ASTROFF. I shall have to go around by the blacksmith's on my way home. It can't be avoided. [He stands looking up at the map of Africa hanging on the wall] I suppose it is roasting hot in Africa now.
VOITSKI. Yes, I suppose it is.
MARINA comes back carrying a tray on which are a glass of vodka and a piece of bread.
MARINA. Help yourself.
ASTROFF drinks
MARINA. To your good health! [She bows deeply] Eat your bread with it.
ASTROFF. No, I like it so. And now, good-bye. [To MARINA] You needn't come out to see me off, nurse.
He goes out. SONIA follows him with a candle to light him to the carriage. MARINA sits down in her armchair.
VOITSKI. [Writing] On the 2d of February, twenty pounds of butter; on the 16th, twenty pounds of butter again. Buckwheat flour—[A pause. Bells are heard tinkling.]
MARINA. He has gone. [A pause.]