Without a dowry / Бесприданница. Книга для чтения на английском языке

) “O tempt me not…”

Voice through the window: “Ilya, Ilya, come here! Come quick!"

Why? What do you want?

Voice from the street: “Come, the gentleman is here!"

You’re joking!

Voice from the street: “He's really come!"

I don’t have any more time, miss, the gentleman’s come. (He puts down the guitar and takes his peak cap.)

Mme Ogudalov. What gentleman?

Ilya. The one we’ve been waiting for a whole year, that one! (Hegoes off.)

Mme Ogudalov. Who do you suppose could have come? He must be rich and probably a bachelor, Larisa, since the gypsies are so glad to see him.

Larisa. Oh Mama, haven’t I suffered enough? No, I’ve been humiliated enough.

Mme Ogudalov. You used that horrible word “humiliated”! Did you mean to frighten me, perhaps? We’re poor folk, and that means being humiliated all our life. So it’s better to be humiliated when you’re young if you can later live like a human being.

Larisa. No, I can’t, it’s more than I can bear.

Mme Ogudalov. But you can’t get anything easily, and you’d stay nobody all your life.

Larisa. To pretend again, lie again!

Mme Ogudalov. So pretend then, and lie too! Happiness won’t come running after you if you run away from it. (Karandyshov enters.) Yuly Kapitonych, our Larisa’s all set to go to the country, here she’s gotten herself a basket for mushrooms.

Larisa. Yes, please, for my sake, let’s go right away!

Karandyshov. I don’t understand you. Why are you in such a hurry to get there?

Larisa. I want so much to get away from here.

Karandyshov (in an outburst). Who is it you want to get away from? Who’s persecuting you? Or could you be ashamed of me?

Larisa (coldly). No, I’m not ashamed of you, I don’t know how it’s going to be in the future, but so far you haven’t given me any cause for that.

Karandyshov. Then why run away, why hide from people? Give me some time to get settled, to pull myself together, to come to my senses. I’m glad, I’m happy. So give me a chance to feel the pleasure of my position.

Mme Ogudalov. To show off.

Karandyshov. Yes, to show off, I won’t hide it. My self-respect has suffered many, many wounds, and my pride has been offended more than once. Now I rightly want to be proud and strut some.

Larisa.