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And I'm
Pleased to have discovered everything,
There's nothing
To reproach me of. There are no witnesses
Except when I lost consciousness.
Chatsky was here . . . no . . .
C h a t s k y (comes up quickly between them)
Yes, you pretender!
L i z i e and S o f i a
Oh! Oh!
(Lizzie drops the candle out of fright. Molchalin goes into his room.) Scene 13
The same people, except Molchalin.
C h a t s k y
She's quick to faint. Now it can be justified,
There's a reason for it this time.
That is the answer for the riddle for I'm
Aware to whom I have been sacrificed!
I just restrained myself which wasn't wise,
I saw it— I did not believe my eyes !
As for the sweetheart who has betrayed a friend
And has ignored a woman's fear and shame,
He's hidden now behind the door in an attempt
To shirk the answer. Oh this fortune's game!
Repudiated hateful men! The scourge!
Molchalins are as pleased as Punch!
S o f i a (in tears)
Don't speak. It is my fault through and through,
But who could think he was so cunning!
L i z i e
There's a knock! A noise! People are coming!
The father will be grateful to you.
Scene 14
Chatsky, Sofia, Lizzie, Famusov a crowd of footmen, candle in hand.
F a m u s o v
Be quick! Be quick! Come here! Follow me !
Bring candles, lanterns, I can't see !
Where are the footmen? My! I see familiar faces !
My daughter Sofia Pavlovna! What a disgrace it is !
Where is she ? Whom with?! Upon my life !
She's like her mother, my deceased wife.
My better half: each time I got away
She'd find a man to pass the time of day!
For heaven's sake! How did he win your heart?
Wasn't it you who called him mad?
I have been silly, blind. Oh my!
It is a plot. And all the guests and he
Were involved in that conspiracy.
C h a t s k y (to Sofia)
So is it you whom I should thank for all this lie?
F a m u s o v
No, brother, you're cheating, and I'll never let it pass.
I don't believe you, it's an invention of your own.
You, Filka, crazy stupid ass !
I made a doorman out of a lazybones !
Whatever happens, he never knows !
Where were you ? Where did you go ?
Why did you not lock up the doors ?
How come, you missed all this ? How come, you didn't you know ? I'll send you to the farm, to work there in the fields.
About selling me you'd make no bones.
You, watchful girl ! With your perpetual tricks;
That is the fruit of love of fashion shops and clothes !
You've learnt to pimp and pander lovers.
I'll put you right. I know what I can do.
Go feed the poultry ! Move to the service-house !
My dear daughter, you, too, will get your due,
Have patience; my decision will be simple:
You will not live here in Moscow with the people.
In a day or two I'll send you off
To a god-forsaken place, your aunt's, near Saratov.
You'll pass the time there grieving,
Sitting tambour in hand, card-reading.
And I should ask you, Chatsky, this:
You will not visit her by any means,
With you I'll draw the line at this:
All doors will be locked up for you by all the families.
I'll do my best to make a din,
I'll make the whole of Moscow learn it.
I'll make it public, ring the tocsin,
I'll write the ministers, the sovereign and the Senate.
C h a t s k y (after a short silence)
I try to come to reason, But I can't,
I listen but I do not understand.
As if I needed further explanation,
I'm at a loss... I'm in expectation...
(Passionately)
I'm blind! I wanted a reward
For all my efforts !... I just rushed along.
I hurried here for I thought
That happiness was close, but I was wrong.
The kind of a choice you've made. My goodness ! You !
Just think of whom you have preferred me to !
Whom did I talk to, humbly, lovingly, to-day ?
Why did I waste my words of tenderness in such a way ?
Why did you inspire hope in me ?
Why didn't you tell me openly
That you had turned the past to fun
And that your memories ignore
All we had felt and said and done?
I'm still feeling as before.
And neither travels nor diversions
Have killed my tenderest emotions.
I lived with them through thick and thin.
If you had told me that you hated everything:
My coming home, the way I talk,
The sight of me, the way I walk,
I should have broken off with you
And would not have tried of course,
To find out who your admirer was...
(With derision)
You'd better now put up with him.
What is the use of worrying?
Just make the most of him. Make him an errand boy,
A sort of a domestic envoy,
A husband and a page, a husband and a footman,
The dream of every Moscow gentleman.
Enough! I'm proud to have broken off with you. And you, sir, you hold rank in reverence.
I wish that you remained in blissful ignorance:
The aim of marrying Sofia I don't pursue.
There'll be another, a well behaved one,
A toady and a business-minded man.
With all those merits and with many more
He'll make an equal to his father-in-law.
So I'm enlightened. You should realize:
The dreams are over, and the scales are off my eyes.
Now I can have a bitter word
With you that used to court her
And with the whole wide world.
Where do I find myself by evil fortunes ?
How can I bear this crowd of torturers ?
They ostracize me! Curse me! All those story tellers !
Betrayers of love and enemies as well as
Ungainly connoisseurs and cunning laymen,
Malicious aged men and women
That grow discreet living on lies.
You all have made me known as a fool.
You're right: he will get out of the fire who
After remaining a day with you,
And breathing air with people of your kind
Will not get out of his mind.
Away from Moscow ! Catch me being here again !
I'll go around the world in search
Of a place with room for outraged feeling ! . .
The coach ! The coach !
(goes out)
Scene 15
All except Chatsky.
F a m u s o v
Well, he's off his head, you see ?
Now tell me seriously:
What did this madman talk about here ?
Calling me names ! Talking of Moscow threatingly !
Do you intend to ruin me, my love ?
Isn't my fate deplorable enough ?
My goodness !
What will countess
Marya Aleksevna say to this ?
T H E E N D
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