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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Light Shines in Darkness, by Leo Tolstoy
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Title: The Light Shines in Darkness
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Translator: Louise Maude
Aylmer Maude
Release Date: September 20, 2008 [EBook #26666]
Language: English
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THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESSDRAMA
NICHOLAS IVĂNOVICH SARĂNTSOV.
MARY IVĂNOVNA SARĂNTSOVA. His wife.
LYĂBA. Their daughter.
STYĂPA. Their son.
VĂNYA. A younger son.
MISSY. Their daughter.
THE SARĂNTSOVS' LITTLE CHILDREN.
ALEXANDER MIKĂYLOVICH STARKĂVSKY. (LyĂșba's betrothed in Act IV).
MITROFĂN ERMĂLYCH. VĂĄnya's tutor.
THE SARĂNTSOVS' GOVERNESS.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA KĂHOVTSEVA. Mary IvĂĄnovna's sister.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH KĂHOVTSEV. Her husband.
LISA. Their daughter.
PRINCESS CHEREMSHĂNOV.
BORĂS. Her son.
TĂNYA. Her daughter.
A YOUNG PRIEST.
THE SARĂNTSOVS' NURSE.
THE SARĂNTSOVS' MEN-SERVANTS.
IVĂN ZYĂBREV. A peasant.
A PEASANT WOMAN. His wife.
MALĂSHKA. His daughter (carrying her baby-brother).
PETER. A peasant.
A RURAL POLICEMAN.
FATHER GERĂSIM. A priest.
A NOTARY.
A CARPENTER.
A GENERAL.
HIS ADJUTANT.
A COLONEL.
A REGIMENTAL CLERK.
A SENTINEL.
TWO SOLDIERS.
A GENDARME OFFICER.
HIS CLERK.
THE CHAPLAIN OF THE REGIMENT.
THE CHIEF DOCTOR IN A MILITARY ASYLUM.
AN ASSISTANT DOCTOR.
WARDERS.
AN INVALID OFFICER.
PIANIST.
COUNTESS.
ALEXANDER PETRĂVICH.
PEASANT MEN AND WOMEN, STUDENTS, LADIES, DANCING COUPLES.
THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS
The scene represents the verandah of a fine country-house, in front of which a croquet-lawn and tennis-court are shown, also a flower-bed. The children are playing croquet with their governess. Mary IvĂĄnovna SarĂœntsova, a handsome elegant woman of forty; her sister, AlexĂĄndra IvĂĄnovna KĂłhovtseva, a stupid, determined woman of forty-five; and her husband, Peter SemyĂłnovich KĂłhovtsef, a fat flabby man, dressed in a summer suit, with a pince-nez, are sitting on the verandah at a table with a samovĂĄr and coffee-pot. Mary IvĂĄnovna SarĂœntsova, AlexĂĄndra IvĂĄnovna KĂłhovtseva, and Peter SemyĂłnovich KĂłhovtsev are drinking coffee, and the latter is smoking.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. If you were not my sister, but a stranger, and Nicholas IvĂĄnovich not your husband, but merely an acquaintance, I should think all this very original, and perhaps I might even encourage him, J'aurais trouvĂ© tout ça trĂšs gentil;[1] but when I see that your husband is playing the foolâyes, simply playing the foolâthen I can't help telling you what I think about it. And I shall tell your husband, Nicholas, too. Je lui dirai son fait, ma chĂšre.[2] I am not afraid of anyone.
MARY IVĂNOVNA. I don't feel the least bit hurt; don't I see it all myself? but I don't think it so very important.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. No. You don't think so, but I tell you that, if you let it go on, you will be beggared. Du train que cela va âŠ[3]
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. Come! Beggared indeed! Not with an income like theirs.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. Yes, beggared! And please don't interrupt me, my dear! Anything a man does always seems right to you!
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. Oh! I don't know. I was sayingââ
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. But you never do know what you are saying, because when you men begin playing the fool, il n'y a pas de raison que ça finisse.[4] I am only saying that if I were in your place, I should not allow it. J'aurais mis bon ordre Ă toutes ces lubies.[5] What does it all mean? A husband, the head of a family, has no occupation, abandons everything, gives everything away, et fait le gĂ©nĂ©reux Ă droite et Ă gauche.[6] I know how it will end! Nous en savons quelque chose.[7]
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH [to Mary IvĂĄnovna]. But do explain to me, Mary, what is this new movement? Of course I understand Liberalism, County Councils, the Constitution, schools, reading-rooms, and tout ce qui s'en suit;[8] as well as Socialism, strikes, and an eight-hour day; but what is this? Explain it to me.
MARY IVĂNOVNA. But he told you about it yesterday.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. I confess I did not understand. The Gospels, the Sermon on the Mountâand that churches are unnecessary! But then how is one to pray, and all that?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Yes. That is the worst of it. He would destroy everything, and give us nothing in its place.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. How did it begin?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. It began last year, after his sister died. He was very fond of her, and her death had a very great effect on him. He became quite morose, and was always talking about death; and then, you know, he fell ill himself with typhus. When he recovered, he was quite a changed man.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. But, all the same, he came in spring to see us again in Moscow, and was very nice, and played bridge. Il Ă©tait trĂšs gentil et comme tout le monde.[9]
MARY IVĂNOVNA. But, all the same, he was then quite changed.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. In what way?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. He was completely indifferent to his family, and purely and simply had l'idĂ©e fixe. He read the Gospels for days on end, and did not sleep. He used to get up at night to read, made notes and extracts, and then began going to see bishops and hermitsâconsulting them about religion.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. And did he fast, or prepare for communion?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. From the time of our marriageâthat's twenty years agoâtill then he had never fasted nor taken the sacrament, but at that time he did once take the sacrament in a monastery, and then immediately afterwards decided that one should neither take communion nor go to church.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. That's what I sayâthoroughly inconsistent!
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Yes, a month before, he would not miss a single service, and kept every fast-day; and then he suddenly decided that it was all unnecessary. What can one do with such a man?
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. I have spoken and will speak to him again.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. Yes! But the matter is of no great importance.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. No? Not to you! Because you men have no religion.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. Do let me speak. I say that that is not the point. The point is this: if he denies the Church, what does he want the Gospels for?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Well, so that we should live according to the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount, and give everything away.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. But how is one to live if one gives everything away?
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. And where has he found in the Sermon on the Mount that we must shake hands with footmen? It says âBlessed are the meek,â but it says nothing about shaking hands!
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Yes, of course, he gets carried away, as he always used to. At one time it was music, then shooting, then the school. But that doesn't make it any the easier for me!
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. Why has he gone to town to-day?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. He did not tell me, but I know it is about some trees of ours that have been felled. The peasants have been cutting trees in our wood.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. In the pine-tree plantation?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Yes, they will probably be sent to prison and ordered to pay for the trees. Their case was to be heard to-day, he told me of it, so I feel certain that is what he has gone about.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. He will pardon them, and to-morrow they will come to take the trees in the park.
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Yes, that is what it leads to. As it is, they break our apple-trees and tread down the green cornfields, and he forgives them everything.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. Extraordinary!
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. That is just why I say that it must not be allowed to go on. Why, if it goes on like that, tout y passera.[10] I think it is your duty as a mother to prendre tes mesures.[11]
MARY IVĂNOVNA. What can I do?
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. What indeed! Stop him! Explain to him that this cannot go on. You have your children! What sort of an example is it for them?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Of course, it is hard; but I go on bearing it, and hoping it will pass, like his former infatuations.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. Yes, but âAide toi et Dieu t'aidera!â[12] You must make him feel that he has not only himself to think of, and that one can't live like that.
MARY IVĂNOVNA. The worst of all is that he no longer troubles about the children, and I have to decide everything myself. I have an unweaned baby, besides the older children: girls and boys, who have to be looked after, and need guidance. And I have to do it all single-handed. He used to be such an affectionate and attentive father, but now he seems no longer to care. Yesterday I told him that VĂĄnya is not studying properly, and will not pass his exam., and he replied that it would be by far the best thing for him to leave school altogether.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. To go where?
MARY IVĂNOVNA. Nowhere! That's the most terrible thing about it; everything we do is wrong, but he does not say what would be right.
PETER SEMYĂNOVICH. That's odd.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. What is there odd about it? It is just your usual way. Condemn everything, and do nothing yourself!
MARY IVĂNOVNA. StyĂłpa has now finished at the University, and ought to choose a career; but his father says nothing about it. He wanted to take a post in the Civil Service, but Nicholas IvĂĄnovich says he ought not to do so. Then he thought of entering the Horse-Guards, but Nicholas IvĂĄnovich quite disapproved. Then the lad asked his father: âWhat am I to do thenânot go and plough after all?â and Nicholas IvĂĄnovich said: âWhy not plough? It is much better than being in a Government Office.â So what was he to do? He comes to me and asks, and I have to decide everything, and yet the authority is all in his hands.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. Well, you should tell him so straight out.
MARY IVĂNOVNA. So I must! I shall have to talk to him.
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. And tell him straight out that you can't go on like this. That you do your duty, and he must do his; or if notâlet him hand everything over to you.
MARY IVĂNOVNA. It is all so unpleasant!
ALEXĂNDRA IVĂNOVNA. I will tell him, if you like. Je lui dirai son fait.[13]
Enter a young priest, confused and agitated. He carries a book, and shakes hands all round.
PRIEST. I have come to see Nicholas IvĂĄnovich. I have, in fact, come
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