NASTYA [delighted] You lie!

THE BARON. I’ll kill you!

NASTYA [ready to run away] There were no carriages!

SATINE. Stop, Nastenka! Don’t infuriate him!

THE BARON. Wait—you bitch! My grandfather . . .

NASTYA. There was no grandfather! There was nothing!

[Satine roars with laughter.]

THE BARON [worn out with rage, sits down on bench] Satine! Tell that slut—what—? You, too, are laughing? You—don’t believe me either? [Cries out in despair, pounding the table with his fists] It’s true—damn the whole lot of you!

NASTYA [triumphantly] So—you’re crying? Understand now what a human being feels like when nobody believes him?

KLESHTCH [returning to the table] I thought there’d be a fight . . .