TABLEAU II
Same room as in ACT I
SCENE I
KARP and PROKÓFYEVNA come in
PROKÓFYEVNA. Is he asleep?
KARP. Don't know. I guess not; he hasn't that habit. It isn't time yet, anyway. What do you think? In St. Petersburg it isn't dinner-time yet, it's still morning.
PROKÓFYEVNA. What's that, good heavens!
KARP. Why, at times in the winter, when it's already dusk and the lights are lit everywhere, it's still considered morning.
PROKÓFYEVNA. What's the wonder! It's a big city, the capital, not like this. I just came in to see if anything was needed. [Glancing out of the window] I believe some one is coming here. I'll go and meet them. [Goes out.
KARP. One is bored to extinction here. If he'd grease the palms of the principal men at the court, then they'd have done it in a jiffy. At least we'd now be home, at business. I wonder how it is he isn't bored! I wonder if he hasn't found some prey here! He surely doesn't go about town for nothing! I know his ways: he walks and walks past the windows, and casts his eye around for some brunette.