CHARACTERS THEODORE VASILYEVICH PROTOSOV (FEDYA). ELISABETH ANDREYEVNA PROTOSOVA (LISA). His wife. MISHA. Their son. ANNA PAVLOVNA. Lisa's mother. SASHA. Lisa's younger, unmarried sister. VICTOR MICHAELOVITCH KARENIN. SOPHIA DMITRIEVNA KARENINA. PRINCE SERGIUS DMITRIEVICH ABRESKOV. MASHA. A gypsy girl. IVAN MAKAROVICH. An old gypsy man. Masha's parent. NASTASIA IVANOVNA. An old gypsy woman. Masha's parent. OFFICER. MUSICIAN. FIRST GYPSY MAN. SECOND GYPSY MAN. GYPSY WOMAN. GYPSY CHOIR. DOCTOR. MICHAEL ALEXANDROVICH AFREMOV. STAKHOV. One of Fedya's boon companions. BUTKEVICH. One of Fedya's boon companions. KOROTKOV. One of Fedya's boon companions. IVAN PETROVICH ALEXANDROV. VOZNESENSKY. Karenin's secretary. PETUSHKOV. An artist. ARTIMIEV. WAITER IN THE PRIVATE ROOM AT THE RESTAURANT. WAITER IN A LOW-CLASS RESTAURANT. MANAGER OF THE SAME. POLICEMAN. INVESTIGATING MAGISTRATE. MELNIKOV. CLERK. USHER. YOUNG LAWYER. PETRUSHIN. A lawyer. LADY. ANOTHER OFFICER. ATTENDANT AT LAW COURTS. PROTOSOVS' NURSE. PROTOSOVS' MAID. AFREMOV'S FOOTMAN. KARENINS' FOOTMAN. ACT I SCENE I Protosovs' flat in Moscow. The scene represents a small dining room. ANNA PAVLOVNA, a stout, gray-haired lady, tightly laced, is sitting alone at the tea-table on which is a samovar. Enter NURSE carrying a tea-pot. NURSE (enters R. I, over to table C.). Please, Madam, may I have some water? ANNA PAVLOVNA (sitting R. of table C.). Certainly. How is the baby now? NURSE. Oh, restless, fretting all the time. There's nothing worse than for a lady to nurse her child. She has her worries and the baby suffers for them. What sort of milk could she have, not peeping all night, and crying and crying? [SASHA enters R. I, strolls to L. of table C. ANNA PAVLOVNA. But I thought she was more calm now? NURSE. Fine calm! It makes me sick to look at her. She's just been writing something and crying all the time. SASHA (to nurse). Lisa's looking for you. [Sits in chair L. of table C. NURSE. I'm going. [Exits R. I. ANNA PAVLOVNA. Nurse says she's always crying. Why can't she try and calm herself a little? SASHA. Well, really, Mother, you're amazing. How can you expect her to behave as if nothing had happened when she's just left her husband and taken her baby with her? ANNA PAVLOVNA. Well, I don't exactly, but that's all over. If I approve of my daughter's having left her husband, if I'm ever glad, well, you may be quite sure he deserved it. She has no reason to be miserable--on the contrary, she ought to be delighted at being freed from such a wretch. SASHA. Mother! Why do you go on like this? It's not the truth and you know it. He's not a wretch, he's wonderful. Yes, in spite of all his weakness. ANNA PAVLOVNA. I suppose you'd like her to wait till he'd spent every kopec they had, and smile sweetly when be brought his gypsy mistresses home with him. SASHA. He hasn't any mistresses.