The Lower Depths

NATASHA. Sh-sh! Anna!

ZOB. We’ve heard – God rest her soul.

THE TARTAR [to Kleshtch] We must take her out of here. Out into the hall! This is no place for corpses – but for the living.

KLESHTCH [quietly] We’ll take her out —

[Everybody goes to the bed, Kleshtch looks at his wife ever the others’ shoulders.]

ZOB [to the Tartar] You think she’ll smell? I don’t think she will – she dried up while she was still alive.

NATASHA. God! If they’d only a little pity.. if only some one would say a kindly word – oh, you.

LUKA. Don’t be hurt, girl – never mind! Why and how should we pity the dead? Come, dear! We don’t pity the living – we can’t even pity our own selves – how can we?

BUBNOFF [yawning] And, besides, when you’re dead, no word will help you – when you’re still alive, even sick, it may..

THE TARTAR [stepping aside] The police must be notified.

ZOB. The police – must be done! Kleshtch! Did you notify the police?

KLESHTCH. No – she’s got to be buried – and all I have is forty kopecks —

ZOB. Well – you’ll have to borrow then – otherwise we’ll take up a collection.. one’ll give five kopecks, others as much as they can. But the police must be notified at once – or they’ll think you killed her or God knows what not.

[Crosses to the Tartar’s bunk and prepares to lie down by his side.]

NATASHA [going to Bubnoff’s bunk] Now – I’ll dream of her.. I always dream of the dead.. I’m afraid to go out into the hall by myself – it’s dark there.

LUKA [following her] You better fear the living – I’m telling you.

NATASHA. Take me across the hall, grandfather.

LUKA. Come on – come on – I’ll take you across —

[They go away. Pause.]

ZOB [to the Tartar] Oh-ho! Spring will soon be here, little brother, and it’ll be quite warm. In the villages the peasants are already making ready their ploughs and harrows, preparing to till.. and we.. Hassan? Snoring already? Damned Mohammedan!

BUBNOFF. Tartars love sleep!

KLESHTCH [in centre of room, staring in front of him] What am I to do now?

ZOB. Lie down and sleep – that’s all.

KLESHTCH [softly] But – she.. how about.

[No one answers him. Satine and the Actor enter.]

THE ACTOR [yelling] Old man! Come here, my trusted Duke of Kent!

SATINE. Miklookha-Maklai is coming – ho-ho!

THE ACTOR. It has been decided upon! Old man, where’s the town – where are you?

SATINE. Fata Morgana, the old man bilked you from top to bottom! There’s nothing – no towns – no people – nothing at all!

THE ACTOR. You lie!

THE TARTAR [jumping up] Where’s the boss? I’m going to the boss. If I can’t sleep, I won’t pay! Corpses – drunkards.. [Exit quickly]

[Satine looks after him and whistles.]

BUBNOFF [in a sleepy voice] Go to bed, boys – be quiet.. night is for sleep.

THE ACTOR. Yes – so – there’s a corpse here… “Our net fished up a corpse..” Verses – by Béranger..

SATINE [screams] The dead can’t hear.. the dead do not feel – Scream! – Roar!.. the dead don’t hear!

[In the doorway appears Luka.]

CURTAIN

ACT THREE

“The Waste,” a yard strewn with rubbish and overgrown with weeds. Back, a high brick wall which shuts out the sight of the sky. Near it are elder bushes. Right, the dark, wooden wall of some sort of house, barn or stable. Left, the grey, tumbledown wall of Kostilyoff’s night asylum. It is built at an angle so that the further corner reaches almost to the centre of the yard. Between it and the wall runs a narrow passage. In the grey, plastered wall are two windows, one on a level with the ground, the other about six feet higher up and closer to the brick wall. Near the latter wall is a big sledge turned upside down and a beam about twelve feet long. Right of the wall is a heap of old planks. Evening. The sun is setting, throwing a crimson light on the brick wall. Early spring, the snow having only recently melted. The elder bushes are not yet in bud.

Natasha and Nastya are sitting side by side on the beam. Luka and the Baron are on the sledge. Kleshtch is stretched on the pile of planks to the right. Bubnoff’s face is at the ground floor window.

NASTYA [with closed eyes, nodding her head in rhythm to the tale she is telling in a sing-song voice] So then at night he came into the garden. I had been waiting for him quite a while. I trembled with fear and grief – he trembled, too.. he was as white as chalk – and he had the pistol in his hand.

NATASHA [chewing sun-flower seeds] Oh – are these students really such desperate fellows.. ?

NASTYA. And he says to me in a dreadful voice: “My precious darling.”

BUBNOFF. Ho-ho! Precious – ?

THE BARON. Shut up! If you don’t like it, you can lump it! But don’t interrupt her… Go on.

NASTYA. “My one and only love,” he says, “my parents,” he says, “refuse to give their consent to our wedding – and threaten to disown me because of my love for you. Therefore,” he says, “I must take my life.” And his pistol was huge – and loaded with ten bullets.. “Farewell,” he says, “beloved comrade! I have made up my mind for good and all.. I can’t live without you.” and I replied: “My unforgettable friend – my Raoul..”

BUBNOFF [surprised] What? What? Krawl – did you call him – ?

THE BARON. Nastka! But last time his name was Gaston..

NASTYA [jumping up] Shut up, you bastards! Ah – you lousy mongrels! You think for a moment that you can understand love – true love? My love was real honest-to-God love! [To the Baron] You good-for-nothing!.. educated, you call yourself – drinking coffee in bed, did you?

LUKA. Now, now! Wait, people! Don’t interfere! Show a little respect to your neighbors.. it isn’t the word that matters, but what’s in back of the word. That’s what matters! Go on, girl! It’s all right!