VOITSKI [Kissing HELENA'S hand fervently] Good-bye—forgive me. I shall never see you again!
HELENA. [Touched] Good-bye, dear boy.
She lightly kisses his head as he bends over her hand, and goes out.
ASTROFF. Tell them to bring my carriage around too, Waffles.
TELEGIN. All right, old man.
ASTROFF and VOITSKI are left behind alone. ASTROFF collects his paints and drawing materials on the table and packs them away in a box.
ASTROFF. Why don't you go to see them off?
VOITSKI. Let them go! I—I can't go out there. I feel too sad. I must go to work on something at once. To work! To work!
He rummages through his papers on the table. A pause. The tinkling of bells is heard as the horses trot away.
ASTROFF. They have gone! The professor, I suppose, is glad to go. He couldn't be tempted back now by a fortune.