Complete Works of Anton Chekhov

SCENE III

JULIE AND DYADIN

DYADIN (putting on his coat): It is you, Yulia Stepanovna!

Excuse my deshabille. ... I wanted to rest awhile in the embraces of Morpheus.

JULIE: How do you do?

DYADIN: Excuse me for not asking you in... The rooms aren’t tidied, etc. Perhaps you will come with me to the mill? . . .

JULIE: I shall be all right here. This is what I’ve come for,

Ilya Ilyich. Lennie and the professor, to amuse themselves,

wish to have a picnic hefe at the mill, to have tea. . . .

DYADIN: I’m delighted!

JULIE: I came in advance... They’ll be here presently.

Please order a table to be brought out here, and of course the samovar... Tell Semyon to get the provision baskets out of the carriage.

DYADIN: Certainly. (A pause.) Well? How are you all getting on?

JULIE: Badly, Ilya Ilyich... Believe me, all this worry has made me ill. You know, the professor and Sonechka are living with us now!

DYADIN: Yes, I know.

JULIE: After George laid hands on himself, they could not stay in the house... They’re afraid. In the daytime they don’t mind it so much, but when night falls, they all gather in one room and sit there until dawn. They are afraid of George’s appearing in the darkness. . . .

DYADIN: Superstitions! . . . And do they mention Elena Andreyevna?

JULIE: Of course they do. (A pause.) Vanished!

DYADIN: Yes, it’s a subject worthy of Aivasovsky’s brush... Just gone and vanished!

JULIE: And now nobody knows where she is... Perhaps

she has run away, or perhaps, in despair . . .

DYADIN: God is merciful, Yulia Stepanovna! All will be well.

Enter KHROUSCHOV with a portfolio and drawing-case.