really are yours. LOMOV. My heart’s beating awfully.... My Meadows.... My eyebrows are both twitching.... NATALYA STEPANOVNA. The Meadows are yours, yes, yours.... Do sit down.... [They sit] We were wrong.... LOMOV. I did it on principle.... My land is worth little to me, but the principle... NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Yes, the principle, just so.... Now let’s talk of something else. LOMOV. The more so as I have evidence. My aunt’s grandmother gave the land to your father’s grandfather’s peasants... NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Yes, yes, let that pass.... [Aside] I wish I knew how to get him started.... [Aloud] Are you going to start shooting soon? LOMOV. I’m thinking of having a go at the blackcock, honoured Natalya Stepanovna, after the harvest. Oh, have you heard? Just think, what a misfortune I’ve had! My dog Guess, whom you know, has gone lame. NATALYA STEPANOVNA. What a pity! Why? LOMOV. I don’t know.... Must have got twisted, or bitten by some other dog.... [Sighs] My very best dog, to say nothing of the expense. I gave Mironov 125 roubles for him. NATALYA STEPANOVNA. It was too much, Ivan Vassilevitch. LOMOV. I think it was very cheap. He’s a first-rate dog. NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Papa gave 85 roubles for his Squeezer, and Squeezer is heaps better than Guess! LOMOV. Squeezer better than. Guess? What an idea! [Laughs] Squeezer better than Guess! NATALYA STEPANOVNA. Of course he’s better! Of course, Squeezer is young, he may develop a bit, but on points and pedigree he’s better than anything that even Volchanetsky has got.