Note-Book of Anton Chekhov Part 22

The t.i.tle of a play: The Bat.

Everything which the old cannot enjoy is forbidden or considered wrong.

When he was getting on in years, he married a very young girl, and so she faded and withered away with him.

All his life he wrote about capitalism and millions, and he had never had any money.

A young lady fell in love with a handsome constable.

N. was a very good, fas.h.i.+onable tailor; but he was spoiled and ruined by trifles; at one time he made an overcoat without pockets, at another a collar which was much too high.

A farce: Agent of freight transport company and of fire insurance company.

Any one can write a play which might be produced.

A country house. Winter. N., ill, sits in his room. In the evening there suddenly arrives from the railway station a stranger Z., a young girl, who introduces herself and says that she has come to look after the invalid. He is perplexed, frightened, he refuses; then Z. says that at any rate she will stay the night. A day pa.s.ses, two, and she goes on living there. She has an unbearable temper, she poisons one's existence.

A private room in a restaurant. A rich man Z., tying his napkin round his neck, touching the sturgeon with his fork: "At least I'll have a snack before I die"--and he has been saying this for a long time, daily.

By his remarks on Strindberg and literature generally L.L. Tolstoi reminds one very much of Madam Loukhmav.[1]

[Footnote 1: L.L. Tolstoi was Leo Nicolaievitch'a son, Madame Loukhmav a tenth rate woman-writer.]

Diedlov, when he speaks of the Deputy Governor or the Governor, becomes a romanticist, remembering "The Arrival of the Deputy Governor" in the book _A Hundred Russian Writers_.

A play: the Bean of Life.

A vet. belongs to the stallion cla.s.s of people.

Consultation.

The sun s.h.i.+nes and in my soul is darkness.

In S. I made the acquaintance of the barrister Z.--a sort of Nika, The Fair ... He has several children; with all of them he is magisterial, gentle, kind, not a single rude word; I soon learn that he has another family. Then he invites me to his daughter's wedding; he prays, makes a genuflection, and says: "I still preserve religious feeling; I am a believer." And when in his presence people speak of education, of women, he has a nave expression, exactly as if he did not understand.

When he makes a speech in Court, his face looks as if he were praying.

"Mammy, don't show yourself to the guests, you are very fat."

Love? In love? Never! I am a Government clerk.

He knows little, even as a babe who has not yet come out of his mother's womb.

From childhood until extreme old age N. has had a pa.s.sion for spying.

He uses clever words, that's all--philosophy ... equator ... (for a play).

The stars have gone out long ago, but they still s.h.i.+ne for the crowd.

As soon as he became a scholar, he began to expect honors.