Максим Горький - The Lower Depths

PEPEL [ laughing ] Baron, I blush for you!

THE BARON. It’s time you knew better, Vassily.

LUKA. Hey-hey – I look at you, brothers – the life you’re leading.

BUBNOFF. Such a life! As soon as the sun rises, our voices rise, too – in quarrels!

THE BARON. We’ve all seen better days – yes! I used to wake up in the morning and drink my coffee in bed – coffee – with cream! Yes —

LUKA. And yet we’re all human beings. Pretend all you want to, put on all the airs you wish, but man you were born, and man you must die. And as I watch I see that the wiser people get, the busier they get – and though from bad to worse, they still strive to improve – stubbornly —

THE BARON. Who are you, old fellow? Where do you come from?

LUKA. I?

THE BARON. Are you a tramp?

LUKA. We’re all of us tramps – why – I’ve heard said that the very earth we walk on is nothing but a tramp in the universe.

THE BARON [ severely ] Perhaps. But have you a passport?

LUKA [ after a short pause ] And what are you – a police inspector?

PEPEL [ delighted ] You scored, old fellow! Well, Barosha, you got it this time!

BUBNOFF. Yes – our little aristocrat got his!

THE BARON [ embarrassed ] What’s the matter? I was only joking, old man. Why, brother, I haven’t a passport, either.

BUBNOFF. You lie!

THE BARON. Oh – well – I have some sort of papers – but they have no value —

LUKA. They’re papers just the same – and no papers are any good —

PEPEL. Baron – come on to the saloon with me —

THE BARON. I’m ready. Good-bye, old man – you old scamp —

LUKA. Maybe I am one, brother —

PEPEL [ near doorway ] Come on – come on!

[Leaves, Baron following him quickly.]

LUKA. Was he really once a Baron?

BUBNOFF. Who knows? A gentleman – ? Yes. That much he’s even now. Occasionally it sticks out. He never got rid of the habit.

LUKA. Nobility is like small-pox. A man may get over it – but it leaves marks.

BUBNOFF. He’s all right all the same – occasionally he kicks – as he did about your passport.

[Alyoshka comes in, slightly drunk, with a concertina in his hand, whistling.]

ALYOSHKA. Hey there, lodgers!

BUBNOFF. What are you yelling for?

ALYOSHKA. Excuse me – I beg your pardon! I’m a well-bred man —

BUBNOFF. On a spree again?

ALYOSHKA. Right you are! A moment ago Medyakin, the precinct captain, threw me out of the police station and said: “Look here – I don’t want as much as a smell of you to stay in the streets – d’you hear?” I’m a man of principles, and the boss croaks at me – and what’s a boss anyway – pah! – it’s all bosh – the boss is a drunkard. I don’t make any demands on life. I want nothing – that’s all. Offer me one ruble, offer me twenty – it doesn’t affect me. [ Nastya comes from the kitchen ] Offer me a million – I won’t take it! And to think that I, a respectable man, should be ordered about by a pal of mine – and he a drunkard! I won’t have it – I won’t!

[Nastya stands in the doorway, shaking her head at Alyoshka.]

LUKA [ good-naturedly ] Well, boy, you’re a bit confused —

BUBNOFF. Aren’t men fools!

ALYOSHKA [ stretches out on the floor ] Here, eat me up alive – and I don’t want anything. I’m a desperate man. Show me one better! Why am I worse than others? There! Medyakin said: “If you show yourself on the streets I smash your face!” And yet I shall go out – I’ll go – and stretch out in the middle of the street – let them choke me – I don’t want a thing!

NASTYA. Poor fellow – only a boy – and he’s already putting on such airs —

ALYOSHKA [ kneeling before her ] Lady! Mademoiselle! Parlez français – ? Prix courrant? I’m on a spree —

NASTYA [ in a loud whisper ] Vassilisa!

VASSILISA [ opens door quickly; to Alyoshka

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