me for not stealing, when it would have been only justice? And I should not now have been a beggar!
Mme. Voitskaya. [Sternly] Jean!
Telegin. [Agitated] Vanya, old man, don’t talk in that way. Why spoil such pleasant relations? [He embraces him] Do stop!
Voitski. For twenty-five years I have been sitting here with my mother like a mole in a burrow. Our every thought and hope was yours and yours only. By day we talked with pride of you and your work, and spoke your name with veneration; our nights we wasted reading the books and papers which my soul now loathes.
Telegin. Don’t, Vanya, don’t. I can’t stand it.
Serebrakoff. [Wrathfully] What under heaven do you want, anyway?
Voitski. We used to think of you as almost superhuman, but now the scales have fallen from my eyes and I see you as you are! You write on art without knowing anything about it. Those books of yours which I used to admire are not worth one copper kopeck. You are a hoax!
Serebrakoff. Can’t any one make him stop? I am going!
Helena. Ivan, I command you to stop this instant! Do you hear me?
Voitski. I refuse! [Serebrakoff tries to get out of the room, but Voitski bars the door] Wait! I have not done yet! You have wrecked my life. I have never lived. My best years have gone for nothing, have been ruined, thanks to you. You are my most bitter enemy!
Telegin. I can’t stand it; I can’t stand it. I am going.
Serebrakoff. But what do you want? What earthly right have you to use such language to me? Ruination! If this estate is yours, then take it, and let me be ruined!
