Complete Works of Anton Chekhov

SCENE XII

THE SAME, FYODOR, AND JULIE

JULIE: But it’s all a fib, Fyodor dear! You’re fibbing!

ORLOVSKY: Sh-h! Quiet, boys! My rascal is coming here. Let us hide ourselves, quick! Do!

(ORLOVSKY, DYADIN, KHROUSCHOV, and SONYA hide themselves.)

FYODOR: I left my whip and gloves here.

JULIE: But it’s all” a fib!

FYODOR: Well, let it be a fib! . . . What of it? I don’t want to go to your house yet... Let’s walk for a while,

and then we will go. . . .

JULIE: You are a nuisance! (Clapping her hands.) Now,

isn’t that Waffle a silly! The table is not yet cleared! Someone

might have stolen the samovar... Oh, Waffle, Waffle — an old man, and yet he has less sense than a baby!

DYADIN (aside): Thanks!

JULIE: As we came up I heard someone laughing. . . .

FYODOR: It’s the peasant women bathing! . . . (Picking up a glove) Here’s someone’s glove... Sonya’s... Today

Sonya behaved as though she were bitten by a fly. She’s in love with the Wood Demon. She’s in love with him up to her eyes, and he, the blockhead, does not see it!

JULIE (angrily): Where are we going then?

FYODOR: To the dyke... Let’s go for a walk. . . .

There’s no finer spot in the whole district... Beautiful!

ORLOVSKY (aside): My sonny, my beauty, his fine beard!...

JULIE: I just heard a voice.

FYODOR (reciting): “ Here are wonders, the Wood Demon loiters, the mermaid sits on the branches.” . . . Yes, old chap! (Clapping her on the shoulder.)

JULIE: I’m not a chap.

FYODOR: Let us reason it out peacefully. Listen, Julie dear! I’ve gone through fire and water. ... I am already thirty-five, and have no status except that of lieutenant in the Serbian army and non-com. in the Russian reserve. I’m dangling between the sky and the earth. ... I must change my mode of life, and you see . . . do you understand, I’ve now a fancy in my head that if I were to marry, a huge change will happen in my life! ... Do marry me, do! I ask for no one better. . . .

JULIE (confused): H’m! . . . You see . . . you first reform,

Fyodor dear.

FYODOR: Well, don’t bargain like a gipsy! Speak straight out!

JULIE: I’m shy! . . . (Looking round.) Stop, someone might come in or overhear us! ... I believe Waffle is looking

through the window.

FYODOR: There’s no one.

JULIE (falling on his neck): Fedenka!

(SONYA laughs aloud; ORLOVSKY, DYADIN, and KHROUSCHOV

laugh, clap their hands and shout: “ Bravo!

Bravo! “)

FYODOR: Ugh! How you frightened us! Where did you come from?

SONYA: Julie dear, I congratulate you! And you may congratulate me! . . . (Laughter, kisses, noise.)

DYADIN: That is fascinating! That is fascinating!

CURTAIN