tree and then see it budding into young green and swaying in the wind, my heart swells with pride and I— [Sees the Workman, who is bringing him a glass of vodka on a tray] however— [He drinks] I must be off. Probably it is all nonsense, anyway. Good-bye.
He goes toward the house. Sonia takes his arm and goes with him.
Sonia. When are you coming to see us again?
Astroff. I can’t say.
Sonia. In a month?
Astroff and Sonia go into the house. Helena and Voitski walk over to the terrace.
Helena. You have behaved shockingly again. Ivan, what sense was there in teasing your mother and talking about perpetuum mobile? And at breakfast you quarreled with Alexander again. Really, your behaviour is too petty.
Voitski. But if I hate him?
Helena. You hate Alexander without reason; he is like every one else, and no worse than you are.
Voitski. If you could only see your face, your gestures! Oh, how tedious your life must be.
Helena. It is tedious, yes, and dreary! You all abuse my husband and look on me with compassion; you think, “Poor woman, she is married to an old man.” How well I understand your compassion! As Astroff said just now, see how you thoughtlessly destroy the forests, so that there will soon be none left. So you also destroy mankind, and soon fidelity and purity and self-sacrifice will have vanished with the woods. Why cannot you look calmly at a woman unless she is yours? Because, the doctor was right, you are all possessed by a devil of destruction; you have no mercy on the woods or the birds or on women or on one another.
Voitski. I don’t like your philosophy.
