Act IV - Page 2

shan't leave you until you have returned what you took from me.

VOITSKI
I took nothing from you.

ASTROFF
I am not jesting, don't detain me, I really must go.

VOITSKI
I took nothing of yours.

ASTROFF
You didn't? Very well, I shall have to wait a little longer, and then you will have to forgive me if I resort to force. We shall have to bind you and search you. I mean what I say.

VOITSKI
Do as you please. [A pause] Oh, to make such a fool of myself! To shoot twice and miss him both times! I shall never forgive myself.

ASTROFF
When the impulse came to shoot, it would have been as well had you put a bullet through your own head.

VOITSKI
[Shrugging his shoulders] Strange! I attempted murder, and am not going to be arrested or brought to trial. That means they think me mad. [With a bitter laugh] Me! I am mad, and those who hide their worthlessness, their dullness, their crying he artlessness behind a professor's mask, are sane! Those who marry old men and then deceive them under the noses of all, are sane! I saw you kiss her; I saw you in each other's arms!

ASTROFF
Yes, sir, I did kiss her; so there. [He puts his thumb to his nose.]

VOITSKI
[His eyes on the door] No, it is the earth that is mad, because she still bears us on her breast.

ASTROFF
That is nonsense.

VOITSKI
Well? Am I not a madman, and therefore irresponsible? Haven't I the right to talk nonsense?

ASTROFF
This is a farce! You are not mad; you are simply a ridiculous fool. I used to think every fool was out of his senses, but now I see that lack of sense is a man's normal state, and you are perfectly normal.

VOITSKI
[Covers his face with his hands] Oh! If you knew how ashamed I am! These piercing pangs of shame are like nothing on earth. [In an agonised voice] I can't endure them! [He leans against the table] What can I do? What can I do?

ASTROFF
Nothing.

VOITSKI
You must tell me something! Oh, my God! I am forty-seven years old. I may live to sixty; I still have thirteen years before me; an eternity! How shall I be able to endure life for thirteen years? What shall I do? How can I fill them? Oh, don't you see? [He presses ASTROFF'S hand convulsively] Don't you see, if only I could live the rest of my life in some new way! If I could only wake some still, bright morning and feel that life had begun again; that the past was forgotten and had vanished like smoke. [He weeps] Oh, to begin life anew! Tell me, tell me how to begin.

ASTROFF
[Crossly] What nonsense! What sort of a new life can you and I look forward to? We can have no hope.

VOITSKI
None?

ASTROFF
None. Of that I am convinced.

VOITSKI
Tell me what to do. [He puts his hand to his heart] I feel such a burning pain here.