LISA. Then I'll go and call her. [Exit].
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH [alone] Yes—could I but remember that life consists only in serving Thee; and that if Thou sendest a trial, it is because Thou holdest me capable of enduring it, and knowest that my strength is equal to it: else it would not be a trial.… Father, help me—help me to do Thy will.
Enter Princess.
PRINCESS. You receive me? You do me that honour? My respects to you. I don't give you my hand, for I hate you and despise you.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. What has happened?
PRINCESS. Just this, that they are moving him to the Disciplinary Battalion; and it is you who are the cause of it.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Princess, if you want anything, tell me what it is; but if you have come here merely to abuse me, you only injure yourself. You cannot offend me, for with my whole heart I sympathise with you and pity you!
PRINCESS. What charity! What exalted Christianity! No, Mr. Sarýntsov, you cannot deceive me! We know you now. You have ruined my son, but you don't care; and you go giving balls; and your daughter—my son's betrothed—is to be married and make a good match, that you approve of; while you pretend to lead a simple life, and go carpentering. How repulsive you are to me, with your new-fangled Pharisaism.
NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH. Don't excite yourself so, Princess. Tell me what you have come for—surely it was not simply to scold me?
PRINCESS. Yes, that too! I must find vent for all this accumulated pain. But what I want is this: He is being removed to the Disciplinary Battalion, and I cannot bear it. It is you who have done it. You! You! You!