s busy packing.

ARKADINA. Stay here at home, you poor old man. How could you pay visits
with that rheumatism of yours? [To TRIGORIN] Who left the room just now,
was it Nina?

TRIGORIN. Yes.

ARKADINA. I beg your pardon; I am afraid we interrupted you. [She sits
down] I think everything is packed. I am absolutely exhausted.

TRIGORIN. [Reading the inscription on the medallion] "Days and Nights,
page 121, lines 11 and 12."

JACOB. [Clearing the table] Shall I pack your fishing-rods, too, sir?

TRIGORIN. Yes, I shall need them, but you can give my books away.

JACOB. Very well, sir.

TRIGORIN. [To himself] Page 121, lines 11 and 12. [To ARKADINA] Have we
my books here in the house?

ARKADINA. Yes, they are in my brother's library, in the corner cupboard.

TRIGORIN. Page 121--[He goes out.]

SORIN. You are going away, and I shall be lonely without you.

ARKADINA. What would you do in town?

SORIN. Oh, nothing in particular, but somehow--[He laughs] They are soon
to lay the corner-stone of the new court-house here. How I should like
to leap out of this minnow-pond, if but for an hour or two! I am tired
of lying here like an old cigarette stump. I have ordered the carriage
for one o'clock. We can go away together.

ARKADINA. [After a pause] No, you must stay here. Don't be lonely, and
don't catch cold. Keep an eye on my boy. Take good care of him; guide
him along the proper paths. [A pause] I am going away, and so shall
never find out why Constantine shot himself, but I think the chief
reason was jealousy, and the sooner I take Trigorin away, the better.

SORIN. There were--how shall I explain it to you?--other reasons besides
jealousy for his act. Here is a clever young chap living in the depths
of the country, without money or position, with no future ahead of him,
and with nothing to do. He is ashamed and afraid of being so idle. I am
devoted to him and he is fond of me, but nevertheless he feels that he
is useless here, that he is little more than a dependent in this house.
It is the pride in him.

ARKADINA. He is a misery to me! [Thoughtfully] He might possibly enter
the army.

SORIN. [Gives a whistle, and then speaks with hesitation] It seems to
me that the best thing for him would be if you were to let him have
a little money. For one thing, he ought to be allowed to dress like a
human being. See how he looks! Wearing the same little old coat that
he has had for three years, and he doesn't even po