MARY IVÁNOVNA [to Pianist] Have you come to play?
PIANIST. Yes, I am the pianist.
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Please take a seat and wait a little. Won't you have a cup of tea?
PIANIST [goes to piano] No, thank you!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. I never wished it. I liked Bórya, but still he was not a suitable match for Lyúba—especially after he let himself be carried away by Nicholas Ivánovich's ideas.
ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But still, the strength of his convictions is astonishing. See what he endures! They tell him that as long as he persists in refusing to serve, he will either remain where he is or be sent to the fortress; but his reply is always the same. And yet Lisa says he is full of joy and even merry!
MARY IVÁNOVNA. Fanatic! But here comes Alexander Mikáylovich!
Enter Alexander Mikáylovich Starkóvsky,[35] an elegant man in evening dress.
STARKÓVSKY. I am afraid I have come too soon. [Kisses the hands of both ladies].
MARY IVÁNOVNA. So much the better.