Lover's Prayer Page #6

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and express my regret

that ill health prevents me

from saying goodbye in person.

I walked over to the Zasyekin lodge as

if I had lost my life,

longing for it all to end.

One thought held on me. How

could she? What did she hope for?

A young girl and a Princess,

how could she ruin herself?

And I remembered Looshin's words...

To sacrifice oneself is the

height of bliss for some people.

Your people seem to be getting off in a

terrible hurry. Why is that, my dear sir?

I heard your voice and came at once.

You find it so easy to desert

me then, you wicked boy?

No, I came to say goodbye to you,

Princess. Probably forever.

You have heard, perhaps,

that we are leaving?

Yes, I've heard. Thank you for coming.

I had begun to think

I would not see you again.

You must not think too ill of me.

I have sometimes tortured you.

But I am not what

you imagine me to be.

Really, I am not like that.

I know you have a low view of me.

- I?

- Yes, you.

No, believe me, Zinaida Alexandrovna,

that whatever you did

and however much

that you make me suffer.

I will love you and I will adore

you until the end of my days.

Goodbye.

I cannot even begin to convey

the feelings with which I left her.

I never wish to experience them again.

But I should count it a misfortune

never to have had them at all.

- Count Malevsky.

- How dare you send for me!

Some days ago, your excellency

was shown the door of a certain house.

I do not wish to enter into

any kind of explanation,

but should we ever meet in Moscow,

I shall throw you in the river, sir.

I do not like your handwriting!

Yes, some days ago I was shown

the door of a certain house.

I did not realize I was

there as your guest.

A letter of mine has arrived

at the wrong address.

But if you, sir, cannot

account for the confusion,

then of course,

neither can I. Goodbye.

Drive on!

We moved back to Moscow.

- Shall I bring the last chest, sir?

- Yes. Will you check the master...

Towards my father,

I actually bore no ill feeling.

On the contrary, he seemed

even to have grown in my eyes.

Let psychologists explain

this contradiction if they can.

One day, I was walking in the street and

to my indescribably joy ran into Looshin.

- Hey, young man.

- Yes.

So it's you. Let's have a look

at you. Still pretty green.

However, the old nonsense

seems to have left your eyes.

You look like a man, not a lap dog.

Off to University?

Yes, it's University now. That's right.

Good. The main thing, you know,

is to live a normal life

and not be carried away by this or that

wave which always turns out badly.

Better have a rock to stand on.

Now you see, I've got a cough.

And Boris, have you heard?

- No. What?

- No trace of him.

Disappeared?

Comes from not knowing

how to break off in time.

He got caught in that net

like a fish, didn't he?

I'm glad you escaped all right.

Permit me to say I hope you never

see her again, now that you're well.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye.

But I was destined

to see Zinaida again.

- Wait here and hold the horses.

- Why? Where are you going?

I need to see a man about some

business who lives up the street.

How long will you be gone?

Not long. Only a minute

or two. You stay here.

Hello, love. Want some company?

Good morning, sir. What are you

doing standing here with the horses?

Sorry.

A nice bit of tobacco for

a nice old girl like me, sir?

It's a cold morning, sir.

A little bit of tobacco helps.

For Pete's sake, are you deaf?

Please leave me alone.

I was utterly stunned.

This, I admit, I did not expect.

Do you want to end up like that?

My thoughts were in a dreadful whirl.

But I could not begin to grasp

what it was that I had witnessed.

They are beating her, I thought.

Beating, beating.

Vladimir, what are you

gawking at? Give me my horse.

What happened to your whip?

- Why? Did you get bored waiting for me?

- Yes, a little.

- Did you drop it?

- No, I didn't drop it. I threw it away.

How could one bear to be struck

by a whip by any hand however dear?

And yet it seems one can,

if one is in love.

His body was discovered by

Dimitry as I slept upstairs.

There's a letter on the desk

which I think you ought to see.

There I discovered a letter which

he had begun, addressed to me.

"My son," he wrote,

"beware of the love of women."

"Beware of that ecstasy,

that slow poison."

The letter broke off there. He had

not finished when death occurred.

My mother sent a considerable

sum of money to a Moscow address.

Monsieur Dolsky, how are you enjoying

this representation of Othello?

I think it is very good, Monsieur...

- Maidanov.

- Maidanov. Of course, thank you.

It is very colorful.

Our box has a fair view of it.

Ah, sorry.

- How is your view of it?

- Ordinary, I suppose, for a box.

I rather meant, for instance, do you

sympathize with Othello's passion?

I'm not a jealous man,

I'm sorry to tell you.

That's a woman's passion,

as Aristotle reminds us.

I never understood it in a man.

Wouldn't your wife be

disappointed to hear that, sir?

I expect she would not.

Perhaps she would.

That is an interesting point.

I wonder if she would indeed.

Is that not Monsieur the page?

Maidanov. Yes, it's you.

What a long time it's been.

It must be quite...

Five or four years it's been.

You know, incidentally,

that Madame Dolsky is here.

Madame Dolsky?

Surely you've not forgotten

the former Princess Zasyekin.

You remember we were all in

love with her. Yes, and you too.

You remember, in the country,

near the Neskootchny.

- She's married to this Dolsky?

- Yes.

- Is she here in the theater?

- No. In Moscow.

She came here a day or two ago.

She is going abroad.

What is he like, this Dolsky?

Very nice fellow, and quite well off.

A colleague of mine here in Moscow.

You're in government service then?

The poet becomes a civil servant?

Yes. That fate has taken me there.

Whimsical, isn't it?

So she settled on this Dolsky?

You understand, after that episode.

You must know all about that.

It was not easy for her to

find herself a suitable Parti.

And it did not end there. But with

her brains, nothing is impossible.

I have her card. Do go and see her.

She will be very pleased to see you.

She is more lovely than ever.

Yes, certainly, I will. I'll go

tomorrow and see her. Certainly.

Vladimir, look at this. The French,

the English, the Turkish too?

Do we really mean to

fight them all at once?

Where are you off

to so early in the day?

I must pay a call on a friend

at the Hotel Demuth.

Have you forgotten your

appointment or change it?

My appointment?

Yes, of course. With the estate

agent. You have forgotten it.

- You're right. I will see to it.

- Today, mind.

I want all our affairs in order

in case there is a war in the Crimea.

Yes, I will.

Also, I've made an appointment with

the admiralty as you asked me to.

There's a chance they'll offer you

a commission if you go to them directly.

That is, you can present yourself

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