under her arm.)
LISA (to GRIGORIEV): Oh, you are already here!
(She goes toward him.) So I was right when I
thought yesterday at Stepan Trofimovich's that
you would help me. Have you had a chance to
talk to this Mr. Shatov? (Meanwhile, she has
been looking eagerly around her.)
GRIGORIEV: Here he is. But I haven't had time . . .
Shatov, Elizabeth Drozdov, whom you know by
name, has asked me to talk to you about some-
thing.
LISA: I am happy to know you. I have heard about
you. Peter Verkhovensky told me you were in-
telligent. Nicholas Stavrogin also told me about
you. (SHATOV turns away.) In any case, here is
my idea. In my opinion, and I think that you will
agree with me, our country isn't sufficiently
known. So I thought it would be worth while to
gather in a single book all the significant events
our newspapers have reported in several years.
Such a book would automatically be Russia. If
you would only help me ... I need someone
highly competent, and of course your work
would be paid for.
[SHATOV: It's an interesting idea, even intelligent.
... It deserves thinking about. . . . Yes, it
does.
LISA (delighted): If the book sells, we shall share
the profits. You would provide the outline and
the work, and I the initial idea and the necessary
funds.
First Part 38
SHATOV: But what makes you think that I can do
this work? Why I rather than someone else?
LISA: Weil, what I heard of you made me like
you. Will you accept?
SHATOV: Maybe. Yes. Can you leave me your
newspapers? I shall think about it.
LISA (claps her hands with joy): Oh! How happy
I am! How proud I shall be when the book
comes out! ] (All this time she has been looking
around her.) By the way, doesn't Captain Leb-
yatkin live here?
GRIGORIEV: Yes, of course. I thought I told you so.
Are you interested in him?
LISA: In him? Yes, but not only ... In any case,
he is interested in me. . . . (She looks at GRI-
GORIEV.) He wrote me a letter with a poem in it,
and he says that he has things to tell me. I didn't
understand it at all. (To SHATOV) What do you
think of him?
SHATOV: He's a drunkard and a dishonest man.
LISA: But I have heard that he lives with his sister.
SHATOV: Yes.
LISA: It is said that he bullies her. (SHATOV looks at
her fixedly without answering.) But people say
so many things, after all. I shall ask Nicholas
Stavrogin, who knows her well, who knows her
even very well, according to what I have heard.
, ? . (SHATOV keeps on staring at her. With a
sudden outburst of enthusiasm) Oh, listen, I want
to see her at once. I must see her in the flesh.
Please help me. I really must.
SHATOV (goes and picks up the newspapers): Take
39 Scene 3
back your newspapers. I cannot accept this work.
LISA: Why not? Have I hurt you?
SHATOV: That's not it. You mustn't count on me
for this chore, that's all.
LISA: What chore? This job is not imaginary. I
want to do it.
SHATOV: Yes. You had better go home now.
GRIGORIEV (affectionately): Yes. Please go home.
Shatov will think about it. I shall come and see
you and keep you informed.
(LISA looks at them, whimpers, then goes off in a
hurry.)
SHATOV: It was a pretext. She wanted to see Maria
Timofeyevna, and I haven't sunk low enough to
play a part in such a comedy.
(MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA has come in behind him.
She is holding a roll in her hand.)
MARIA: Good day, Shatoushka!
(GRIGORIEV bows, SHATOV goes toward MARIA
TIMOFEYEVNA and takes her arm. She walks to-
ward the table in the center, places her roll on
the table, pulls out a drawer, and takes out a deck
of cards without paying any attention to GRI-
GORIEV.) MARIA (shuffling the cards): I was fed
up with staying alone in my room.
SHATOV: I am pleased to see you.
MARIA: I am too. That man . . . (She points to
GRIGORIEV.) I don't know him. Let us honor all
visitors! Yes, i always enjoy talking with you,
even though you are always disheveled. You live
like a monk; let me comb your hair. (She takes
a little comb from her pocket.)
First Part 40
SHATOV (laughing): But I have no comb.
(MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA combs his hair.)
MARIA: Really? Well, later on, when my Prince
comes back, I'll give you mine. (She makes a
part, steps back to judge the impression it makes,
and puts the comb in her pocket.) Shall I tell
you, Shatoushka? (She sits down and begins to
play solitaire.) You are intelligent and yet you
are bored. After all, you are all bored. I can't
understand anyone being bored. Being sad doesn't
amount to being bored. / am sad, but I enjoy my-
self hugely.
SHATOV: Even when your brother is here?
MARIA: You mean my lackey? He is my brother,
to be sure, but, above all, he is my lackey. I order
him about: "Lebyatkin, water!" He goes and gets
it. Sometimes I make the mistake of laughing at
him, and when he is drunk he beats me. (She
goes on playing solitaire.)
SHATOV (to GRIGORIEV): That is true. She treats
him like a lackey. He beats her, but she is not
afraid of him. Besides, she hasn't the slightest no-
tion of time?she forgets everything that has just
happened, (GRIGORIEV points toward her.) No, I
can talk in her presence; she has already for-
gotten us because very soon she stops listening
and falls back into her daydreams. Do you see
that roll? Probably she has nibbled it only once
since this morning and won't finish it until to-
morrow.
(MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA picks up the roll without
ceasing to look at her cards, but she holds it in
her hand without biting into it. During the
4i Scene 3
course of the conversation she puts it down on
the table again.)
MARIA: A move, a wicked man, a betrayal, a
deathbed . . . Why, these are all lies! If people
can lie, why can't cards also? (She scatters them
over the table and gets up.) Everyone lies except
the Mother of God! (She smiles as she looks at
her feet.)
SHATOV: The Mother of God?
MARIA: Why, yes, the Mother of God, nature,
great mother earth! She is good and true. Do you
remember what is written, Shatoushka? "When
you have wet the earth with your tears to the
depth of a
foot, then you will take joy in every-
thing." That's why I weep so often, Shatoushka.
There is no harm in these tears. All tears are tears
of joy or promises of joy. (Her face is bathed in
tears. She puts her hands on SHATOV'J shoulders.)
Shatoushka, is it true that your wife left you?
SHATOV: It is true. She forsook me.
MARIA (caressing his face): Don't be angry. I too
am grieving. I had a dream, you know. He re-
turned. He, my Prince, returned and called me
in a sweet voice: "My dear one," he said, "my
dear one, come and join me." And I was happy.
I kept repeating: "He loves me, he loves me."
SHATOV: Perhaps he will really come.
MARIA: Oh, no, it was only a dream! My Prince
will not come. I shall remain alone. Oh, my dear
friend, why don't you ever question me about
anything?
SHATOV: Because I know that you will never tell
me anything.
First Part 42
MARIA: No, oh, no, I won't tell anything! They
can kill me, they can burn me alive, but I won't
tell anything. They'll never know anything!
SHATOV: See!
MARIA: Yet if you who are so kindhearted asked
me, then perhaps . . . Why don't you ask me?
Ask me, ask properly, Shatoushka, and I shall tell
you. Beg me to talk, Shatoushka. And I shall talk,
I shall talk. . . .
(SHATOV says nothing and MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA
faces him with her face bathed in tears. Then a
fracas and oaths are heard at the door.)
SHATOV. Here is your brother. Go back to your
room or he will beat you again.
MARIA {bursting out laughing): Oh, it's my
lackey? Well, what does it matter? We'll send
him to the kitchen. (But SHATOV draws her to-
ward the door upstage.) Don't worry, Sha-
toushka, don't worry. If my Prince comes back,
he will defend me.
(LEBYATKIN comes in and slams the door, MARIA
TIMOFEYEVNA remains upstage with a frozen
smile of scorn on her face.)
LEBYATKIN (singing drunkenly):
I have come to tell you
That the sun is up,
That the woods are swooning
Under his ardent kisses.
Who goes there? Friend or foe? (To MARIA
TIMOFEYEVNA) You, get back in your room!
SHATOV: Leave your sister alone.
LEBYATKIN (bowing to GRIGORIEV): Retired Cap-
tain Ignatius Lebyatkin, in the service of the
43 Scene 3
whole world and of his friends, just so they are
faithful friends! Oh, the swine! And, first of all,
I want you all to know that 1 am in love with
Lisa Drozdov. She is a star and a horsewoman.
In short, a star on horseback. And lama man of
honor.
SHATOV: Who sells his sister.
LEBYATKIN (shouting): What? The same old
calumny! Do you know that I could shame you
with a single word?
SHATOV: Say the word.
LEBYATKIN: You think I wouldn't dare.
SHATOV: YOU may be a captain, but you are a
coward. And you would be afraid of your mas-
ter.
LEBYATKIN: He is provoking me, and you are a
witness to it, sir! Well, do you know whose wife
this woman is?
(GRIGORIEV steps forward.)
SHATOV: Whose? You won't dare say.
LEBYATKIN: She is . . . She is . . .
(MARIA TTMOFEYEVNA steps forward, her mouth
open and speechless.)
BLACKOUT
THE NARRATOR: Whose wife was that wretched
cripple? Was it true that Dasha had been dis-
honored, and by whom? And who had seduced
Shatov's wife? Well, we shall be told! Indeed,
just as the climate of our little city had become
so tense, a newcomer came with a flaming torch
which blew up everything and stripped everyone
naked. And, take my word for it, seeing one's
fellow citizens naked is generally a painful ex-
First Part 44
perience. So the son of the humanist, the off-
spring of the liberal Stepan Trofimovich, Peter
Verkhovensky, to call hirn by name, popped up
at the moment when he was least expected.
SCENE 4
At Varvara Stavrogift's, GRIGORIEV and STEP AN TRO~
FIMOVICH.
STEP AN: Ah, my friend, everything is about to be
decided. If Dasha accepts, I shall be a married
man next Sunday, and that's not funny. [But
since my very dear Varvara Stavrogin asked me
to come today and settle everything, I shall obey
her. Didn't I behave badly toward her?
GRIGORIEV: NO, not at all. You were simply taken
by surprise.
STEP AN: Yes, I did. When I think of that generous
and compassionate woman, so indulgent to all my
petty foibles! I am a spoiled child with all the
selfishness of a child and none of the innocence.
She has been taking care of me for twenty years.
And I, at the very moment when she is receiving
these dreadful anonymous letters . . .
GRIGORIEV: Anonymous letters?
STEP AN: Yes, just imagine: she is told that Nicho-
las has given his property to Lebyatkin. That
Nicholas is a monster. Poor Lisa! But you are in
love with her, I know.
GRIGORIEV: How dare you?
STEPAN: All right, all right, forget it. Maurice
Nicolaevich is in love with her too, don't forget.
Poor man, I shouldn't want to be in his place.
First Part 46
But, then, mine isn't much easier.] In any case,
however ashamed of myself I am, I wrote to
Dasha.
GRIGORIEV: Good Lord! What did you tell her?
STEPAN: Well ... I wrote to Nicholas too.
GRIGORIEV: Are you crazy?
STEPAN: But my intention was noble. After all,
just imagine that something really took place in
Switzerland, or that there was a beginning, a
little beginning, or even a very little beginning of
something. I had to question their hearts first of
all. I wanted them to know that I knew, so that
they would feel freer. I acted through noble
motives.
GRIGORIEV: But it was utterly stupid!
STEPAN: Yes, yes, it was foolish. But how else
could I behave? Everything is open and above-
board now. I wrote to my son too. And yet I
don't care! I'll marry Dasha even if I am just
covering up the sins of others.
GRIGORIEV: Don't say that.
STEPAN: Oh, if only next Sunday would never
come! It would be easy for God to perform a
miracle and to cross one Sunday off the calendar.
If only to prove his power to the atheists once
and for all! Flow I love her! How I've loved her
for twenty years! Can she really think for a
minute that I am getting married because of
fear,
or poverty? I am doing it for her alone.
GRIGORIEV: Of whom are you talking?
STEPAN: Why, of Varvara, of course. She is the
only woman I have adored for the last twenty
years, (ALEXEY YEGOROVICH comes in, escorting
47 Scene 4
SHATOV.) Ah, here is our quick-tempered friend.
You have come to see your sister, I suppose. . . .
SHATOV: NO. I have been summoned by Varvara
Stavrogin for a matter in which I am involved.
That is the way, I believe, that the police word it
when they issue a summons.
STEP AN: No, she meant just what she said, al-
though I don't know what the business is, nor
whether you are involved. In any case, our very
dear Varvara is at Mass. As for Dasha, she is in
her room. Do you want me to send for her?
SHATOV: NO.
STEPAN: All right. That is probably better, after
all. The later, the better. You probably know
Varvara's plans for her?
SHATOV: Yes.
STEPAN: Good, good! In that case, let's say no
more about it, let's say no more about it. Of
course, I can imagine that you were surprised. I
was myself. So suddenly . . .
SHATOV: Shut up.
STEPAN: All right. Be polite, my dear Shatov, at
least today. Yes, be patient with me. My heart is
heavy.
(VARVARA STAVROGIN and PRASCOVYA DROZDOV
enter, escorted by MAURICE NICHOLAEVICH.)
PRASCOVYA: What a scandal! And Lisa mixed up
in all that!
VARVARA {ringing for a servant): Be quiet! What
do you call a scandal? That poor girl has lost her
reason. Be a little charitable, my dear Prascovya!
STEPAN: What? What happened?
VARVARA: Nothing. A poor crippled girl threw
First Part 48
herself at my feet as we were leaving Mass and
kissed my hand, (ALEXEY YEGOROVICH comes in.)
Coffee . . . and don't unharness the horses.
PRASCOVYA: In front of everybody, and they all
crowded around!
VARVARA: Of course, in front of everybody!
Thank God the church was well filled! I gave
her ten rubles and picked her up. Lisa insisted on
taking her back to her home.
(LISA enters, holding MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA by the
hand.)
LISA: No, I changed my mind. I thought that you
would all be pleased to know Maria Timofeyevna
better.
MARIA: How beautiful it is! (She perceives SHA-
TOV.) What, you are here, Shatoushka! What are
you doing in high society?
VARVARA (to SHATOV) : Do you know this woman?
SHATOV: Yes.
VARVARA: Who is she?
SHATOV: See for yourself.
(She looks with anguish at MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA.
ALEXEY YEGOROVICH comes in with coffee on a
tray.)
VARVARA (tO MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA): You Were
cold a moment ago, my dear. Drink this coffee?
it will warm you up.
MARIA (smiling) : Yes. Oh, I had forgotten to give
you back the shawl you lent me.
VARVARA: Keep it. It is yours. Sit down and drink
your coffee. Don't be afraid.
STEPAN: Chere amie?
VARVARA: Oh, you, be quiet. The situation is bad
49 Scene 4
enough without your making it any worse!
Alexey, ask Dasha to come down.
PRASCOVYA: Lisa, we must leave now. This doesn't
concern you. We have no further contact with
this house.
VARVARA: You have gone a little too far, Pras-
covya. Thank God that there's no one but friends
here to hear you.
PRASCOVYA: If they are friends, so much the bet-
ter. But / am not afraid of public opinion. You
are the one who, despite all your pride, trembles
at the thought of what people will say. You are
the one who is afraid of the truth.
VARVARA: What truth, Prascovya?
PRASCOVYA: This truth.
(She points at MARIA TIMOFEYEVNA, who, seeing
a finger pointing at her, giggles and fidgets, VAR-
VARA stands up, white in the face, and mutters
something that is not heard, DASHA enters upstage,
and no one sees her but STEP AN TROFIMOVICH.)
STEP AN (after making signals intended to attract
VARVARA STAVROGIN'J- attention): Here is Dasha.
MARIA: Oh! How beautiful she is! Well, Sha-
toushka, your sister doesn't look like you at all.
VARVARA (to DASHA): Do you know this person?
DASHA: I've never seen her. But I suppose she is
Lebyatkin's sister.
MARIA: Yes, he is my brother. But, above all, he
is my lackey. I didn't know you either, dearie.
And yet I wanted very much to meet you, espe-
cially after my lackey told me that you had given
him money. Now I am happy?you are charm-
ing. ... Yes, charming, I tell you.
First Part 50
VARVARA: What money is she talking about?
DASHA: Nicholas Stavrogin had asked me in Swit-
zerland to hand over a certain sum to Maria Leb-