The Power of Darkness Read online

  MITRITCH. That girl? Oh yes. That girl turned out all right!

  NAN. How was it? You were saying you found her?

  MITRITCH. Well, we just found her!

  NAN. But where did you find her? Do tell!

  MITRITCH. Why, in their own house; that’s where! We came to a village, the soldiers began hunting about in the house, when suddenly there’s that same little girl lying on the floor, flat on her stomach. We were going to give her a knock on the head, but all at once I felt that sorry, that I took her up in my arms; but no, she wouldn’t let me! Made herself so heavy, quite a hundredweight, and caught hold where she could with her hands, so that one couldn’t get them off ! Well, so I began stroking her head. It was so bristly,—just like a hedgehog! So I stroked and stroked, and she quieted down at last. I soaked a bit of rusk and gave it her. She understood that, and began nibbling. What were we to do with her? We took her; took her, and began feeding and feeding her, and she got so used to us that we took her with us on the march, and so she went about with us. Ah, she was a fine girl!

  NAN. Yes, and not baptized?

  MITRITCH. Who can tell! They used to say, not altogether. ’Cos why, those people weren’t our own.

  NAN. Germans?

  MITRITCH. What an idea! Germans! Not Germans, but Asiatics. They are just the same as Jews, but still not Jews. Polish, yet Asiatics. Curls . . . or, Curdlys is their name. . . . I’ve forgotten what it is?4 We called the girl Sashka. She was a fine girl, Sashka was! There now, I’ve forgotten everything I used to know! But that girl—the deuce take her—seems to be before my eyes now! Out of all my time of service, I remember how they flogged me, and I remember that girl. That’s all I remember! She’d hang round one’s neck, and one ’ud carry her so. That was a girl,—if you wanted a better you’d not find one! We gave her away afterwards. The captain’s wife took her to bring up as her daughter. So—she was all right! How sorry the soldiers were to let her go!

  NAN. There now, daddy, and I remember when father was dying,—you were not living with us then. Well, he called Nikita and says, “Forgive me, Nikita!” he says, and begins to cry. [Sighs] That also felt very sad!

  MITRITCH. Yes; there now, so it is . . .

  NAN. Daddy! Daddy, I say! There they are again, making a noise in the cellar! Oh gracious heavens! Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh, daddy! They’ll do something to it! They’ll make away with it, and it’s so little! Oh, oh! [Covers up her head and cries].

  MITRITCH [listening] Really they’re up to some villainy, blow them to shivers! Oh, these women are vile creatures! One can’t say much for men either; but women! . . . They are like wild beasts, and stick at nothing!

  NAN [rising] Daddy; I say, daddy!

  MITRITCH. Well, what now?

  NAN. The other day a traveler stayed the night; he said that when an infant died its soul goes up straight to heaven. Is that true?

  MITRITCH. Who can tell. I suppose so. Well?

  NAN. Oh, it would be best if I died too. [Whimpers].

  MITRITCH. Then you’d be off the list!

  NAN. Up to ten one’s an infant, and maybe one’s soul would go to God. Else one’s sure to go to the bad!

  MITRITCH. And how to the bad? How should the likes of you not go to the bad? Who teaches you? What do you see? What do you hear? Only vileness! I, though I’ve not been taught much, still know a thing or two. I’m not quite like a peasant woman. A peasant woman, what is she? Just mud! There are many millions of the likes of you in Russia, and all as blind as moles—knowing nothing! All sorts of spells: how to stop the cattle-plague with a plough, and how to cure children by putting them under the perches in the hen-house! That’s what they know!

  NAN. Yes, mother also did that!

  MITRITCH. Yes,—there it is,—just so! So many millions of girls and women, and all like beasts in a forest! As she grows up, so she dies! Never sees anything; never hears anything. A peasant,—he may learn something at the pub, or maybe in prison, or in the army,—as I did. But a woman? Let alone about God, she doesn’t even know rightly what Friday it is! Friday! Friday! But ask her what’s Friday? She don’t know! They’re like blind puppies, creeping about and poking their noses into the dung-heap. . . . All they know are their silly songs. Ho, ho, ho, ho! But what they mean by ho-ho, they don’t know themselves!

  NAN. But I, daddy, I do know half the Lord’s Prayer!

  MITRITCH. A lot you know! But what can one expect of you? Who teaches you? Only a tipsy peasant—with the strap perhaps! That’s all the teaching you get! I don’t know who’ll have to answer for you. For a recruit, the drill-sergeant or the corporal has to answer; but for the likes of you there’s no one responsible! Just as the cattle that have no herdsman are the most mischievous, so with you women—yours is the stupidest class! The most foolish class is yours!

  NAN. Then what’s one to do?

  MITRITCH. That’s what one has to do. . . . You just cover up your head and sleep! Oh Lord!

  Silence. The cricket chirps.

  NAN [ jumps up] Daddy! Some one’s screaming awfully! S’help me, some one’s screaming! Daddy darling, it’s coming here!

  MITRITCH. Cover up your head, I tell you!

  Enter Nikita, followed by Matryona.

  NIKITA. What have they done with me? What have they done with me?

  MATRYONA. Have a drop, honey; have a drop of drink! What’s the matter? [Fetches the spirits and sets the bottle before him].

  NIKITA. Give it here! Perhaps the drink will help me!

  MATRYONA. Mind! They’re not asleep! Here you are, have a drop!

  NIKITA. What does it all mean? Why did you plan it? You might have taken it somewhere!

  MATRYONA [whispers] Sit still a bit and drink a little more, or have a smoke. It will ease your thoughts!

  NIKITA. My own mother! My turn seems to have come! How it began to whimper, and how the little bones crackled . . . krr . . . I’m not a man now!

  MATRYONA. Eh, now, what’s the use of talking so silly! Of course it does seem fearsome at night, but wait till the daylight comes, and a day or two passes, and you’ll forget to think of it! [Goes up to Nikita and puts her hand on his shoulder].

  NIKITA. Go away from me! What have you done with me?

  MATRYONA. Come, come, sonnie! Now really, what’s the matter with you? [Takes his hand ].

  NIKITA. Go away from me! I’ll kill you! It’s all one to me now! I’ll kill you!

  MATRYONA. Oh, oh, how frightened he’s got! You should go and have a sleep now!

  NIKITA. I have nowhere to go; I’m lost!

  MATRYONA [shaking her head ] Oh, oh, I’d better go and side things away. He’ll sit and rest a bit, and it will pass! [Exit].

  Nikita sits with his face in his hands. Mitritch and Nan seem stunned.

  NIKITA. It’s whining! It’s whining! It is really—there, there, quite plain! She’ll bury it, really she will! [Runs to the door] Mother, don’t bury it, it’s alive. . . .

  Enter Matryona.

  MATRYONA [whispers] Now then, what is it? Heaven help you! Why won’t you get to rest? How can it be alive? All its bones are crushed!

  NIKITA. Give me more drink! [Drinks].

  MATRYONA. Now go, sonnie. You’ll fall asleep now all right.

  NIKITA [stands listening] Still alive . . . there . . . it’s whining! Don’t you hear? . . . There!

  MATRYONA [whispers] No! I tell you!

  NIKITA. Mother! My own mother! I’ve ruined my life! What have you done with me? Where am I to go? [Runs out of the hut; Matryona follows him].

  NAN. Daddy dear, darling, they’ve smothered it!

  MITRITCH [angrily] Go to sleep, I tell you! Oh dear, may the frogs kick you! I’ll give it to you with the broom! Go to sleep, I tell you!

  NAN. Daddy, my treasure! Something is catching hold of my shoulders, something is catching hold with its paws! Daddy dear . . . may I die . . . I must go! Daddy, darling! let me get up on the oven with you! Let me, for Heaven’s sake! Catching hold . . . c
atching hold! Oh! [Runs to the stove]

  MITRITCH. See how they’ve frightened the girl. . . . What vile creatures they are! May the frogs kick them! Well then, climb up.

  NAN [climbs on oven] But don’t you go away!

  MITRITCH. Where should I go to? Climb up, climb up! Oh Lord! Gracious Nicholas! Holy Mother! . . . How they have frighted the girl. [Covers her up] There’s a little fool—really a little fool! How they’ve frighted her; really, they are vile creatures! The deuce take ’em!

  Curtain.

  * * *

  3 Nan calls Mitritch “daddy” merely as a term of endearment.

  4 Probably Kurds.

  ACT V

  SCENE 1

  In front of scene a stack-stand, to the left a thrashing ground, to the right a barn. The barn doors are open. Straw is strewn about in the doorway. The hut with yard and outbuildings is seen in the background, whence proceed sounds of singing and of a tambourine. Two Girls are walking past the barn towards the hut.

  FIRST GIRL. There, you see we’ve managed to pass without so much as getting our boots dirty! But to come by the street is terribly muddy! [Stop and wipe their boots on the straw. First Girl looks at the straw and sees something] What’s that?

  SECOND GIRL [looks where the straw lies and sees some one] It’s Mitritch, their laborer. Just look how drunk he is!

  FIRST GIRL. Why, I thought he didn’t drink.

  SECOND GIRL. It seems he didn’t, until it was going around.

  FIRST GIRL. Just see! He must have come to fetch some straw. Look! he’s got a rope in his hand, and he’s fallen asleep.

  SECOND GIRL [listening] They’re still singing the praises.1 So I s’pose the bride and bridegroom have not yet been blessed! They say Akoulina didn’t even lament!2

  FIRST GIRL. Mammie says she is marrying against her will. Her stepfather threatened her, or else she’d not have done it for the world! Why, you know what they’ve been saying about her?

  MARINA [catching up the Girls] How d’you do, lassies?

  GIRLS. How d’you do?

  MARINA. Going to the wedding, my dears?

  FIRST GIRL. It’s nearly over! We’ve come just to have a look.

  MARINA. Would you call my old man for me? Simon, from Zouevo; but surely you know him?

  FIRST GIRL. To be sure we do; he’s a relative of the bridegroom’s, I think?

  MARINA. Of course; he’s my old man’s nephew, the bridegroom is.

  SECOND GIRL. Why don’t you go yourself ? Fancy not going to a wedding!

  MARINA. I have no mind for it, and no time either. It’s time for us to be going home. We didn’t mean to come to the wedding. We were taking oats to town. We only stopped to feed the horse, and they made my old man go in.

  FIRST GIRL. Where did you put up then? At Fyodoritch’s?

  MARINA. Yes. Well then, I’ll stay here and you go and call him, my dear—my old man. Call him, my pet, and say “Your missis, Marina, says you must go now!” His mates are harnessing.

  FIRST GIRL. Well, all right—if you won’t go in yourself.

  The Girls go away towards the house along a footpath. Sounds of songs and tambourine.

  MARINA [alone, stands thinking] I might go in, but I don’t like to, because I have not met him since that day he threw me over. It’s more than a year now. But I’d have liked to have a peep and see how he lives with his Anisya. People say they don’t get on. She’s a coarse woman, and with a character of her own. I should think he’s remembered me more than once. He’s been caught by the idea of a comfortable life and has changed me for it. But, God help him, I don’t cherish ill-will! Then it hurt! Oh dear, it was pain! But now it’s worn away and been forgotten. But I’d like to have seen him. [Looks towards hut and sees Nikita] Look there! Why, he is coming here! Have the girls told him? How’s it he has left his guests? I’ll go away! [Nikita approaches, hanging his head down, swinging his arms, and muttering] And how sullen he looks!

  NIKITA [sees and recognizes Marina] Marina, dearest friend, little Marina, what do you want?

  MARINA. I have come for my old man.

  NIKITA. Why didn’t you come to the wedding? You might have had a look round, and a laugh at my expense!

  MARINA. What have I to laugh at? I’ve come for my husband.

  NIKITA. Ah, Marina dear! [Tries to embrace her].

  MARINA [steps angrily aside] You’d better drop that sort of thing, Nikita! What has been, is past! I’ve come for my husband. Is he in your house?

  NIKITA. So I must not remember the past? You won’t let me?

  MARINA. It’s no use recalling the past! What used to be is over now!

  NIKITA. And can never come back, you mean?

  MARINA. And will never come back! But why have you gone away? You, the master,—and to go away from the feast!

  NIKITA [sits down on the straw] Why have I gone away? Eh, if you knew, if you had any idea . . . I’m dull, Marina, so dull that I wish my eyes would not see! I rose from the table and left them, to get away from the people. If I could only avoid seeing any one!

  MARINA [coming nearer to him] How’s that?

  NIKITA. This is how it is: when I eat, it’s there! When I drink, it’s there! When I sleep, it’s there! I’m so sick of it—so sick! But it’s chiefly because I’m all alone that I’m so sick, little Marina. I have no one to share my trouble.

  MARINA. You can’t live your life without trouble, Nikita. However, I’ve wept over mine and wept it away.

  NIKITA. The former, the old trouble! Ah, dear friend, you’ve wept yours away, and I’ve got mine up to there! [Puts his hand to his throat].

  MARINA. But why?

  NIKITA. Why, I’m sick of my whole life! I am sick of myself ! Ah, Marina, why did you not know how to keep me? You’ve ruined me, and yourself too! Is this life?

  MARINA [stands by the barn crying, but restrains herself  ] I do not complain of my life, Nikita! God grant every one a life like mine. I do not complain. I confessed to my old man at the time, and he forgave me. And he does not reproach me. I’m not discontented with my life. The old man is quiet, and is fond of me, and I keep his children clothed and washed! He is really kind to me. Why should I complain? It seems God willed it so. And what’s the matter with your life? You are rich . . .

  NIKITA. My life! . . . It’s only that I don’t wish to disturb the wedding feast, or I’d take this rope here [takes hold of the rope on the straw] and throw it across that rafter there. Then I’d make a noose and stretch it out, and I’d climb on to that rafter and jump down with my head in the noose! That’s what my life is!

  MARINA. That’s enough! Lord help you!

  NIKITA. You think I’m joking? You think I’m drunk? I’m not drunk! To-day even drink takes no hold on me! I’m devoured by misery! Misery is eating me up completely, so that I care for nothing! Oh, little Marina, it’s only with you I ever lived! Do you remember how we used to while away the nights together at the railway?

  MARINA. Don’t you rub the sores, Nikita! I’m bound legally now, and you too. My sin has been forgiven, don’t disturb . . .

  NIKITA. What shall I do with my heart? Where am I to turn to?

  MARINA. What’s there to be done? You’ve got a wife. Don’t go looking at others, but keep to your own! You loved Anisya, then go on loving her!

  NIKITA. Oh, that Anisya, she’s gall and wormwood to me, but she’s round my feet like rank weeds!

  MARINA. Whatever she is, still she’s your wife. . . . But what’s the use of talking; you’d better go to your visitors, and send my husband to me.

  NIKITA. Oh dear, if you knew the whole business . . . but there’s no good talking!

  Enter Marina’s husband, red and tipsy, and Nan.

  MARINA’S Husband. Marina! Missis! My old woman! are you here?

  NIKITA. There’s your husband calling you. Go!

  MARINA. And you?

  NIKITA. I? I’ll lie down here for a bit! [Lies down on the straw].

  HUSBAND. Where is
she then?

  NAN. There she is, near the barn.

  HUSBAND. What are you standing there for? Come to the feast! The hosts want you to come and do them honor! The wedding party is just going to start, and then we can go too.

  MARINA [ going towards her husband ] I didn’t want to go in.

  HUSBAND. Come on, I tell you! You’ll drink a glass to our nephew Peter’s health, the rascal! Else the hosts might take offence! There’s plenty of time for our business. [Marina’s husband puts his arm around her, and goes reeling out with her].

  NIKITA [rises and sits down on the straw] Ah, now that I’ve seen her, life seems more sickening than ever! It was only with her that I ever really lived! I’ve ruined my life for nothing! I’ve done for myself ! [Lies down] Where can I go? If mother earth would but open and swallow me!

  NAN [sees Nikita, and runs towards him] Daddy, I say, daddy! They’re looking for you! Her godfather and all of them have already blessed her. May I die, they have, they’re getting cross!

  NIKITA [aside] Where can I go to?

  NAN. What? What are you saying?

  NIKITA. I’m not saying anything! Don’t bother!

  NAN. Daddy! Come, I say! [Nikita is silent, Nan pulls him by the hand ] Dad, go and bless them! My word, they’re angry, they’re grumbling!

  NIKITA [drags away his hand ] Leave me alone!

  NAN. Now then!

  NIKITA [threatens her with the rope] Go, I say! I’ll give it you!

  NAN. Then I’ll send mother! [Runs away].

  NIKITA [rises] How can I go? How can I take the holy icon in my hands? How am I to look her in the face! [Lies down again] Oh, if there were a hole in the ground, I’d jump in! No one should see me, and I should see no one! [Rises again] No, I shan’t go . . . May they all go to the devil, I shan’t go! [Takes the rope and makes a noose, and tries it on his neck] That’s the way!

  Enter Matryona. Nikita sees his mother, takes the rope off his neck, and again lies down in the straw.

  MATRYONA [comes in hurriedly] Nikita! Nikita, I say! He don’t even answer! Nikita, what’s the matter? Have you had a drop too much? Come, Nikita dear; come, honey! The people are tired of waiting.

  NIKITA. Oh dear, what have you done with me? I’m a lost man!