GORDÉY KÁRPYCH. Let's go into the reception-room, Afrikán Savvich. Wife, all of you, come there!
LYUBÓV GORDÉYEVNA. Where can I hide myself!
GORDÉY KÁRPYCH. Arína, bring along the wine!
ARÍNA. Oh, wait, I can't attend to you now! My darling child! Girls, my dearies! Here's the song we'll sing. [She sings.
"Thou art my own, my mother,
Who grievest day by day,
And at night to God dost pray.
Thou who art so downcast,
Look but once on her here,
Thy daughter who was so dear—
For the last time—the last."
LYUBÓV GORDÉYEVNA. For the last time.
At the end of this song GORDÉY KÁRPYCH and KÓRSHUNOV go out; LYUBÓV GORDÉYEVNA remains in the embrace of her mother, surrounded by her friends.
ACT III
A small room in the house of TORTSÓV, furnished with cupboards of various sorts; chests and shelves with plates and silver. Furniture: sofas, armchairs, and tables, all very expensive and crowded together. Usually this room is used as a sort of sitting-room for the mistress of the house, where she directs her household, and where she receives her guests informally. One door leads into the room where the guests are dining, and the other into the inner rooms.