NADYA.  And now let’s sit this way and talk.

LEONID.  What are we going to talk about?  I shall say only one thing to you: 
I love you.

NADYA.  You will say it, and I shall listen.

LEONID.  You’ll get tired of one and the same thing.

NADYA.  Maybe you’ll get tired of it; I never shall.

LEONID.  Then let me speak.  I love you, little Nadya. [He rises and kisses her.

NADYA.  Why do you do that?  Just sit quietly, as we said we would.

LEONID.  Shall we sit like this, with our hands folded?

NADYA. [Laughing] Like that.  Hear, a nightingale is singing in the thicket.  Sit down and listen.  How nice it is to listen!

LEONID.  Like this?

NADYA.  Yes, as we sit together.  It seems as if I could sit here all my life and listen.  What could be better, what more could one want?....

LEONID.  Nadya, dear, that would really be a bore.

NADYA.  What fellows you men are!  You get sick of things in no time.  But I, you see, am ready to sit out the whole night, to look at you, without lowering my eyes.  It seems as if I should forget the whole world!

Tears start in her eyes, she bends her head, and then looks at LEONID fixedly and musingly.

LEONID.  Now it would be nice to go rowing; it is warm, the moon is shining.

NADYA. [Absently and almost mechanically] What is it, sir?

LEONID.  To go rowing; I should row you out to the little island.  It is so pleasant there, on the island.  Well, let’s go. [He takes her by the hand.

NADYA. [In a revery] Where, sir?

LEONID.  Where, where?  I told you; didn’t you hear me?

NADYA.  Oh, forgive me, dearest master.  I was thinking and didn’t hear anything.  Dearest master, forgive me!

[She lays her head upon his shoulder.

LEONID.  I say, let’s go to the island.

NADYA. [Nestling up to him] Oh, wherever you please!  Even to the end of the world!  If only with you....  Take me wherever you want.

LEONID.  Nadya, you are so good, so sweet, that it seems as if I must burst out crying, just to look at you. [They approach the boat] Good-by, Liza.

LIZA. [Coming from the bushes, she makes a warning gesture] Look out, you two! [LEONID and NADYA sit down in the boat and move away] There, they’ve gone!  And I must wait here for them!  This is awful, simply awful!  At night, in the garden, and all alone, too!  What a fix for me—­afraid of everything, and.... [She glances about her] Heavens, this is deadly!  If there were only somebody here, it would be all right, I’d have somebody to talk to.  Holy Saints!  Somebody’s coming! [She looks] Oh, all right; just our old folks from the fair. [She hides herself.

SCENE III