ACT III
The same hut. Winter. Nine months have passed since Act II. Anisya, plainly dressed, sits before a loom weaving. Nan is on the oven.
MITRITCH [an old laborer, enters, and slowly takes off his outdoor things] Oh Lord, have mercy! Well, hasnât the master come home yet?
ANISYA. What?
MITRITCH. Nikita isnât back from town, is he?
ANISYA. No.
MITRITCH. Must have been on the spree. Oh Lord!
ANISYA. Have you finished in the stackyard?
MITRITCH. What dâyou think? Got it all as it should be, and covered everything with straw! I donât like doing things by halves! Oh Lord! holy Nicholas! [Picks at the corns on his hands] Else itâs time he were back.
ANISYA. What need has he to hurry? Heâs got money. Merry-making with that girl, I daresay . . .
MITRITCH. Why shouldnât one make merry if one has the money? And why did Akoulina go to town?
ANISYA. Youâd better ask her. How do I know what the devil took her there!
MITRITCH. What! to town? Thereâs all sorts of things to be got in town if oneâs got the means. Oh Lord!
NAN. Mother, I heard myself. âIâll get you a little shawl,â he says, may I die; âyou shall choose it yourself,â he says. And she got herself up so fine; she put on her velveteen coat and the French shawl.
ANISYA. Really, a girlâs modesty reaches only to the door. Step over the threshold and itâs forgotten. She is a shameless creature.
MITRITCH. Oh my! Whatâs the use of being ashamed? While thereâs plenty of money make merry. Oh Lord! It is too soon to have supper, eh? [Anisya does not answer] Iâll go and get warm meanwhile. [Climbs on the stove] Oh Lord! Blessed Virgin Mother! holy Nicholas!
NEIGHBOR [enters] Seems your goodmanâs not back yet?
ANISYA. No.
NEIGHBOR. Itâs time he was. Hasnât he perhaps stopped at our inn? My sister, Thekla, says thereâs heaps of sledges standing there as have come from the town.
ANISYA. Nan! Nan, I say!
NAN. Yes?
ANISYA. You run to the inn and see! Mayhap, being drunk, heâs gone there.
NAN [ jumps down from the oven and dresses] All right.
NEIGHBOR. And heâs taken Akoulina with him?
ANISYA. Else heâd not have had any need of going. Itâs because of her heâs unearthed all the business there. âMust go to the bank,ââ he says; âitâs time to receive the payments,â he says. But itâs all her fooling.
NEIGHBOR [shakes her head ] Itâs a bad look-out. [Silence].
NAN [at the door] And if heâs there, what am I to say?
ANISYA. You only see if heâs there.
NAN. All right. Iâll be back in a winking. [Long silence].
MITRITCH [roars] Oh Lord! merciful Nicholas!
NEIGHBOR [starting] Oh, how he scared me? Who is it?
ANISYA. Why, Mitritch, our laborer.
NEIGHBOR. Oh dear, oh dear, what a fright he did give me! I had quite forgotten. But tell me, dear, Iâve heard someoneâs been wooing Akoulina?
ANISYA [ gets up from the loom and sits down by the table] There was someone from Dedlovo; but it seems the affairâs got wind there too. They made a start, and then stopped; so the thing fell through. Of course, whoâd care to?
NEIGHBOR. And the Lizounofs from Zouevo?
ANISYA. They made some steps too, but it didnât come off either. They wonât even receive us.
NEIGHBOR. Yet itâs time she was married.
ANISYA. Time and more than time! Ah, my dear, Iâm that impatient to get her out of the house; but the matter does not come off. He does not wish it, nor she either. Heâs not yet had enough of his beauty, you see.
NEIGHBOR. Eh, eh, eh, what doings! Only think of it. Why, heâs her step-father!
ANISYA. Ah, friend, theyâve taken me in completely. Theyâve done me so fine itâs beyond saying. I, fool that I was, noticed nothing, suspected nothing, and so I married him. I guessed nothing, but they already understood one another.
NEIGHBOR. Oh dear, what goings on!
ANISYA. So it went on from bad to worse, and I see they begin hiding from me. Ah, friend, I was that sickâthat sick of my life! Itâs not as if I didnât love him.
NEIGHBOR. That goes without saying.
ANISYA. Ah, how hard it is to bear such treatment from him! Oh, how it hurts!
NEIGHBOR. Yes, and Iâve heard say heâs becoming too free with his fists?
ANISYA. And that too! There was a time when he was gentle when heâd had a drop. He used to hit out before, but of me he was always fond! But now when heâs in a temper he goes for me and is ready to trample me under his feet. The other day he got both hands entangled in my hair so that I could hardly get away. And the girlâs worse than a serpent; itâs a wonder the earth bears such furies.
NEIGHBOR. Ah, ah, my dear, now I look at you, you are a sufferer! To suffer like that is no joke. To have given shelter to a beggar, and he to lead you such a dance! Why donât you pull in the reins?
ANISYA. Ah, but my dear, if it werenât for my heart! Him as is gone was stern enough, still I could twist him about any way I liked; but with this one I can do nothing. As soon as I see him all my anger goes. I havenât a grain of courage before him; I go about like a drowned hen.
NEIGHBOR. Ah, neighbor, you must be under a spell. Iâve heard that Matryona goes in for that sort of thing. It must be her.
ANISYA. Yes, dear; I think so myself sometimes. Gracious me, how hurt I feel at times! Iâd like to tear him to pieces. But when I set eyes on him, my heart wonât go against him.
NEIGHBOR. Itâs plain youâre bewitched. It donât take long to blight a body. There now, when I look at you, what you have dwindled to!
ANISYA. Growing a regular spindle-shanks. And just look at that fool Akoulina. Wasnât the girl a regular untidy slattern, and just look at her now! Where has it all come from? Yes, he has fitted her out. Sheâs grown so smart, so puffed up, just like a bubble thatâs ready to burst. And, though sheâs a fool, sheâs got it into her head, âIâm the mistress,â she says; âthe house is mine; itâs me father wanted him to marry.â And sheâs that vicious! Lord help us, when she gets into a rage sheâs ready to tear the thatch off the house.
NEIGHBOR. Oh dear, what a life yours is, now I come to look at you. And yet thereâs people envying you: âTheyâre ri...