IRINA. Feodor has shaved his moustache! I can’t bear to look at him.
KULIGIN. Well, what about it?
CHEBUTIKIN. I could tell you what your face looks like now, but it wouldn’t be polite.
KULIGIN. Well! It’s the custom, it’s modus vivendi. Our Director is clean-shaven, and so I too, when I received my inspectorship, had my moustaches removed. Nobody likes it, but it’s all one to me. I’m satisfied. Whether I’ve got moustaches or not, I’m satisfied.... [Sits.]
[At the back of the stage ANDREY is wheeling a perambulator containing a sleeping infant.]
IRINA. Ivan Romanovitch, be a darling. I’m awfully worried. You were out on the boulevard last night; tell me, what happened?
CHEBUTIKIN. What happened? Nothing. Quite a trifling matter. [Reads paper] Of no importance!
KULIGIN. They say that Soleni and the Baron met yesterday on the boulevard near the theatre....
TUZENBACH. Stop! What right... [Waves his hand and goes into the house.]
KULIGIN. Near the theatre... Soleni started behaving offensively to the Baron, who lost his temper and said something nasty....