broomstick? I have no horses of my own, and Nicholas won’t take me with him when he goes out. He says I must stay at home to amuse Sarah. Send your horses for me and I shall come with pleasure.
Lebedieff. [With a wave of the hand] Oh, that is easy to say! But Zuzu would rather have a fit than lend the horses to any one. My dear, dear old friend, you are more to me than any one I know! You and I are survivors of those good old days that are gone forever, and you alone bring back to my mind the love and longings of my lost youth. Of course I am only joking, and yet, do you know, I am almost in tears?
Shabelski. Stop, stop! You smell like the air of a wine cellar.
Lebedieff. Dear friend, you cannot imagine how lonely I am without my old companions! I could hang myself! [Whispers] Zuzu has frightened all the decent men away with her stingy ways, and now we have only this riff-raff, as you see: Tom, Dick, and Harry. However, drink your tea.
Zinaida. [Anxiously, to Gabriel] Don’t bring it in like that! Go fetch some jam to eat with it!
Shabelski. [Laughing loudly, to Ivanoff] Didn’t I tell you so? [To Lebedieff] I bet him driving over, that as soon as we arrived Zuzu would want to feed us with jam!
Zinaida. Still joking, Count! [She sits down.
Lebedieff. She made twenty jars of it this year, and how else do you expect her to get rid of it?
Shabelski. [Sits down near the table] Are you still adding to the hoard, Zuzu? You will soon have a million, eh?
Zinaida. [Sighing] I know it seems as if no one could be richer than we, but where do they think the money comes from? It is all gossip.
Shabelski. Oh, yes, we all know that! We know how badly
