Pelagueya, who is pregnant, is scrubbing the floor. Seized with giddiness, she staggers to her feet and leans against the wall, staring before her with a vacant gaze._ PELAGUEYA Oh, God! _(She starts to scrub the floor again)_ LIPA _(enters, faint from heat)_ How stifling! I don't know what to do with myself. My head seems full of pins and needles. _(She sits down)_ Polya, say, Polya. PELAGUEYA What is it? LIPA Where's father? PELAGUEYA He's sleeping. LIPA Oh, I can't stand it. _(She opens the window, then takes a turn round the room, moving aimlessly and, glancing into the tavern)_ Tony's sleeping too--behind the counter. It would be nice to go in, bathing, but it's too hot to walk to the river. Polya, why don't you speak? Say something. PELAGUEYA What? LIPA Scrubbing, scrubbing, all the time. PELAGUEYA Yes. LIPA And in a day from now the floors will be dirty again. I don't see what pleasure you get from working the way you do. PELAGUEYA. I have to. LIPA I just took a peep at the street. It's awful. Not a human being in sight, not even a dog. All is dead. And the monastery has such a queer look. It seems to be hanging in the air. You have the feeling that if you were to blow on it, it would begin to swing and fly away. Why are you so silent, Polya? Where is Savva? Have you seen him? PELAGUEYA He's in the pasture playing jackstones with the children. LIPA He's a funny fellow. PELAGUEYA I don't see anything funny about it. He ought to be working, that's what he ought to be doing, not playing like a baby. I don't like your Savva. LIPA _(lazily)_ No, Polya, he is good. PELAGUEYA Good? I spoke to him and told him how hard the work was for me. "Well," he says, "if you want to be a horse, pull." What did he come here for? I wish he'd stayed where he was. LIPA He came home to see his folks. Why, it's ten years since he left. He was a mere boy then. PELAGUEYA A lot he cares for his folks. Yegor Ivanovich is just dying to get rid of him. The neighbors don't know what to make of him either. He dresses like a workingman and carries himself like a lord, doesn't speak to anybody and just rolls his eyes like a saint. I am afraid of his eyes. LIPA Nonsense. He has beautiful eyes. PELAGUEYA Can't he see that it's hard for me to be doing all the housework myself? A while ago he saw me carrying a pail full of water. I was straining with all my might. He didn't even say good morning; just, passed on. I have met a lot of people in my life, but never anybody whom I disliked so much. LIPA I'm so hot, everything seems to be turning round like wheels. Listen, Polya, if you don't want to work, don't. No one compels you to. PELAGUEYA If I won't work, who will? Will you? LIPA No, I won't. We'll hire a servant. PELAGUEYA Yes, of course, you have plenty of money. LIPA And what's the use of keeping it? PELAGUEYA