Redemption and two other plays Part 56

SECOND PEASANT. Wait till we've finished our business. Don't you see we are not ready yet?

SIMON. Well, I'll wait for you by the porch.

[Wishes to go away.

TaNYA (running after him). I say, why didn't you tell him anything?

SIMON. How could I before all those people? Give me time, I'll tell him over our tea.

[Exit.

[THEODORE IVaNITCH enters and sits down by the window.

FIRST PEASANT. Respected sir, how's our business proceeding?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. Wait a bit, he'll be out presently, he's just finis.h.i.+ng.

TaNYA (to THEODORE IVaNITCH). And how do you know, Theodore Ivanitch, he is finis.h.i.+ng?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. I know that when he has finished questioning, he reads the question and answer aloud.

TaNYA. Can one really talk with spirits by means of a saucer?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. It seems so.

TaNYA. But supposing they tell him to sign, will he sign?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. Of course he will.

TaNYA. But they do not speak with words?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. Oh, yes. By means of the alphabet. He notices at which letter the saucer stops.

TaNYA. Yes, but at a si-ance?....

[Enter LEONiD FYoDORITCH.

LEONiD FYoDORITCH. Well, friends, I can't do it! I should be very glad to, but it is quite impossible. If it were for ready money it would be a different matter.

FIRST PEASANT. That's just so. What more could any one desire? But the people are so inpennycuous--it is quite impossible!

LEONiD FYoDORITCH. Well, I can't do it, I really can't. Here is your doc.u.ment; I can't sign it.

THIRD PEASANT. Show some pity, master; be merciful!

SECOND PEASANT. How can you act so? It is doing us a wrong.

LEONiD FYoDORITCH. Nothing wrong about it, friends. I offered it you in summer, but then you did not agree; and now I can't agree to it.

THIRD PEASANT. Master, be merciful! How are we to get along? We have so little land. We'll say nothing about the cattle; a hen, let's say, there's no room to let a hen run about.

[LEONiD FYoDORITCH goes up to the door and stops. Enter, descending the staircase, ANNA PaVLOVNA and DOCTOR, followed by VASiLY LEONiDITCH, who is in a merry and playful mood and is putting some bank-notes into his purse.

ANNA PaVLOVNA (tightly laced, and wearing a bonnet). Then I am to take it?

DOCTOR. If the symptoms recur you must certainly take it, but above all, you must behave better. How can you expect thick syrup to pa.s.s through a thin little hair tube, especially when we squeeze the tube?

It's impossible; and so it is with the biliary duct. It's simple enough.

ANNA PaVLOVNA. All right, all right!

DOCTOR. Yes. "All right, all right," and you go on in the same old way. It won't do, madam--it won't do. Well, good-bye!

ANNA PaVLOVNA. No, not good-bye, only au revoir! For I still expect you to-night. I shall not be able to make up my mind without you.

DOCTOR. All right, if I have time I'll pop in.

[Exit.

ANNA PaVLOVNA (noticing the PEASANTS). What's this? What? What people are these?

[PEASANTS bow.

THEODORE IVaNITCH. These are peasants from Koursk, come to see Leonid Fyodoritch about the sale of some land.

ANNA PaVLOVNA. I see they are peasants, but who let them in?

THEODORE IVaNITCH. Leonid Fyodoritch gave the order. He has just been speaking to them about the sale of the land.

ANNA PaVLOVNA. What sale? There is no need to sell any. But above all, how can one let in people from the street into the house? One can't let people in from the street! One can't let people into the house who have spent the night heaven knows where!... (Getting more and more excited.) I daresay every fold of their clothes is full of microbes-- of scarlet-fever microbes, of smallpox microbes, of diphtheria microbes! Why, they are from Koursk Government, where there is an epidemic of diphtheria ... Doctor! Doctor! Call the doctor back!

[LEONiD FYoDORITCH goes into his room and shuts the door. GREGORY goes to recall the DOCTOR.

VASiLY LEONiDITCH (smokes at the PEASANTS). Never mind, mamma; if you like I'll fumigate them so that all the microbes will go to pot! Eh, what?

[ANNA PaVLOVNA remains severely silent, awaiting the DOCTOR'S return.

VASiLY LEONiDITCH (to PEASANTS). And do you fatten pigs? There's a first-rate business!

FIRST PEASANT. That's just so. We do go in for the pig-fattening line now and then.

VASiLY LEONiDITCH. This kind?...

[Grunts like a pig.

ANNA PaVLOVNA. Vovo, Vovo, leave off!

VASiLY LEONiDITCH. Isn't it like? Eh, what?

FIRST PEASANT. That's just so. It's very resemblant.