Plays by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky Part 5

GAVRiLOVNA. Yes, mistress.

[_She pours out a cup and hands it to_ GRiSHA.

GRiSHA. Why didn't you put more milk in it? Are you stingy, eh?

GAVRiLOVNA. [_Adding milk_] As it is, you're fattened on milk, like a calf.

GRiSHA _takes the cup and goes out through the door into the garden._

MADAM ULANBeKOV. I have thought of marrying NaDYA to NEGLIGeNTOV--with a decent settlement, of course. You say that he leads a bad life; consequently we must hasten the wedding. She is a girl of good principles, she'll hold him back, otherwise he'll ruin himself with his bachelor habits. Bachelor life is very bad for young men.

NaDYA. [_To_ LiZA] Do you hear, Liza? What's this? My G.o.d!

LiZA. You just have to listen, and you can't say a word.

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. It's high time she was married, benefactress; why should she be hanging around here? And now your young son, the angel, has come.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Oh, be still! What are you thinking up now? Why, he's only a child!

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. A child, benefactress! Well, there's nothing more to be said; G.o.d gave you a son as a joy and a consolation. And we can never feast our eyes enough on him. It's just as if the suns.h.i.+ne had come into our house. So good-natured, so merry, so gentle with every one! But he's already running after the girls so; he never lets one pa.s.s; and they, silly things, are tickled to death; they fairly snort with delight.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. You're lying. He never has a chance to see the girls anywhere, I think; all day long they are in their own side of the house, and, besides, they never go anywhere.

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. Ah, benefactress, there are no locks to keep a girl in, once she takes a notion to do something.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. You hear, Gavrilovna! Look after my girls. You know I won't have any loose conduct. You tell them that so they'll know I mean it.

[_To_ VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA] But no, there can't be anything like that.

You're merely disturbing me with your silly notions. What a dirty tongue you have! What business had you to chatter? And now I can't get the stuff out of my head! Keep watch, Gavrilovna!

GAVRiLOVNA. What's the use of listening to her, mistress?

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. But really, benefactress, am I saying anything bad?

Would I dare to think any harm about him, that little angel? Of course he's still a child, he wants to frisk a little; but here he hasn't any companions, so he plays with the girls.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. There's poison on your tongue. [_She reflects_. POTaPYCH _takes the cups_. GAVRiLOVNA _fills them and gives them back_. GRiSHA _comes in from the garden, gives_ GAVRiLOVNA _a push, and makes a sign with his head that she is to pour him another cup_. GAVRiLOVNA _does so_. GRiSHA _goes out_] However, I must marry off Nadya.

NaDYA. [_Almost weeping_] Mistress, you have shown me such kindness that I can't even express it. Forgive me for daring to speak to you now; but, because of your att.i.tude towards me, I expected quite a different favor from you. In what respect have I displeased you now, mistress, that you wish to marry me to a drunkard?

MADAM ULANBeKOV. My dear, it's not for you to argue about that; you're just a girl. You ought to rely in all things upon me, your patroness. I brought you up, and I am even bound to establish you in life. And again, you ought not to forget this: that he is my G.o.dson. Rather, you ought to be thankful for the honor. And now I tell you once and for all: I do not like it when my girls argue, I simply do not like it, and that's all there is to it.

That's a thing I cannot permit anybody. I've been accustomed, from my youth, to having people obey my every word; it's time you knew that! And it's very strange to me, my dear, that you should presume to oppose me. I see that I have spoiled you; and you at once get conceited. [NaDYA _weeps._

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. Benefactress, one must have feeling for his fellow creature, one must have feeling. But what kind of feelings can such as they have, save ingrat.i.tude?

MADAM ULANBeKOV. No one's talking to you! What are you mixing into everything for? [_To_ NaDYA, _sternly_] What new tale is this? Still crying! Let's have no more tears! [NaDYA _weeps_] I'm talking to you.

[_Rising slightly_] Your tears mean absolutely nothing to me! When I make up my mind to do a thing, I take a firm stand, and listen to no one on earth! [_She sits down_] And know, first of all, that your obstinacy will lead to nothing; you will simply anger me.

NaDYA. [_Weeping_] I'm an orphan, mistress! Your will must be obeyed!

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Well, I should say! Of course it must; because I brought you up; that's equal to giving you life itself.

LEONiD _enters._

SCENE III

_The same and_ LEONiD

LEONiD. How are you, mamma?

MADAM ULANBeKOV. How are you, my dear? Where have you been?

LEONiD. I went hunting with Potapych. I killed two ducks, mamma.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. You don't spare your mother; the idea, going hunting in your state of health! You'll fall sick again, G.o.d forbid! and then you'll simply kill me! Ah, my G.o.d, how I have suffered with that child! [_She muses._

GAVRiLOVNA. Some tea, master?

LEONiD. No, thanks.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. [_To_ VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA] When he was born, I was ill a very long time. Then he was always sickly, and he grew up puny. How many tears have I shed over him! Sometimes I would just look at him, and my tears would flow; no, it will never be my lot to see him in the uniform of the guardsmen! But it was most distressing of all for me when his father, owing to the boy's poor health, was unable to send him to a military school. How much it cost me to renounce the thought that he might become a soldier! For half a year I was ill. Just imagine to yourself, my dear, when he finishes his course, they will give him some rank or other, such as they give to any priest's son clerking in a government office! Isn't it awful? In the military service, especially in the cavalry, all ranks are aristocratic; one knows at once that even a junker is from the n.o.bility.

But what is a provincial secretary, or a t.i.tular councillor! Any one can be a t.i.tular councillor--even a merchant, a church-school graduate, a low-cla.s.s townsman, if you please. You have only to study, then serve awhile. Why, one of the petty townsmen who is apt at learning will get a rank higher than his! That's the way of the world! That's the way of the world! Oh, dear! [_She turns away with a wave of her hand_] I don't like to pa.s.s judgment on anything that is inst.i.tuted by higher authority, and won't permit others to do so, but, nevertheless, I don't approve of this system.

I shall always say loudly that it's unjust, unjust.

LEONiD. Why are Nadya's eyes red from crying?

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. She hasn't been flogged for a long time.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. That's none of your business, my dear. Nadya, go away, you're not needed here.

[NaDYA _goes out._]

LEONiD. Well, I know why: you want to marry her off.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. Whether I do or not, my dear, is my own business.

Furthermore, I do not like to have any one meddle in my arrangements.

VASILiSA PEREGRiNOVNA. What a clever young man you are; you know everything, you get into everything!

LEONiD. Indeed, mamma dear, I don't mean to meddle in your arrangements.

Only he's a drunkard.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. And that, again, is none of your business. Leave that to your mother's judgment.

LEONiD. I'm only sorry for her, mamma.

MADAM ULANBeKOV. All very fine, my dear; but I should like to know from whom you heard that I'm going to marry NaDYA. If one of the housemaids has....