sand times sit alone in the room of a hotel learning a rôle by heart.
Nina. [With enthusiasm] You are quite right. I understand how you feel.
Sorin. Of course it is pleasanter to live in town. One can sit in one’s library with a telephone at one’s elbow, no one comes in without being first announced by the footman, the streets are full of cabs, and all———
Dorn. [Sings]
“Tell her, oh flowers—”
Shamraeff comes in, followed by Paulina.
Shamraeff. Here they are. How do you do? [He kisses Arkadina’s hand and then Nina’s] I am delighted to see you looking so well. [To Arkadina] My wife tells me that you mean to go to town with her to-day. Is that so?
Arkadina. Yes, that is what I had planned to do.
Shamraeff. Hm—that is splendid, but how do you intend to get there, madam? We are hauling rye to-day, and all the men are busy. What horses would you take?
Arkadina. What horses? How do I know what horses we shall have?
Sorin. Why, we have the carriage horses.
Shamraeff. The carriage horses! And where am I to find the harness for them? This is astonishing! My dear madam, I have the greatest respect for your talents, and would gladly sacrifice ten years of my life for you, but I cannot let you have any horses to-day.
Arkadina. But if I must go to town? What an extraordinary state of affairs!
Shamraeff, You do not know, madam, what it is to run a farm.
Arkadina. [In a burst of anger] That is an old story! Under these circumstances I shall go back to Moscow this
