No, don't try, please. Abandon the hope. Good-bye. LIPA How rude you are, Savva. Come, Mr. Speransky. They have business of their own to attend to. SPERANSKY Still I haven't given up hope. Good-bye. _(Goes out)_ SAVVA Just grabbed me and stuck--the devil take him! KONDRATY _(laughing)_ Yes, he is a sticker from the word go. If he likes you, you can't shake him off. He'll follow you everywhere. We call him the "shadow"--partly, I suppose, because he is so thin. He has taken a fancy to you, so you'll have a time of it. He'll stick to you like a leech. SAVVA I am not in the habit of wasting a lot of words. I'll give him the slip without much ceremony. KONDRATY They have, even tried beating him, but it doesn't do any good. He is known here for miles around. He is a character. _[A pause. Lightning. Every now and then is heard the roll of distant thunder._ SAVVA Why did you tell me to meet you here in this public place where everyone may come? They fell on me like a swarm of fleas--monks and all sorts of imbeciles. I'd rather have spoken to you in the woods, where we could be let alone. KONDRATY I did it to escape suspicion. If I went with you to the woods they'd say: "What has a God-fearing man like Kondraty got to do with such a fellow?" I hope you pardon! "Why is he so thick with him?" I purposely timed my coming so that they'd see us together with others. SAVVA _(looking fixedly at him)_ Well? KONDRATY _(turning away his eyes and shrugging his shoulders)_ I can't. SAVVA You are afraid? KONDRATY To tell the truth, I am. SAVVA You're no good, old chap. KONDRATY Perhaps not. You have a right to draw your own conclusions. _(Pause)_ SAVVA But what are you afraid of, you booby? The machine is not dangerous. It won't hurt you. All you have to do is to put it in the right place, set it off, and then you can go to the village to your mistresses. KONDRATY That's not the point. SAVVA What then? Are you afraid of being caught? But I told you, if anything should happen, I'll take the guilt on myself. Don't you believe me? KONDRATY Why, of course I believe you. SAVVA What then? Do you fear God? KONDRATY Yes, I do. SAVVA But you don't believe in God--you believe in the devil. KONDRATY Who knows? Maybe some day I'll suddenly discover that He does exist. In that case, Mr. Savva, I thank you, but I'd rather not. Why should I? I live a nice, quiet existence. Of course, it's all a humbug, an imposition. But what business is it of mine? The people want to believe--let them. It wasn't I who invented God. SAVVA Look here. You know I could have done it myself. All I need have done was to take a bomb and throw it into the procession. That's all. But that would mean the killing of many people, which at the present juncture would serve no useful purpose. I therefore ask you to do it. If you refuse, then the blood will rest on you. You understand? KONDRATY