Act 4, Part 3 Summary

Natalya confesses to Beliayev that everything Vera said was true. She speaks at length about how she deceived them both. Her only hope for redemption is complete honesty, and she's disgusted by her behavior. She's afraid that having learned the truth, Beliayev will want to leave. She says Beliayev's silence means he doesn't love her and that she accepts that. She's also prepared to accept his departure.

Beliayev starts to leave, but then he stops and speaks incoherently about how he never believed it was possible for someone as uneducated and as ordinary as him to be loved by someone from the upper classes like her. He says that he can't leave now, no matter what she says. Natalya says that if she didn't know how honest he was, she wouldn't have believed him. She will continue to be honest about...