Антон Чехов - The Cherry Orchard / Вишневый сад. Книга для чтения на английском языке

Gaev.[ Angry ] What rot!

Enter Varya and Yasha.

Varya.There are two telegrams for you, little mother. [ Picks out a key and noisily unlocks an antique cupboard ] Here they are.

Lubov.They’re from Paris… [ Tears them up without reading them ] I’ve done with Paris.

Gaev.And do you know, Luba, how old this case is? A week ago I took out the bottom drawer; I looked and saw figures burnt out in it. That case was made exactly a hundred years ago. What do you think of that? What? We could celebrate its jubilee. It hasn’t a soul of its own, but still, say what you will, it’s a fine bookcase.

Pischin.[ Astonished ] A hundred years… Think of that!

Gaev.Yes… it’s a real thing. [ Handling it ] My dear and honoured case! I congratulate you on your existence, which has already for more than a hundred years been directed towards the bright ideals of good and justice; your silent call to productive labour has not grown less in the hundred years [ Weeping ] during which you have upheld virtue and faith in a better future to the generations of our race, educating us up to ideals of goodness and to the knowledge of a common consciousness.

Pause.

Lopakhin.Yes…

Lubov.You’re just the same as ever, Leon.

Gaev.[ A little confused ] Off the white on the right, into the corner pocket. Red ball goes into the middle pocket!

Lopakhin.[ Looks at his watch ] It’s time I went.

Yasha.[ Giving Lubov Andreyevna her medicine ] Will you take your pills now?

Pischin.You oughtn’t to take medicines, dear madam; they do you neither harm nor good… Give them here, dear madam. [ Takes the pills, turns them out into the palm of his hand, blows on them, puts them into his mouth, and drinks some kvass ] There!

Lubov.[ Frightened ] You’re off your head!

Pischin.I’ve taken all the pills.

Lopakhin.Gormandizer!

All laugh.

Fiers.They were here in Easter week and ate half a pailful of cucumbers… [ Mumbles. ]

Lubov.What’s he driving at?

Varya.He’s been mumbling away for three years. We’re used to that.

Yasha.Senile decay.

Charlotta Ivanovna crosses the stage, dressed in white: she is very thin and tightly laced; has a lorgnette at her waist.

Lopakhin.Excuse me, Charlotta Ivanovna, I haven’t said “How do you do” to you yet. [ Tries to kiss her hand. ]

Charlotta.[ Takes her hand away ] If you let people kiss your hand, then they’ll want your elbow, then your shoulder, and then…

Lopakhin.My luck’s out today! [ All laugh ] Show us a trick, Charlotta Ivanovna!

Lubov Andreyevna.Charlotta, do us a trick.

Charlotta.It’s not necessary. I want to go to bed. [ Exit. ]

Lopakhin.We shall see each other in three weeks. [ Kisses Lubov Andreyevna’s hand ] Now, good-bye. It’s time to go. [ To Gaev] See you again. [ Kisses Pischin] Au revoir. [ Gives his hand to Varya, then to Fiers and to Yasha] I don’t want to go away. [ To Lubov Andreyevna]. If you think about the villas and make up your mind, then just let me know, and I’ll raise a loan of 50,000 roubles at once. Think about it seriously.

Varya.[ Angrily ] Do go, now!

Lopakhin.I’m going, I’m going… [ Exit. ]

Gaev.Snob. Still, I beg pardon… Varya’s going to marry him, he’s Varya’s young man.

Varya.Don’t talk too much, uncle.

Lubov.Why not, Varya? I should be very glad. He’s a good man.

Pischin.To speak the honest truth… he’s a worthy man… And my Dashenka… also says that… she says lots of things. [ Snores, but wakes up again at once ] But still, dear madam, if you could lend me… 240 roubles… to pay the interest on my mortgage tomorrow…

Varya.[ Frightened ] We haven’t got it, we haven’t got it!

Lubov.It’s quite true. I’ve nothing at all.

Pischin.I’ll find it all right [ Laughs ] I never lose hope. I used to think, “Everything’s lost now. I’m a dead man,” when, lo and behold, a railway was built over my land… and they paid me for it. And something else will happen today or tomorrow. Dashenka may win 20,000 roubles… she’s got a lottery ticket.

Lubov.The coffee’s all gone, we can go to bed.

Fiers.[ Brushing Gaev’s trousers; in an insistent tone ] You’ve put on the wrong trousers again. What am I to do with you?

Varya.[ Quietly ] Anya’s asleep. [ Opens window quietly ] The sun has risen already; it isn’t cold. Look, little mother: what lovely trees! And the air! The starlings are singing!

Gaev.[ Opens the other window ] The whole garden’s white. You haven’t forgotten, Luba? There’s that long avenue going straight, straight, like a stretched strap; it shines on moonlight nights. Do you remember? You haven’t forgotten?

Lubov.[ Looks out into the garden ] Oh, my childhood, days of my innocence! In this nursery I used to sleep; I used to look out from here into the orchard. Happiness used to wake with me every morning, and then it was just as it is now; nothing has changed. [ Laughs from joy ] It’s all, all white! Oh, my orchard! After the dark autumns and the cold winters, you’re young again, full of happiness, the angels of heaven haven’t left you… If only I could take my heavy burden off my breast and shoulders, if I could forget my past!

Gaev.Yes, and they’ll sell this orchard to pay off debts. How strange it seems!

Lubov.Look, there’s my dead mother going in the orchard… dressed in white! [ Laughs from joy ] That’s she.

Gaev.Where?

Varya.God bless you, little mother.

Lubov.There’s nobody there; I thought I saw somebody. On the right, at the turning by the summer-house, a white little tree bent down, looking just like a woman. [ Enter Trofimov in a worn student uniform and spectacles ] What a marvellous garden! White masses of flowers, the blue sky…

Trofimov.Lubov Andreyevna! [ She looks round at him ] I only want to show myself, and I’ll go away. [ Kisses her hand warmly ] I was told to wait till the morning, but I didn’t have the patience.

Lubov Andreyevna looks surprised.

Varya.[ Crying ] It’s Peter Trofimov.

Trofimov.Peter Trofimov, once the tutor of your Grisha… Have I changed so much?

Lubov Andreyevna embraces him and cries softly.

Gaev.[ Confused ] That’s enough, that’s enough, Luba.

Varya.[ Weeps ] But I told you, Peter, to wait till tomorrow.