come out again until morning. The damp evening air is bad for you.
Anna. Yes, sir!
Lvoff. What do you mean by “Yes, sir”? I am speaking seriously.
Anna. But I don’t want to be serious. [She coughs.
Lvoff. There now, you see, you are coughing already.
Shabelski comes out of the house in his hat and coat.
Shabelski. Where is Nicholas? Is the carriage here yet? [Goes quickly to Anna and kisses her hand] Good-night, my darling! [Makes a face and speaks with a Jewish accent] I beg your bardon!
Lvoff. Idiot!
A pause; the sounds of a concertina are heard in the distance.
Anna. Oh, how lonely it is! The coachman and the cook are having a little ball in there by themselves, and I—I am, as it were, abandoned. Why are you walking about, Doctor? Come and sit down here.
Lvoff. I can’t sit down. [A pause.
Anna. They are playing “The Sparrow” in the kitchen. [She sings]
“Sparrow, Sparrow, where are you?
On the mountain drinking dew.”
[A pause] Are your father and mother living, Doctor?
Lvoff. My mother is living; my father is dead.
Anna. Do you miss your mother very much?
Lvoff. I am too busy to miss any one.
Anna. [Laughing] The flowers return with every spring, but lost happiness never returns. I wonder who taught me that? I think it was Nicholas himself. [Listens] The owl is hooting again.
