The Light Shines in Darkness

Act IV

In Moscow a year later. A drawing-room in the Sar ntsov's town house is prepared for a dance. Footmen are arranging plants round the grand piano. Enter Mary Iv novna in an elegant silk dress, with Alex ndra Iv novna.

MARY IV NOVNA. A ball? No, Only a dance! A "Juvenile Party" as they once used to say. My children took part in the Theatricals at the M kofs, and have been asked to dances everywhere, so I must return the invitations.

MARY IV NOVNA. I can't help it. [To Footmen] Put it here! [To Alex ndra Iv novna] God knows how glad I should be not to cause him unpleasantness. But I think he has become much less exacting.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. No, no! Only he does not show it so much. I saw how upset he was when he went off to his own room after dinner.

MARY IV NOVNA. What can I do? After all, people must live. We have seven children, and if they find no amusement at home, heaven knows what they may be up to. Anyhow I am quite happy about Ly ba now.

MARY IV NOVNA [to the Footmen] Put the fruit on the side-board. Like whom? Alexander Mik ylovich? Of course not; because he is a living negation of all Nicholas's pet theories. A nice pleasant kindly man of the world. But oh! That terrible night-mare-that affair of Bor s Cheremsh nov's. What has happened to him?

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. Lisa has been to see him. He is still there. She says he has grown terribly thin, and the Doctors fear for his life or his reason.

MARY IV NOVNA. Yes, he is one of the terrible sacrifices caused by Nicholas's ideas. Why need he have been ruined? I never wished it.

MARY IV NOVNA. I never wished it. I liked B rya, but still he was not a suitable match for Ly ba-especially after he let himself be carried away by Nicholas Iv novich's ideas.

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. 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!

Enter Alexander Mik ylovich Stark vsky, (Note: Alexander in his Christian name, Mik******* (= son of Michael) is his patronymic, and Stark**** in his surname which is seldom used in ordinary social life.) an elegant man in evening dress.

STARK VSKY. And Ly bov Nikol yevna? (Note: Ly*** Nikol***** (= Love daughter of Nicholas) is the courteous way of naming Ly***) The latter is a pet name. She proposed to dance a great deal so as to make up for the time she has lost, and I have undertaken to help her.

MARY IV NOVNA. But he knows or guesses; and he will have to be told sooner or later. I think it would be better to announce it to-day. Why, C'est le secret de la com die. (Note: It is only a comedy secret.)

STARK VSKY [carrying three cushions, which he steadies with his chin, and dropping things on the way] Don't trouble, Ly bov Nikol yevna, I'll pick them up. Well, you have prepared a lot of favours. If only I can manage to lead the dance properly! V nya, come along.

V NYA [bringing more favours] This is the whole lot. Ly ba, Alexander Mik ylovich and I have a bet on, which of us will win the most favours.

STARK VSKY. It will be easy for you, for you know everybody here, and will gain them easily, while I shall have to charm the young ladies first before winning anything. It means that I am giving you a start of forty points.

LY BA. V nya, please go to my room and fetch the gum and the pin-cushion from the what-not. Only for goodness' sake don't break anything.

STARK VSKY [takes Ly ba's hand] Ly ba, may I? I am so happy. [Kisses her hand] The mazurka is mine, but that is not enough. One can't say much in a mazurka, and I must speak. May I wire to my people that I have been accepted and am happy?

LY BA. No, I haven't; but I will. He will take it as he now takes everything that concerns the family. He will say, "Do as you think best." But he will be grieved at heart.

LY BA. Yes. But I have struggled with myself and deceived myself for his sake; and it is not because I love him less that I am now doing not what he wants, but it is because I can't lie. He himself says so. I do so want to live!

LY BA [excitedly] Don't speak of him to me! I wish to blame him, to blame him whilst he is suffering; and I know it is because I feel guilty towards him. All I know is that I feel there is a kind of love-and I think a more real love than I ever felt for him.

LY BA. You wish me to say that I love you with that real love-but I won't say it. I do love you with a different kind of love; but it is not the real thing either! Neither the one nor the other is the real thing-if only they could be mixed together!

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA [approaches Mary Iv novna] He is terribly agitated. He has been to see Bor s, and he came back and saw there was a ball, and now he wants to go away! I went up to his door and overheard him talking to Alexander Petr vich.

STARK VSKY.Rond des dames. Les cavaliers en avant! (Note: Stark****, directing the dance, says: ****** form a circle. Gentlemen advance!)

ALEX NDRA IV NOVNA. He has made up his mind that it is impossible for him to live so, and he is going away.

MARY IV NOVNA. What a torment the man is! [Exit].

Nicholas Iv novich's room. The dance music is heard in the distance. Nicholas Iv novich has an overcoat on. He puts a letter on the table. Alexander Petr vich, dressed in ragged clothes, is with him.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. We will go by rail as far as T la, and from thence on foot. Well, I'm ready. [Puts letter in the middle of the table, and goes to the door, where he meets Mary Iv novna] Oh! Why have you come here?

MARY IV NOVNA. It is awful. My life-which I give wholly to you and the children-has all of a sudden become "depraved." [Sees Alexander Petr vich] Renvoyez au moins cet homme. Je ne veux pas qu'il soit t moin de cette conversation. (Note: At least send that man away. I don't wish him to be a witness of our conversation.)

ALEXANDER PETR VICH.Comprenez. Toujours moi partez. (Note: Alexander Petr**** replies in very bad French: * understand! I am always to go away!)

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Wait for me out there, Alexander Petr vich, I'll come in a minute.

Exit Alexander Petr vich.

MARY IV NOVNA. And what can you have in common with such a man as that? Why is he nearer to you than your own wife? It is incomprehensible! And where are you going?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. I have left a letter for you. I did not want to speak; it is too hard; but if you wish it, I will try to say it quietly.

MARY IV NOVNA. No, I don't understand. Why do you hate and torture your wife, who has given up everything for you? Tell me, have I been going to balls, or gone in for dress, or flirted? My whole life has been devoted to the family. I nursed them all myself; I brought them up, and this last year the whole weight of their education, and the managing our affairs, has fallen on me.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [interrupting] But all this weight falls on you, because you do not wish to live as I proposed.

MARY IV NOVNA. But that was impossible! Ask anyone! It was impossible to let the children grow up illiterate, as you wished them to do, and for me to do the washing and cooking.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. I never wanted that!

MARY IV NOVNA. Well, anyhow it was something of that kind! No, you are a Christian, you wish to do good, and you say you love men; then why do you torture the woman who has devoted her whole life to you?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. How do I torture you? I love you, but

MARY IV NOVNA. But is it not torturing me to leave me and to go away? What will everybody say? One of two things, either that I am a bad woman, or that you are mad.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Well, let us say I am mad; but I can't live like this.

MARY IV NOVNA. But what is there so terrible in it, even if once in a winter (and only once, because I feared you would not like it) I do give a party-and even then a very simple one, only ask M nya and Barbara Vas lyevna! Everybody said I could not do less-and that it was absolutely necessary. And now it seems even a crime, for which I shall have to suffer disgrace. And not only disgrace. The worst of all is that you no longer love me! You love everyone else-the whole world, including that drunken Alexander Petr vich-but I still love you and cannot live without you. Why do you do it? Why? [Weeps].

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. But you don't even wish to understand my life; my spiritual life.

MARY IV NOVNA. I do wish to understand it, but I can't. I see that your Christianity has made you hate your family and hate me; but I don't understand why!

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. You see the others do understand!

MARY IV NOVNA. Who? Alexander Petr vich, who gets money out of you?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. He and others: T nya and Vas ly Nikon rovich. But even if nobody understood it, that would make no difference.

MARY IV NOVNA. Vas ly Nikon rovich has repented, and has got his living back, and T nya is at this very moment dancing and flirting with Sty pa.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. I am sorry to hear it, but it does not turn black into white, and it cannot change my life. Mary! You do not need me. Let me go! I have tried to share your life and to bring into it what for me constitutes the whole of life; but it is impossible. It only results in torturing myself and you. I not only torment myself, but spoil the work I try to accomplish. Everybody, including that very Alexander Petr vich, has the right to tell me that I am a hypocrite; that I talk but do not act! That I preach the Gospel of poverty while I live in luxury, pretending that I have given up everything to my wife!

MARY IV NOVNA. So you are ashamed of what people say? Really, can't you rise above that?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. It's not that I am ashamed (though I am ashamed), but that I am spoiling God's work.

MARY IV NOVNA. You yourself often say that it fulfils itself despite man's opposition; but that's not the point. Tell me, what do you want of me?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Haven't I told you?

MARY IV NOVNA. But, Nicholas, you know that that is impossible. Only think, Ly ba is now getting married; V nya is entering the university; Missy and K tya are studying. How can I break all that off?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Then what am I to do?

MARY IV NOVNA. Do as you say one should do: have patience, love. Is it too hard for you? Only bear with us and do not take yourself from us! Come, what is it that torments you?

Enter V nya running.

V NYA. Mamma, they are calling you!

MARY IV NOVNA. Tell them I can't come. Go, go!

V NYA. Do come! [He runs off].

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. You don't wish to see eye to eye-nor to understand me.

MARY IV NOVNA. It is not that I don't wish to, but that I can't.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. No, you don't wish to, and we drift further and further apart. Only enter into my feelings; put yourself for a moment in my place, and you will understand. First, the whole life here is thoroughly depraved. You are vexed with the expression, but I can give no other name to a life built wholly on robbery; for the money you live on is taken from the land you have stolen from the peasants. Moreover, I see that this life is demoralising the children: "Whoso shall cause one of these little ones to stumble," and I see how they are perishing and becoming depraved before my very eyes. I cannot bear it when grown-up men dressed up in swallow-tail coats serve us as if they were slaves. Every dinner we have is a torture to me.

MARY IV NOVNA. But all this was so before. Is it not done by everyone-both here and abroad?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [hotly] It's just this want of understanding that is so terrible. Take for instance to-day! I spent this morning at Rzh nov's lodging-house, among the outcasts there; and I saw an infant literally die of hunger; a boy suffering from alcoholism; and a consumptive charwoman rinsing clothes outside in the cold. Then I returned home, and a footman with a white tie opens the door for me. I see my son-a mere lad-ordering that footman to fetch him some water; and I see the army of servants who work for us. Then I go to visit Bor s-a man who is sacrificing his life for truth's sake. I see how he, a pure, strong, resolute man, is deliberately being goaded to lunacy and to destruction, that the Government may be rid of him! I know, and they know, that his heart is weak, and so they provoke him, and drag him to a ward for raving lunatics. It is too dreadful, too dreadful. And when I come home, I hear that the one member of our family who understood-not me but the truth-has thrown over both her betrothed to whom she had promised her love, and the truth, and is going to marry a lackey, a liar

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Yes, it is wrong of me, and I am to blame, but I only want you to put yourself in my place. I mean to say that she has turned from the truth

MARY IV NOVNA. You say, "from the truth"; but other people-the majority-say from "an error." You see Vas ly Nikon rovich once thought he was in error, but now has come back to the Church.

MARY IV NOVNA. He has written to Lisa! She will show you the letter. That sort of conversion is very unstable. So also in T nya's case; I won't even speak of that fellow Alexander Petr vich, who simply considers it profitable!

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [getting angry] Well, no matter. I only ask you to understand me. I still consider that truth is truth! All this hurts me very much. And here at home I see a Christmas-tree, a ball, and hundreds of roubles being spent while men are dying of hunger. I cannot live so. Have pity on me, I am worried to death. Let me go! Good-bye.

MARY IV NOVNA. If you go, I will go with you. Or if not with you, I will throw myself under the train you leave by; and let them all go to perdition-and Missy and K tya too. Oh my God, my God. What torture! Why? What for? [Weeps].

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [at the door] Alexander Petr vich, go home! I am not going. [To his wife] Very well, I will stay. [Takes off his overcoat].

MARY IV NOVNA [embracing him] We have not much longer to live. Don't let us spoil everything after twenty-eight years of life together. Well, I'll give no more parties; but do not punish me so.

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. A child, a regular child; or a cunning woman? No, a cunning child. Yes, yes. It seems Thou dost not wish me to be Thy servant in this Thy work. Thou wishest me to be humiliated, so that everyone may point his finger at me and say, "He preaches, but he does not perform." Well, let them! Thou knowest best what Thou requirest: submission, humility! Ah, if I could but rise to that height!

LISA [reading] "I write to beg you to communicate this to Nicholas Iv novich. I greatly regret the error which led me openly to stray from the Holy Orthodox Church, to which I rejoice to have now returned. I hope you and Nicholas Iv novich will follow the same path. Please forgive me!"

LISA. I also came to tell you that the Princess is here. She came upstairs to me in a dreadfully excited state and is determined to see you. She has just been to see Bor s. I think you had better not see her. What good can it do for her to see you?

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH [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.

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 IV NOVICH. 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. Sar ntsov, 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.

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!

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Not I, but God. And God knows how sorry I am for you. Do not resist this will. He wants to test you. Bear the trial meekly.

PRINCESS. I cannot bear it meekly. My whole life was wrapped up in my son; and you have taken him from me and ruined him. I cannot be calm. I have come to you-it is my last attempt to tell you that you have ruined him and that it is for you to save him. Go and prevail on them to set him free. Go and see the Governor-General, the Emperor, or whom you please. It is your duty to do it. If you don't do it, I know what I shall do. You will have to answer to me for it!

NICHOLAS IV NOVICH. Vas ly Nikon rovich has recanted. I have ruined Bor s. Ly ba is getting married. Can it be that I have been mistaken? Mistaken in believing in Thee? No! Father help me!

In the 1600s, Balthasar Gracian, a jesuit priest wrote 300 aphorisms on living life called "The Art of Worldly Wisdom." Join our newsletter below and read them all, one at a time.