Plays by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky Part 13

MADAM ULANBeKOV. I'm not asking you whether you've done wrong or not; I'm asking you where you were!

GRiSHA. [_Looks at the ceiling with a vacant stare_] Why, where should I be? The idea! The same place as usual!

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Well, where's that?

GRiSHA. I just informed you that I was there all the time, ma'am.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. You'll drive me out of patience! Where's there?

GRiSHA. But, really, ma'am! Your will in everything, ma'am. What did I, ma'am.... I've done wrong, ma'am.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Good Lord! You're still drunk, I guess.

GRiSHA. Not a bit, ma'am.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Nonsense! I can see.

GRiSHA. But, really, ma'am! One can say anything about a man.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Bah, you disgraceful scamp! He still denies it! This is awful! This is awful! Now, speak up, where've you been?

GRiSHA. Why, really, ma'am! I just informed you, ma'am.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Were you at the fair all night?

GRiSHA. I just informed you so, ma'am.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. How did you dare, when I let you go for only a short time?

GRiSHA. Well, really, ma'am! I did want to go home, but they wouldn't let me, ma'am.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Who wouldn't let you go?

GRiSHA. My friends wouldn't, ma'am.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Who are these friends of yours?

GRiSHA. Why, really, ma'am! Government office clerks.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Great heavens! Clerks! Do you understand what kind of people they are?

GRiSHA. Who, ma'am, clerks? Understand what about them, ma'am?

MADAM ULANBeKOV. And you prowled about with them all night! It would have been better if you hadn't told me, nasty scamp that you are! I know how they act! They'll teach you all sorts of things! What does this mean?

Be-gone! And don't you dare show yourself before my eyes!

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. Ask forgiveness, you blockhead! Kiss the dear lady's hand!

GRiSHA _waves his hand impatiently and goes out._

MADAM ULANBeKOV. What an affliction! It'll simply make me ill! Already I feel my spasms are beginning. What a worthless scamp! He went out just as if he had no responsibilities! And without a sign of repentance!

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. Ah, benefactress, you see he's still a child; he did it just out of stupidity.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. No, he needs a good....

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. What do you say, benefactress? He's still a regular b.o.o.by! What can you expect of him! He'll get wiser, then it will be altogether different.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. What offends me most is ingrat.i.tude! It seems to me he ought to feel what I am doing for him. I'm positively sick. Go for the doctor!

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. Calm yourself, benefactress; as if that rabble were worth your getting upset over!

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Hand me the smelling-salts.

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. [_Hands her them_] Snap your fingers at them, that's all. Now, if only those girls....

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Oh, here's another affliction! Now I certainly can't collect my thoughts; I'm completely distracted, and now she begins on the girls! I shall take to my bed at any moment.

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. l.u.s.t, benefactress, is beyond all endurance.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. No, they needn't expect any mercy from me. As it is, I forgive one, then another, and so the whole crowd is spoiled. [_She rings; enter_ POTaPYCH] Call Nadezhda, and come here yourself! [POTaPYCH _goes out_] That's what it is to be a woman. If I were a man, would they dare be so willful?

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. They don't give a fig for you, benefactress, not a fig. They aren't a little bit afraid of you!

MADAM ULANBeKOV. They're going to find out pretty quick whether I amount to anything.

_Enter_ POTaPYCH _and_ NaDYA. GAVRiLOVNA _and_ LiZA _look through the door_.

SCENE IV

_The same_, POTaPYCH _and_ NaDYA

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Nadezhda! Vasilisa PEREGRiNOVNA says she saw you in the garden last night with the master. Is that so? [NaDYA _is silent_] You're silent, that means it's true. Well, now, you can thank yourself. I'm not a conniver at loose conduct, and I won't endure it in my house. I can't turn you out as a vagabond, that would weigh upon my conscience. I am obliged to marry you off. [_To_ POTaPYCH] Send to town and tell NEGLIGeNTOV that I shall marry Nadya to him; and let the wedding be just as soon as possible.

[_She rises from her chair and is about to leave_].

NaDYA. [_Falling at her feet_] Whatever you wish, only not marriage with him!

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Fiddlesticks! What I have once said is sacred. And what do you mean by this scene? Can't you see that I'm not well? To keep on plaguing me! Potapych! She has no father; you be a father to her instead; and impress upon her in fatherly fas.h.i.+on the baseness of her conduct, and the fact that she must obey my commands.

POTaPYCH. You listen, Nadezhda, to what the mistress commands! Because when she intrusts you to me, it means that I must show my authority over you. If you command it, mistress, I can at once, in your presence, give her some moral instruction with my own hand! Here, if you dare to say one tiny word to the contrary, I'll drag you off by the hair, no matter what any one says.

[_He raises his hand threateningly._]

NaDYA. Oh!... [_She crouches._]