Vanya On 42nd Street Page #7

'cause I wanted to talk to you.

About what?

"About what?"

I'm ugly.

Oh, you have beautiful hair,

and you have beautiful eyes -

No. The unattractive woman

is told that she has beautiful hair...

and beautiful eyes.

I've loved him for six years.

I love him more than I love my own mother.

I always hear his voice,

and I always feel his hand on my hand.

And I always - always look at the door,

like at any moment and -

I keep coming to you about him.

And he's here. He looks right through me.

All night long, I pray.

I know I have no hope.

Yesterday, I confessed to Uncle Vanya.

All the servants know I love him.

Everybody knows.

What does he think?

He doesn't notice me.

Well, he's a strange man.

Why not let me approach him?

What do you think?

I'll be discreet.

A most gentle hint.

Really, how long are you to live in uncertainty?

He loves you, or he doesn't.

Yes or no.

If it's no...

then let him stop coming here.

Yes?

He said he would show me his maps.

Tell him that I want him.

And you'll tell me the truth?

Oh, I will because...

I think the truth,

no matter how bad...

is always better than an uncertainty.

I promise you.

Not knowing is better

because then at least there's hope.

- What's that?

- Nothing.

Lord...

what's worse than knowing someone's secret

and standing by powerless?

Clearly the man cares nothing for her.

Why shouldn't he take her?

A country doctor his age?

A kind, pure, intelligent girl.

What's wrong with her for a wife?

Nothing.

Not a thing.

Poor child.

Live in a gray world like this,

hear nothing but the banal every day.

Then this man appears.

A handsome man.

A captivating man.

To yield...

to such a man.

Vanya said,

"Mermaid's blood runs in your veins.

For once in your life, let yourself go. "

Oh, should I not do that?

For once in my life?

For once in my life,

when the man comes here every day...

and every day

I know the reason why he comes.

Oh, God.

I'm stained already.

I should fall on my knees to Sonya

and beg her forgiveness.

Good morning.

Good morning.

You wanted -

You wanted to see my drawings.

Uh, yesterday, you said you had some maps

you were working on?

- Yes, I have them.

- Are you free?

I am.

Um -

Uh, where were you born?

Uh, in Petersburg.

- And where did you study?

- In the conservatory.

Mm-hmm. You may find

that this won't interest you.

No? Why not?

- It's true, I don't know the country.

- Uh-huh.

The, um...

topography.

Indeed.

But I've read a great deal. I -

I have my own worktable in Vanya's room, and

when I'm on the point of extreme exhaustion...

I steal away to spend

an hour or two over my maps.

Vanya and Sophie working away

at the accounts...

and I'm seated beside them

at my worktable, painting away.

And I'm warm. Everything's quiet.

I'm at peace.

I hear the crickets outside.

Totally at peace.

Once a month perhaps.

All right.

Now this is our district

as it was 50 years ago.

The greens indicate the forests.

As you see, half of the whole is wooded.

Where we see the green crosshatched with red,

we have the range of elk and wild goats.

I show both flora and the fauna here.

On the lakes,

there were swans, geese, ducks...

and, as the old folks say,

"a power of birds," they would say.

We have the villages and hamlets,

and here and there the various small farms.

Outposts, religious encampments, water mills -

Much cattle, and horses.

These are marked with blue.

There were great herds here.

Each household kept, on the average, 12 horses.

Now, here...

Now already we see that only

one-third of the area is timbered.

The goats are gone.

We still see elk occasionally...

but the blues and greens are vanishing

and, uh, so on.

As we go down to the third rendition

where we see the district as it is today...

there's no solid green.

The elk and swans and geese have disappeared.

There's no sign of the old settlements.

In short, here's a perfect picture

of a gradual and relentless decay...

which, in 10 or 12 more years...

will be totally complete,

and the land will be dead.

So you say, fine.

You say deep cultural influences are at work...

and that the old life

must naturally give way to the new.

And I would agree with you

if in place of decimated forests...

we had industry, railroads, schools.

If the populous were happier,

better employed, in better health.

But what do we have here?

We have the same swamps, the same mosquitoes...

the same lack of roads, the same typhus,

diphtheria, rickets - diseases of poverty.

The same eternal fires.

So that what we see is a struggle for existence

that is beyond human strength...

where we degenerate in ignorance and sloth.

And so man, freezing, starving, diseased -

Man, to preserve the last vestige of his life,

to save his children...

reaches out reflexively...

in his animal fear and destroys,

with no thought for tomorrow...

so that nearly everything is destroyed

and nothing new brought into being.

And I see this doesn't interest you.

- I understand so little of it.

- Ah.

But aside from that though,

it holds no interest for you.

- In - In truth, my mind was on other things.

- I see.

- Forgive me.

- Not at all.

And what preoccupied me - was -

- In fact, I don't know how to begin.

- Please.

- It was an interrogation.

- An interrogation?

Yes, a harmless one.

If I may.

Will you sit down?

This matter concerns

a certain friend of mine...

a young friend.

May we speak frankly?

Of course.

And the things we say, we never spoke of.

- Do you understand?

- I do.

The matter concerns my stepdaughter, Sonya.

Yes?

How do you feel about her?

I respect her.

Your feelings for her as a woman?

- My feelings for her -

- Yes.

I have none.

Ah. Uh-huh.

Um -

Two more words, and I'm done.

Have you perhaps remarked

her attitude toward you?

No.

Well, then I'm done.

You don't love Sonya...

and you will not.

Now, she's suffering...

and I must ask your compassion...

that you not come here anymore.

Uh-huh.

Well, it's late. I see I've stayed, um -

- I really don't have the time to come here.

- Oh, Lord, what a sordid... interview.

Well, it's done.

And we never spoke of it at all.

And now you must go.

You see that.

- If only one month ago, you had approached me -

- No.

Yes. Then I might have considered it.

And if she's suffering, of course -

I mean, if the poor girl's suffering, I, um -

Um -

I understand.

You understand what?

To belabor the obvious,

you call me here for an interrogation...

and I walk into your trap, didn't I?

"What do you feel as a man?

Could we know your true feelings?"

All right, I'll tell you,

and without the charade.

I confess it.

- I'm yours. I surrender.

- Are you out of your mind?

I've confessed it.

Your sweet ruse has forced it out of me.

I'm going to tell you something.

I'm better than you think.

- I'm nobler than you think, I swear it to you.

- All right. I'll take my leave of you.

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