Chapter 50

ARÍNA _and_ PELAGÉYA EGÓROVNA

PELAGÉYA EGÓROVNA. Come along, Arinushka, and help me to get the table ready. Yes, I'll sit down and rest--I'm tired.

ARÍNA. Of course you are tired, my dear! Day in, day out, on your feet! You aren't as young as you were once!

PELAGÉYA EGÓROVNA. [_Seating herself on the sofa_] Oh! Tell them to send the big samovar to the maids' room--the very biggest; and find Annushka and send her to me.

ARÍNA. Certainly, certainly.

PELAGÉYA EGÓROVNA. Yes, go along! Go along! Oh, I can't stand it! [ARÍNA _goes out_] My head's fairly splitting! Nothing but sorrow--and here comes more trouble! Yes, yes, I'm worried to death! Oh, oh, oh! I'm tired out, absolutely tired out! I've a lot to do, and my head's just spinning. I'm needed here, and I'm needed there, and I don't know what to begin on! Really--yes--[_Sits and tries to think_] What a husband for her! What a husband! Oh, oh, oh! How can you expect her to love him! Do you think she is hankering after his money? She is a girl now--in the bloom of youth--and I suppose her heart beats now and then! What she ought to have now is a man she can love--even if he's poor--that would be life! That would be paradise!

ANNA IVÁNOVNA _comes in._