[A pause] I hear music in the house.
I must go in.

MASHA. Wait a moment.

DORN. What do you want?

MASHA. Let me tell you again. I feel like talking. [She grows more and
more excited] I do not love my father, but my heart turns to you. For
some reason, I feel with all my soul that you are near to me. Help me!
Help me, or I shall do something foolish and mock at my life, and ruin
it. I am at the end of my strength.

DORN. What is the matter? How can I help you?

MASHA. I am in agony. No one, no one can imagine how I suffer. [She lays
her head on his shoulder and speaks softly] I love Constantine.

DORN. Oh, how excitable you all are! And how much love there is about
this lake of spells! [Tenderly] But what can I do for you, my child?
What? What?

The curtain falls.

ACT II

_The lawn in front of SORIN'S house. The house stands in the background,
on a broad terrace. The lake, brightly reflecting the rays of the sun,
lies to the left. There are flower-beds here and there. It is noon;
the day is hot. ARKADINA, DORN, and MASHA are sitting on a bench on the
lawn, in the shade of an old linden. An open book is lying on DORN'S
knees_.

ARKADINA. [To MASHA] Come, get up. [They both get up] Stand beside me.
You are twenty-two and I am almost twice your age. Tell me, Doctor,
which of us is the younger looking?

DORN. You are, of course.

ARKADINA. You see! Now why is it? Because I work; my heart and mind are
always busy, whereas you never move off the same spot. You don't live.
It is a maxim of mine never to look into the future. I never admit the
thought of old age or death, and just accept what comes to me.

MASHA. I feel as if I had been in the world a thousand years, and I
trail my life behind me like an endless scarf. Often I have no desire
to live at all. Of course that is foolish. One ought to pull oneself
together and shake off such nonsense.

DORN. [Sings softly]

"Tell her, oh flowers--"

ARKADINA. And then I keep myself as correct-looking as an Englishman. I
am always well-groomed, as the saying is, and carefully dressed, with my
hair neatly arranged. Do you think I should ever permit myself to leave
the house half-dressed, with untidy hair? Certainly not! I have kept my
looks by never letting myself slump as some women do. [She puts her arms
akimbo, and walks up and down on the lawn] See me, tripping on tiptoe
like a fifteen-year-old girl.

DORN. I see. Nevertheless, I shall continue my