The Complete Works of Count Tolstoy/Volume 18/The Power of Darkness/Act 4
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ OF ACT IV.
|
Nikíta.
|
Matréna.
|
ACT IV.
Autumn. Evening. The moon is shining. The interior of the farmyard. In the middle, the vestibule; on the right, the warm hut and the gate; on the left, the cold hut and the cellar. In the house are heard conversation and drunken shouts. Neighbour comes out of the vestibule and calls Anísya's sponsor.
Scene I. Sponsor and Neighbour.
Neighbour. Why did Akulína not come out?
Sponsor. Why did she not come out? She would like to, but she does not feel well. The suitors came to see the bride, but she is lying in the cold hut and will not show up, my dear.
Neighbour. What is the matter?
Sponsor. She has been bewitched,—she has it in her belly.
Neighbour. You don't say so?
Sponsor. I do. (She whispers something in her ear.)
Neighbour. Well, what a sin! The suitors will find out about it.
Sponsor. How are they to find out? They are all drunk. They are more after the dowry. They are giving the girl two fur coats, six bodices, a French shawl, a big lot of linen, and, they say, two hundred roubles in money.
Neighbour. What pleasure is there in such money? What a shame!
Sponsor. Hush. The suitor is coming. (They grow silent and walk into the vestibule.)
Scene II. Suitor (alone, coming out of the vestibule, and hiccoughing).
Sponsor. I am sweating. Oh, it is so hot. I want to cool off a little. (Stands blowing.) God knows how it is—something wrong—does not please me— Well, an old woman—
Scene III. Suitor and Matréna.
Matréna (coming out of the vestibule). I was looking for the suitor, and here you are. Well, my dear, thank the Lord, everything is done honourably. A suitor must not brag. I do not even know how to brag. You have come to do a good work, and God will grant you to thank me for it all your life. The bride, you know, is a rare one. You will not find such a girl in the whole country.
Suitor. That is so, if only we don't get fooled about the money.
Matréna. Don't mention the money! She has all her parents have left her. In our time one hundred and fifty roubles are not a small matter.
Suitor. We are satisfied, but we do not want to wrong our child,—we want to do it in the best possible manner.
Matréna. I tell you the truth, suitor: if it were not for me you would not get her in a lifetime. The Kormílins have sent to inquire about her, but I have stopped them. As to the money, I will tell you how it was: when the man was dying,—the kingdom of heaven be his,—he told the widow to take Nikíta to the house,—my son has told me so,—and the money was to go to Akulína. Another man would have made use of it, but Nikíta gives her every cent that belongs to her. Think what a sum it is!
Suitor. People say that there was more money left for her. My son is a shrewd one himself.
Matréna. Oh, my little white doves! A piece of bread looks big in other people's hands. She gets every cent that is coming to her. I tell you: stop all delay and clinch the bargain at once! The girl is as pretty as a beanstalk.
Suitor. That is so. My wife and I have been wondering why the girl has not come out? We thought she might be an ailing girl.
Matréna. Not at all. She is not a sickly girl. There is not another such a healthy woman in the whole country. She is so plump you can't pinch her. You saw her the other day. She is a great worker. It is true she is a little hard of hearing, but a worm bite does not hurt a good apple. She did not come out because she has had the evil eye upon her. Somebody has bewitched her. I know who the bitch is that has done it. They knew that the match-makers were to be at the house, so they bewitched her. I will take off the evil eye. To-morrow the girl will be up again. Have no doubts about the girl!
Suitor. All right,—the affair is settled.
Matréna. That's it. Don't back out again! And don't forget me! I have interceded for you, so don't forget me!
A Woman's Voice (in the vestibule). Iván, let us go,—it is time!
Suitor. Right away! (Exit. People crowd in the vestibule, and drive away.)
Scene IV. Anísya and Anyútka.
Anyútka (running out of the vestibule and beckoning to Anísya). Mamma!
Anísya (from a distance). What is it?
Anyútka. Mamma, come here, or they will hear me. (Goes with her to the barn.)
Anísya. Well, what is it? Where is Akulína?
Anyútka. She has gone to the granary. She is carrying on awfully there! Truly, "I have no more strength," says she. "I will cry out," says she, "as loud as I can." Truly.
Anísya. Maybe she can wait. Let us first see off the guests.
Anyútka. Oh, mamma! It is hard for her. And she is so angry. "Their drinking on my account is all in vain," says she. "I will not marry. I will sooner die," says she. Mamma, I am afraid she may die. I am awfully afraid!
Anísya. Don't be afraid, she won't. Don't go to her. Go! (Anísya and Anyútka exeunt.)
Scene V. Mítrich (alone. Comes from the gate and picks up the scattered hay).
Mítrich. O Lord, merciful St. Nicholas! What a lot of liquor they have used up! And how it smells! It stinks even here in the yard from it. No, I don't want it,—go to! How they have scattered the hay! They don't eat it, but only nose through it. There will be a whole bundle of it. Oh, what a smell! Almost under my nose. Go to! (Yawning.) It is time to go to bed! I don't want to go into the house. It is hovering all about my nose. It smells strong,—accursed liquor! (One hears the people departing.) They are gone, O Lord, merciful St. Nicholas! They are only collaring each other, and pulling the wool over each other's eyes. It is all nonsense.
SCENE VI. Mítrich and Nikíta.
Nikíta (coming out). Mítrich, go on the oven! I will pick it up.
Mítrich. All right. Throw it to the sheep! Well, have you seen them off?
Nikíta. I have, but things don't go right. I don't know what will happen.
Mítrich. Bosh! There is a Foundling House for that. Throw out anything you please, and they will pick it up. Give them all the babies you want, they won't ask any questions. They even give money, so that all a woman has to do after that is to become a wet-nurse. Nowadays these things are done very simply.
Nikíta. Look here, Mítrich, don't say more than you need to!
Mítrich. What do I care? Sweep away the track as well as you can! Oh, how you smell of liquor! I will go in. (Goes away, yawning.) O Lord!
Scene VII. Nikíta (long silent. Sits down on a sleigh).
Nikíta Bad business!
Scene VIII. Nikíta and Anísya.
Anísya (coming out). Where are you?
Nikíta. Here I am.
Anísya. What are you sitting there for? There is no time to lose. You have to carry it out at once.
Nikíta. What are we going to do?
Anísya. Do what I tell you!
Nikíta. You had better take it to the Foundling House.
Anísya. You carry it there, if you want to. You are ready enough to do something nasty, but very weak in straightening things out.
Nikíta. What is to be done?
Anísya. I told you: go into the cellar and dig a hole there!
Nikíta. Can't you do it any other way?
Anísya (mocking him). Any other way? No, you can't. You ought to have thought of it before. Go where I tell you!
Nikíta. Oh, it is a bad business!
Scene IX. The same and Anyútka.
Anyútka. Mamma! grandmother is calling you. Sister must have a baby,—truly,—it has been crying.
Anísya. Don't talk! The paralysis take you! The kittens are mewing. Go into the house and sleep! Or I will teach you!
Anyútka. Mamma dear, really, upon my word—
Anísya (raising her hand against her). I will show you! Don't let me hear a word from you!
Anyútka (runs away).
Anísya (to Nikita). Go and do as I tell you! Or look out! (Exit.)
Scene X. Nikíta (alone, long silent).
Nikíta. Bad business! Oh, these women! It is bad! She says I ought to have thought of it before. When was I to have thought of it before? When was I to have thought of it? Last year it was Anísya that stuck to me. Well? Am I a monk? The master died and I covered up the sin by marrying her, as is proper. There was no fault of mine. Such things often happen. And then the powders. Did I persuade her to do so? If I had known it at the time I would have killed the bitch. Really, I would. The slut has made me a part of her nastiness. Ever since then I have loathed her. When my mother told me about it I began to loathe her, and could not look into her eyes. How could I, after that, get along with her? And so it started. Then this girl began to cling to me. Why not I? If not I, some one else would have done it. And now what has come of it! Again it is not my fault. Oh! it's a bad business. (Sits in thought.) It is a bold thing the women have thought out. No, I won't do it!
Scene XI. Nikíta and Matréna (with a lantern and a spade, walking hurriedly).
Matréna. Don't sit there like a sitting hen! Your wife told you to do something. Are you ready?
Nikíta. What are you going to do?
Matréna. We know what to do. You attend to your business!
Nikíta. You will get me entangled.
Matréna. What? Do you intend to back out? You have gone so far, and now you want to back out.
Nikíta. It is a terrible thing! But the thing is living!
Matréna. A living thing! It is barely living. Where would you put it? Take it to the Foundling House, and it will die all the same. Then everybody will know it, and the girl will be on our hands.
Nikíta. But if they should find it out?
Matréna. It is in your own house, and you can do it right. We will fix it so that not a word of it will be heard. Do as I tell you! But we are women and can't get along without a man. Take the spade! Go down and fix it! I will hold the lantern.
Nikíta. What shall I fix?
Matréna (in a whisper). Dig a hole! Then we will take it down and bury it at once. There she is, calling again. Go, I say. I must go.
Nikíta. Well, is the child dead?
Matréna. Of course, it is. Only do it more lively! The people are not yet asleep, and they, the accursed ones, may hear and see it. The officer passed here in the evening. So go! (Giving him the spade.) Go down in the cellar! Dig a hole in the corner! The earth is soft there,—and then you will smooth it out again. Mother earth won't tell it will be as smooth as though a cow had licked it down. Go, go, my son!
Nikíta. You will get me entangled. Go to! Really, I will go away. Do yourselves as you please!
Scene XII. The same and Anísya.
Anísya (from the door). Well, have you dug it?
Matréna. What did you come here for? What have you done with it?
Anísya. I have covered it with a bag, so it won't be heard. Well, hasn't he dug it yet?
Matréna. He does not want to.
Anísya (rushing out in fury). He does not want to! And does he want to feed lice in the prison? I will go at once and tell the officer. I will make an end of it at once. I will tell him everything!
Nikíta (frightened). What will you tell?
Anísya. What? Everything! Who took the money? You! (Nikíta is silent.) And who gave him the poison? I did. But you knew, you knew, you knew! We had agreed upon it.
Matréna. That will do! Nikíta, don't be so stubborn! What is to be done? You must take the trouble! Go, my dear!
Anísya. I declare! The pretty fellow! He does not want to! You have wronged me enough! You have been misusing me, and now is my turn. Go, I say, or I will show you what I can do. Take the spade, here! Go!
Nikíta. Don't insist so! (Takes the spade, but reluctantly.) If I don't want to I won't go.
Anísya. You won't? (Begins to cry out.) Oh, people, people!
Matréna (putting her hand on her mouth). What are you doing? Are you insane? He will go. Go, my son, go, my dear!
Anísya. I will call for help at once.
Nikíta. Stop it! Oh, what people they are! Hurry up! I will do it. (Goes to the cellar.)
Matréna. Yes, my son, you knew how to have a good time, know how to hide your crime!
Anísya (still excited). He and his slut have been making fun of me, that will stop now! I sha'n't be the only one. Let him be a murderer, too! He will know how it feels.
Matréna. Well, well, how you are blustering! Woman, don't be so angry, but do everything softly and slowly, as is proper. Go to the girl! He will do the work. (Follows him with the lantern. Nikita goes into the cellar.)
Anísya. I will make him choke the life out of his accursed offspring. (Still in excitement.) I am tired having Peter's bones upon my own conscience. Let him find out what it is! I will have no pity on myself, I will not, I have said.
Matréna (puts down the lantern, to Anísya). He is digging. Go and bring it!
Anísya. Watch him or the accursed one will go away. I will bring it out.
Matréna. Say, don't forget to baptize it! If you can't do it, I will. Have you a cross?
Anísya. I know where to find one. (Exit.)
Scene XIII. Matréna (alone) and Nikíta (in the cellar).
Matréna How the woman has flared up! Of course, it is provoking. God aid us in covering up the matter, and let there be an end of it! We will get rid of the girl without a crime. My son will then live quietly. They have plenty of everything in the house, thank God. He will not forget me. What would they be without Matréna. They would not be able to think out a thing. (Into the cellar.) Are you done, my son?
Nikíta (coming out of the cellar. His head is visible). Well? Are you going to bring it? Why are you crawling so? If it is to be done, do it quick!
Matréna. Have you crossed it?
Anísya. Of course. I took it away by force. She would not let me have it. (Comes up to Nikíta and gives it to him.)
Nikíta (not taking it). Take it down yourself
Anísya. Take it, I say. (She throws the child to him.)
Nikíta (catching it). Alive! Mother, it is moving! It is alive! What shall I—
Anísya (taking the child out of his hands and throwing it into the cellar). Strangle it at once and it won't live. (Pushes Nikita down-stairs.) This is your affair. Make an end of it!
Matréna (sitting down on the top step). He is compassionate. It is hard for him. Well, it is his own sin. (Anísya stands over the cellar. Matréna sits down on the steps of the porch and looks at her.) Oh, how frightened he got! Suppose it is hard,—still it has to be done. What else could we do? When you come to think of it: how some people beg for children! But God does not grant them any, and they get only still-born children. There, for example, the pope's wife—and here is a living child, and nobody wants it. (Looking down into the cellar.) He must be through. (To Anísya.) Well?
Anísya (looking down into the cellar). He has covered it with a board and is sitting down on it. He has done it, no doubt.
Matréna. Oh, oh! I should like to get along without sinning, but what is to be done?
Nikíta (coming out, shivering). It is still living! I can't! It is living!
Anísya. If it is living, where are you going? (Wants to stop him.)
Nikíta (rushes against her). Go away, or I will kill you! (Seizes her hand; she tears herself away; he runs after her with the spade. Matréna runs toward him and stops him. Anísya runs upon the porch. Matréna wants to take away the spade.)
Nikíta (to his mother). I will kill you, you, too! Get away! (Matréna runs away to Anísya on the porch. Nikíta stops.) I will kill you! I will kill everybody!
Matréna. He does this from fright. Never mind, it will pass.
Nikíta. What have they done? What have they done with me? How it cried!—How it crunched under me! What have they done with me? And it is alive, still alive! (Silent and listening.) It is crying, oh, how it is crying. (Runs to the cellar.)
Matréna (to Anísya). He is running down to get it buried, no doubt. Nikíta, do you want the lantern?
Nikíta (does not answer. Listening at the cellar). I do not hear it. It is quiet. (Goes away and stops.) Oh, how the bones crunched under me! Crr—crr—What have they done with me? (Listens again.) Again it cries, really it does. What is it? Mother, O mother! (Goes up to her.)
Matréna. What is it, my son?
Nikíta. Mother dear, I can't finish it. I can't. Mother dear, take pity on me!
Matréna. Oh, how frightened you are! Go, go, take some liquor to brace you up.
Nikíta. Mother dear, I am undone. What have you done with me? Oh, how those bones did crunch, and how it cried!—Mother dear, what have you done with me? (Walks away and sits down on the sleigh.)
Matréna. Go, my son, and take a drink! It makes one feel bad to do such things at night-time. But let day come, and let another day pass, and you will forget to think of it. Wait a bit, and we will get the girl married, and we will think no more of it. But you go and take a drink! I will fix everything in the cellar.
Nikíta (shuddering). Is there any liquor left? I will take a drink. (Exit. Anísya, who has been standing all the time near the vestibule, steps silently aside.)
Scene XV. Matréna and Anísya.
Matréna. Go, go, my dear! I will go down in the cellar myself, and will bury it. Where did he throw the spade? (Finds the spade and goes half-way down into the cellar.) Anísya, come here and hold the lantern for me!
Anísya. And he?
Matréna. He is dreadfully frightened. You went for him too stiffly. Never mind, he will come to. God be with him! I will do the work myself. Put the lantern here. I shall be able to see. (Matréna disappears in the cellar.)
Anísya (toward the door, through which Nikíta has gone). Well, are you through celebrating? You have been spreading yourself. Now wait and see how it feels! You won't be so dashing after this!
Scene XVI. The same and Nikíta (running out of the vestibule, toward the cellar).
Nikíta. Mother, O mother!
Matréna (sticking her head out of the cellar). What is it, my son?
Nikíta (listening). Don't bury it! It is alive. Don't you hear it? It is alive! Do you hear it cry?—I hear it—
Matréna. How can it cry? You have crushed it flat. You have smashed the whole head.
Nikíta. What is this? (Closes his ears.) It is crying still! I have forfeited my life, I have forfeited it! What have they done with me? Where shall I go? (Sits down on the porch.)
Curtain.
VARIANT
Instead of Scenes XIII., XIV., XV., and XVI. of Act IV., the following variant may be read.
PART II
Room of Act I.
Mítrich. I declare, they have filled the room with the smell of liquor, pea-pie choke them! They have poured out a lot! I can't get rid of it by smoking. It just stays in my nose. O Lord! It is time to go to sleep. (Goes up to the little lamp and wants to turn it down.)
Anyútka (leaping up and sitting down). Grandfather, please, don't put it out!
Mítrich. Why not?
Anyútka. There has been such a noise in the yard. (Listening.) Do you hear? They have gone to the granary again.
Mítrich. What is that to you? They don't ask you about it? Lie down and go to sleep! I will turn out the light. (Turns it down.)
Anyútka. Grandfather, golden one! Don't put out the light! Let it burn a wee little bit, or it will frighten me.
Mítrich (laughing.) All right, all right. (Sits down near her.) What frightens you?
Anyútka. How can I help being frightened, grandfather! Sister was suffering so. She struck her head against the flour box. (In a whisper). I know—she wants to get a baby— Maybe it is born now—
Mítrich. You imp, the frogs may kick you! You must know everything! Lie down and sleep! (Anyútka lies down). That's it. (Covers her.) That's it. If you know much, you will soon get old.
Anyútka And will you go on the oven?
Mítrich. Where else? Silly girl! She wants to know everything. (Covers her still more and rises to go.) Lie like this and sleep! (Goes to the oven.)
Anyútka. It cried once, and now you can't hear it.
Mítrich. O Lord, merciful St. Nicholas! What is it you can't hear?
Anyútka. The baby.
Mítrich. You can't hear it because there is none.
Anyútka. But I heard it, truly, I did. Such a thin voice.
Mítrich. You did not hear it. What you heard was a girl crying, for the bogie-man put her in a sack and took her away.
Anyútka. What bogie-man?
Mítrich. The bogie-man, that's all. (Climbing on the oven.) The oven feels good to-day,—it is warm. Fine O Lord, merciful St. Nicholas!
Anyútka. Grandfather, are you going to sleep?
Mítrich. What did you think? That I was going to sing? (Silence.)
Anyútka. Grandfather, O grandfather! They are digging! Upon my word, they are. Do you hear? Truly, they are digging.
Mítrich. What nonsense! Digging! Digging at night! Who is digging? The cow is scratching herself. And you say: digging. Sleep, I say, or I will put out the light altogether.
Anyútka. Darling, grandfather, don't put it out! I won't do it again, upon my word, I won't. I am frightened.
Mítrich. Frightened? Don't be afraid,—there is nothing to frighten you. You are afraid yourself, so you think something frightens you. How can you help being frightened if you are afraid? What a foolish girl! (Silence. A cricket.)
Anyútka (in a whisper). Grandfather, O grandfather! Are you asleep?
Mítrich. Well, what is it again?
Anyútka. What is a bogie-man?
Mítrich. I'll tell you. If a child won't go to sleep, just as you are doing now, he comes with a sack and whisks her into it. Then he puts in his own head, raises her shirt, and begins to whip her.
Anyútka. What does he whip her with?
Mítrich. With a bath broom.
Anyútka. But he can't see inside the sack!
Mítrich. Never mind, he can.
Anyútka. I will bite him.
Mítrich. No, dear, you won't.
Anyútka. Grandfather, somebody is coming! Who is it? O mother, who is it?
Mítrich. Let them come! What do you want? I suppose it is your mother.
Scene II. The same and Anísya (enter).
Anísya. Anyútka! (Anyútka pretends to be asleep.) Mítrich!
Mítrich. What?
Anísya. Why are you burning the lamp? We will sleep in the cold hut.
Mítrich. I have just undressed myself. I will put it out.
Anísya (looking for something in the coffer, and grumbling). You never can find a thing when you need it.
Mítrich. What are you looking for?
Anísya. I am looking for a cross to baptize it with. God grant it will die! It will be a sin to let it die unbaptized.
Mítrich. Of course, you must do everything as is proper. Well, have you found it?
Anísya. I have. (Exit.)
Scene III. Mítrich and Anyútka.
Mítrich. That's it. I would have given her mine. O Lord!
Anyútka (jumping down and trembling). Oh, oh, grandfather! Don't fall asleep, for Christ's sake! I am afraid.
Mítrich. What are you afraid of?
Anyútka. The baby will, no doubt, die. The midwife baptized Aunt Arína's baby, and it died, too.
Mítrich. If it will die they will bury it.
Anyútka. Maybe it would not have died if Grandmother Matréna were not here. I heard what grandmother said, truly, I did.
Mítrich. What did you hear? Sleep, I say! Cover up your head, that's all.
Anyútka. If it should live, I would take care of it.
Mítrich (bellowing). O Lord!
Anyútka. Where will they put it?
Mítrich. They will put it where it belongs. It is not your sorrow. Sleep, I say! Mother will come and will give it to you! (Silence.)
Anyútka. Grandfather! They did not kill the girl you told me about?
Mítrich. What girl? Oh, that one! She came out all right. Anyútka. Grandfather, you told me they found her, didn't you?
Mítrich. Yes, they did.
Anyútka. Where did they find her? Tell me.
Mítrich. They found her in their house. The soldiers came to the village and began to rummage through the houses. In one of them that girl was lying on her stomach. They wanted to strike her. It made me feel bad, and so I picked her up, but she kept kicking. She made herself heavy, as though she weighed two hundred pounds, and she kept scratching anything she got into her hands, so that it was hard to get away from her. And so I picked her up and patted her on her head. She was as rough as a hedgehog. I patted her and patted her until she quieted down. I soaked a piece of hardtack and gave it to her. She understood what I wanted. She ate it. What was I to do with her? We took her along. We fed her, and she got used to us. We took her along on our expedition, and she went with us. She was a nice girl.
Anyútka. Wasn't she baptized?
Mítrich. I don't know. They said she was not completely baptized, because her people were not like ours.
Anyútka. Was she a German?
Mítrich. German! No. She was not a German, but an Asiatic. They are all like Jews, but not exactly Jews. They were Poles, but Asiatics. Krudles,—Krugles is their name,—well, I have forgotten which it is. We called the girl Sásha. Sásha was a pretty child. I have forgotten everything else, but I see the girl right before me, pea-pie choke her! This is all I remember from my whole soldier's life. I only remember how they used to flog me, and the girl. She used to hold on to my neck, and I carried her. You could not find a finer child. Later we gave her up. The captain's wife took her for a daughter. And she turned out a fine woman. The soldiers were so sorry to part with her!
Anyútka. Grandfather, I remember how father died. You were not living at our house then. He called up Nikíta and said: "Forgive me," says he, "Nikíta!" and he burst out crying. (Sighing.) It was such a pity to see him.
Mítrich. Yes, that's so.
Anyútka. Grandfather, O grandfather! There is again a noise in the cellar. Oh, my dear! Oh, grandfather, they are doing something to the baby. It is such a tiny one. Oh, oh! (Covers up her head and weeps.)
Mítrich (listening). Yes, they are up to something bad. Those women are a bad lot. You can't say much good of the men, but the women—they are like wild beasts. They fear nothing.
Anyútka (rising). Grandfather, O grandfather!
Mítrich. Well, what is it?
Anyútka. The other day a wanderer stopped here overnight. He said that if a baby died its little soul went straight to heaven. Is it true?
Mítrich. I don't know. I suppose it does. Why?
Anyútka. I should like to die. (Sobbing.)
Mítrich. If you die you don't count.
Anyútka. Up to ten years you are a child, and your soul may go to God. After that you get spoiled.
Mítrich. I should say you do! How can you women help spoiling? Who teaches you? What do you see? What do you hear? Nothing but badness. I have not learned much, but I know at least something, not like a village woman. What is a village woman? Nothing but dirt. There are many millions of you women in Russia, but you are as blind as moles,—you know nothing. All you know is how to fan off a cow's death, and all kinds of enchantments, and how to take children to a sitting hen.
Anyútka. Mamma has taken me there, too.
Mítrich. Precisely, that's it. There are millions of you women and girls, but you are all like the beasts of the forest. Just as one has been born, so she dies. She has neither seen nor heard anything. A man will learn something, if nowhere else, at least in the inn, or by some chance, in prison, or in the army, as I have. But what about a woman? She does not know a thing about God,—nay, she does not know one day from another. They creep about like blind pups, and stick their heads into the manure. All they know is their foolish songs: Ho, ho, ho, ho— But what this ho-ho is they don't know themselves.
Anyútka. Grandfather, I know nearly half of the Lord's prayer.
Mítrich. You know a lot! Nor can one expect it of you. Who is teaching you? All the teaching you get is from a drunken peasant with the reins. I do not know who will be responsible for you. The sergeant or the corporal is responsible for the recruits. But there is nobody who may be made responsible for you women. You women are like riotous cattle without a shepherd,—a stupid set you are. A most senseless lot!
Anyútka. What is it going to be?
Mítrich. What?—Cover up your head and go to sleep. O Lord! (Silence. A cricket.)
Anyútka (leaping up). Grandfather! Something is calling in the street! Upon my word, somebody is calling. Grandfather dear, he is coming this way.
Mítrich. I tell you, cover yourself up!
Scene IV. The same, Nikíta, and Matréna.
Nikíta (enter). What have they done with me? What have they done with me?
Matréna. Take a drink, my dear, take a drink! (Gets the liquor and puts it on the table.)
Nikíta. Give it to me. I want to drink.Matréna. Softly! They are not asleep yet. Here, drink!
Nikíta. What is that for? Why did you think that out! Could you not have carried it anywhere?
Matréna (in a whisper). Sit down awhile, and drink some more, and take a smoke! This will drive away your bad thoughts.
Nikíta. Mother dear, I am undone. When it cries, and the little bones begin to crunch, crr—crr, I lose my manhood.
Matréna. Don't mention it! You are saying unseemly things. Of course it makes one feel bad to do such things at night-time. But let day come, and another day pass, and you will forget about it. (Goes up to Nikíta, and puts her hand on his shoulder.)
Nikíta. Go away from me! What have you done with me?
Matréna. My son, don't say that! (Takes hold of his hand.)
Nikíta. Go away from me! I will kill you! I don't care for anything now! I will kill you!
Matréna. Oh, oh, how frightened you are! You had better go to bed.
Nikíta. I have no place to go to. I am lost.
Matréna (shaking her head). Oh, oh! I will go and fix it all. And he will sit here until he feels better. (Exit.)
Scene V. Nikíta, Mítrich, and Anyútka.
Nikíta (sits with his hands over his face, while Mitrich and Anyútka keep quiet). It cries, really it cries, hear, hear I hear it. She will bury it, she will! (Runs to the door.) Mother, do not bury it. It is alive!
Scene VI. The same and Matréna.
Matréna (returning, in a whisper). Christ be with you! What are you thinking about? How can it be alive? All its bones are crushed.
Nikíta. Give me some more liquor! (Drinks.)
Matréna. Go, my son! You will now fall asleep, and all will pass.
Nikíta (stands and listens). It is alive! I hear it cry. Don't you hear it? Listen!
Matréna (in a whisper). No, I don't.
Nikíta. Mother dear! I have forfeited my life. What have you done with me? Where shall I go? (Runs out of the room. Matréna follows him.)
Scene VII. Mítrich and Anyútka.
Anyútka. Grandfather dear, they have killed it!
Mítrich (angrily). Sleep, I say! Oh, may the frogs kick you! I will strike you with the bath broom! Sleep, I say!
Anyútka. Grandfather, golden one! Somebody is taking me by the shoulder! Somebody is taking me with his big hands! Grandfather, truly I will go away from here. Grandfather, golden one, let me come to you on the oven! Let me come, for Christ's sake— He is taking hold of me— He is taking me— Ah! (Runs to the oven.)
Mítrich. I declare, they have frightened the girl,—those sluts,—may the frogs kick them! Climb up!
Anyútka (climbing on the oven). Don't go away!
Mítrich. Where should I go? Climb up! O Lord, St. Nicholas Most Holy Virgin of Kazán!—How they have frightened the girl! (Covering her up.) Silly little girl! The sluts have frightened her, though,—pea-pie choke them!
Curtain.