The Lower Depths

PEPEL. Just what I said: honor and conscience are for the rich – right! And Kleshtch is upbraiding us because we haven’t any!

BUBNOFF. Why – did he want to borrow some of it?

PEPEL. No – he has plenty of his own.

BUBNOFF. Oh – are you selling it? You won’t sell much around here. But if you had some old boxes, I’d buy them – on credit.

PEPEL [didactically] You’re a jackass, Andrushka! On the subject of conscience you ought to hear Satine – or the Baron.

KLESHTCH. I’ve nothing to talk to them about!

PEPEL. They have more brains than you – even if they’re drunkards.

BUBNOFF. He who can be drunk and wise at the same time is doubly blessed.

PEPEL. Satine says every man expects his neighbor to have a conscience, but – you see – it isn’t to any one’s advantage to have one – that’s a fact.

[Natasha enters, followed by Luka who carries a stick in his hand, a bundle on his back, a kettle and a teapot slung from his belt.]

LUKA. How are you, honest folks?

PEPEL [twisting his mustache] Aha – Natasha!

BUBNOFF [to Luka] I was honest – up to spring before last.

NATASHA. Here’s a new lodger.

LUKA. Oh, it’s all the same to me. Crooks – I don’t mind them, either. For my part there’s no bad flea – they’re all black – and they all jump – .. Well, dearie, show me where I can stow myself.

NATASHA [pointing to kitchen door] Go in there, grand-dad.

LUKA. Thanks, girlie! One place is like another – as long as an old fellow keeps warm, he keeps happy.

PEPEL. What an amusing old codger you brought in, Natasha!

NATASHA. A hanged sight more interesting than you!.. Andrei, your wife’s in the kitchen with us – come and fetch her after a while.

KLESHTCH. All right – I will.

NATASHA. And be a little more kind to her – you know she won’t last much longer.

KLESHTCH. I know.

NATASHA. Knowing won’t do any good – it’s terrible – dying – don’t you understand?

PEPEL. Well – look at me – I’m not afraid.

NATASHA. Oh – you’re a wonder, aren’t you?

BUBNOFF [whistling] Oh – this thread’s rotten.

PEPEL. Honestly, I’m not afraid! I’m ready to die right now. Knife me to the heart – and I’ll die without making a sound.. even gladly – from such a pure hand.

NATASHA [going out] Spin that yarn for some one else!

BUBNOFF. Oh – that thread is rotten – rotten —

NATASHA [at hallway door] Don’t forget your wife, Andrei!

KLESHTCH. All right.

PEPEL. She’s a wonderful girl!

BUBNOFF. She’s all right.

PEPEL. What makes her so curt with me? Anyway – she’ll come to no good here.

BUBNOFF. Through you – sure!

PEPEL. Why through me? I feel sorry for her.

BUBNOFF. As the wolf for the lamb!

PEPEL. You lie! I feel very sorry for her.. very.. very sorry! She has a tough life here – I can see that.

KLESHTCH. Just wait till Vassilisa catches you talking to her!

BUBNOFF. Vassilisa? She won’t give up so easily what belongs to her – she’s a cruel woman!

PEPEL [stretching himself on the bunk] You two prophets can go to hell!

KLESHTCH. Just wait – you’ll see!

LUKA [singing in the kitchen] “In the dark of the night the way is black.”

KLESHTCH. Another one who yelps!

PEPEL. It’s dreary! Why do I feel so dreary? You live – and everything seems all right. But suddenly a cold chill goes through you – and then everything gets dreary.

BUBNOFF. Dreary? Hm-hm —

PEPEL. Yes – yes —

LUKA [sings] “The way is black.”

PEPEL. Old fellow! Hey there!

LUKA [looking from kitchen door] You call me?

PEPEL. Yes. Don’t sing!

LUKA [coming in] You don’t like it?

PEPEL. When people sing well I like it —

LUKA. In other words – I don’t sing well?

PEPEL. Evidently!

LUKA. Well, well – and I thought I sang well. That’s always the way: a man imagines there’s one thing he can do well, and suddenly he finds out that other people don’t think so.

PEPEL [laughs] That’s right.

BUBNOFF. First you say you feel dreary – and then you laugh!

PEPEL. None of your business, raven!

LUKA. Who do they say feels dreary?

PEPEL. I do.

[The Baron enters.]

LUKA. Well, well – out there in the kitchen there’s a girl reading and crying! That’s so! Her eyes are wet with tears.. I say to her: “What’s the matter, darling?” And she says: “It’s so sad!” “What’s so sad?” say I. “The book!” says she. – And that’s how people spend their time. Just because they’re bored.

THE BARON. She’s a fool!

PEPEL. Have you had tea, Baron?

THE BARON. Yes. Go on!

PEPEL. Well – want me to open a bottle?

THE BARON. Of course. Go on!

PEPEL. Drop on all fours, and bark like a dog!

THE BARON. Fool! What’s the matter with you? Are you drunk?

PEPEL. Go on – bark a little! It’ll amuse me. You’re an aristocrat. You didn’t even consider us human formerly, did you?

THE BARON. Go on!

PEPEL. Well – and now I am making you bark like a dog – and you will bark, won’t you?

THE BARON. All right. I will. You jackass! What pleasure can you derive from it since I myself know that I have sunk almost lower than you. You should have made me drop on all fours in the days when I was still above you.

BUBNOFF. That’s right.

LUKA. I say so, too!

BUBNOFF. What’s over, is over. Remain only trivialities. We know no class distinctions here. We’ve shed all pride and self-respect. Blood and bone – man – just plain man – that’s what we are!

LUKA. In other words, we’re all equal.. and you, friend, were you really a Baron?

THE BARON. Who are you? A ghost?

LUKA [laughing] I’ve seen counts and princes in my day – this is the first time I meet a baron – and one who’s decaying – at that!

PEPEL [laughing] Baron, I blush for you!

THE BARON. It’s time you knew better, Vassily.

LUKA. Hey-hey – I look at you, brothers – the life you’re leading.

BUBNOFF. Such a life! As soon as the sun rises, our voices rise, too – in quarrels!

THE BARON. We’ve all seen better days – yes! I used to wake up in the morning and drink my coffee in bed – coffee – with cream! Yes —

LUKA. And yet we’re all human beings. Pretend all you want to, put on all the airs you wish, but man you were born, and man you must die. And as I watch I see that the wiser people get, the busier they get – and though from bad to worse, they still strive to improve – stubbornly —

THE BARON. Who are you, old fellow? Where do you come from?

LUKA. I?

THE BARON. Are you a tramp?

LUKA. We’re all of us tramps – why – I’ve heard said that the very earth we walk on is nothing but a tramp in the universe.

THE BARON [severely] Perhaps. But have you a passport?

LUKA [after a short pause] And what are you – a police inspector?

PEPEL [delighted] You scored, old fellow! Well, Barosha, you got it this time!

BUBNOFF. Yes – our little aristocrat got his!

THE BARON [embarrassed] What’s the matter? I was only joking, old man. Why, brother, I haven’t a passport, either.

BUBNOFF. You lie!

THE BARON. Oh – well – I have some sort of papers – but they have no value —

LUKA. They’re papers just the same – and no papers are any good —

PEPEL. Baron – come on to the saloon with me —

THE BARON. I’m ready. Good-bye, old man – you old scamp —

LUKA. Maybe I am one, brother —

PEPEL [near doorway] Come on – come on!

[Leaves, Baron following him quickly.]

LUKA. Was he really once a Baron?

BUBNOFF. Who knows? A gentleman – ? Yes. That much he’s even now. Occasionally it sticks out. He never got rid of the habit.

LUKA. Nobility is like small-pox. A man may get over it – but it leaves marks.

BUBNOFF. He’s all right all the same – occasionally he kicks – as he did about your passport.

[Alyoshka comes in, slightly drunk, with a concertina in his hand, whistling.]

ALYOSHKA. Hey there, lodgers!

BUBNOFF. What are you yelling for?

ALYOSHKA. Excuse me – I beg your pardon! I’m a well-bred man —

BUBNOFF. On a spree again?

ALYOSHKA. Right you are! A moment ago Medyakin, the precinct captain, threw me out of the police station and said: “Look here – I don’t want as much as a smell of you to stay in the streets – d’you hear?” I’m a man of principles, and the boss croaks at me – and what’s a boss anyway – pah! – it’s all bosh – the boss is a drunkard. I don’t make any demands on life. I want nothing – that’s all. Offer me one ruble, offer me twenty – it doesn’t affect me. [Nastya comes from the kitchen] Offer me a million – I won’t take it! And to think that I, a respectable man, should be ordered about by a pal of mine – and he a drunkard! I won’t have it – I won’t!

[Nastya stands in the doorway, shaking her head at Alyoshka.]

LUKA [good-naturedly] Well, boy, you’re a bit confused —

BUBNOFF. Aren’t men fools!

ALYOSHKA [stretches out on the floor] Here, eat me up alive – and I don’t want anything. I’m a desperate man. Show me one better! Why am I worse than others? There! Medyakin said: “If you show yourself on the streets I smash your face!” And yet I shall go out – I’ll go – and stretch out in the middle of the street – let them choke me – I don’t want a thing!

NASTYA. Poor fellow – only a boy – and he’s already putting on such airs —

ALYOSHKA [kneeling before her] Lady! Mademoiselle! Parlez français – ? Prix courrant? I’m on a spree —

NASTYA [in a loud whisper] Vassilisa!

VASSILISA [opens door quickly; to Alyoshka

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