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The Live Corpse, a play by Leo Tolstoy |
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Act 6 Scene 1 |
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_ ACT VI SCENE I [The room of an Examining Magistrate, who sits at a table talking to Melnikov. At a side table a clerk is sorting papers.] EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. But I never said anything of the kind to her. She invented it, and now reproaches me. MELNIKOV. She does not reproach you, but is grieved. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. All right, I'll come to dinner. But now I have a very interesting case on. [To Clerk] Ask her in. CLERK. Shall I ask them both? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE [finishes his cigarette and hides it] No, only Mrs. Karenina, or rather--by her first husband--Protasova. MELNIKOV [going out] Ah, Karenina! EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Yes, it's a nasty affair. It's true I am only beginning to look into it, but it's a bad business. Well, good-bye! [Exit Melnikov]. [Enter Lisa, in black and veiled.] EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Take a seat, please. [Points to a chair] Believe me, I much regret to have to question you, but we are under the necessity ... Please be calm, and remember that you need not answer my questions. Only, in my opinion, for your own sake--and in fact for everybody's sake--the truth is best. It is always best, even practically. LISA. I have nothing to conceal. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Well then [looks at paper]--your name, position, religion--all that I have put down. Is it correct? LISA. Yes. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. You are accused of contracting a marriage with another man, knowing your husband to be alive. LISA. I did not know it. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. And also of having persuaded your husband, and bribed him with money, to commit a fraud--a pretended suicide--in order to free yourself of him. LISA. That is all untrue. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Well then, allow me to put a few questions. Did you send him 1,200 roubles in July of last year? LISA. It was his own money, the proceeds of the sale of some things of his. At the time I parted from him, and when I was expecting a divorce, I sent him the money. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Just so! Very well. That money was sent to him on the 17th of July, two days before his disappearance? LISA. I think it was on the 17th, but I don't remember. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. And why was the application to the Consistorium for a divorce withdrawn, just at that time--and the lawyer told not to proceed with the case? LISA. I don't know. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Well, and when the police asked you to identify the body, how was it you recognised it as your husband's? LISA. I was so excited that I did not look at the body, and I felt so sure it was he, that when they asked me I answered, "I think it is he." EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Yes, you did not see well, in consequence of a very natural excitement. And now may I ask why you have sent a monthly remittance to Saratov, the very town where your first husband was living? LISA. My husband sent that money, and I cannot say what it was for, as that is not my secret. But it was not sent to Theodore Vasilyevich, for we were firmly convinced of his death. That I can say for certain.[26] [NOTE 26: Had Tolstoy lived to give a final revision to this play, he would probably have made it clearer that Karenin sent a monthly payment to the clockmaker Evgenyev, in response to the request contained in the last letter Fedya addressed to Lisa and himself; and that this money found its way to Fedya.] EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Very well. Only allow me to remark, madam, that the fact of our being servants of the law does not prevent our being men; and believe me I quite understand your position and sympathise with you! You were tied to a man who squandered your property, was unfaithful--in short, brought misfortune.... LISA. I loved him. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Yes; but still the desire to free yourself was natural, and you chose this simpler way, without realising that it would lead you into what is considered a crime--bigamy! I quite understand it. The judges will understand too; and therefore I advise you to confess everything. LISA. I have nothing to confess. I have never lied. [Cries] Do you want me any longer? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I must ask you to remain here. I will not trouble you with any more questions. Only kindly read this over and sign it. It is your deposition. See whether your answers have been correctly taken down. Please take that seat. [Points to an armchair by the window. To Clerk] Ask Mr. Karenin to come in. [Enter Karenin, stern and solemn.] EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Please take a seat. KARENIN. Thank you! [Remains standing] What do you want of me? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I have to take your deposition. KARENIN. In what capacity? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE [smiling] I, in the capacity of Examining Magistrate, am obliged to question you in the capacity of an accused person. KARENIN. Indeed! Accused of what? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Of marrying a woman whose husband was alive. However, allow me to question you properly. Kindly sit down. KARENIN. Thank you. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Your name? KARENIN. Victor Karenin. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Your calling? KARENIN. Chamberlain and Member of Council. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Age? KARENIN. Thirty-eight. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Religion? KARENIN. Orthodox; and I have never before been tried or questioned! Well? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Did you know that Theodore Vasilyevich Protasov was alive when you married his wife? KARENIN. I did not know it. We were both convinced that he was drowned. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. After Protasov's alleged death, to whom in Saratov did you send a monthly remittance? KARENIN. I do not wish to reply to that question. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Very well. Why did you send money--1,200 roubles--to Mr. Protasov just before his pretended death on 17th July? KARENIN. That money was given to me by my wife ... EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. By Mrs. Protasova? KARENIN. ... by my wife, to send to her husband. She considered that money to be his, and having severed all connection with him, considered it unfair to keep it. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. One more question--why did you withdraw the application for divorce? KARENIN. Because Theodore Vasilyevich undertook to apply for a divorce, and wrote me about it. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Have you got his letter? KARENIN. It has been lost.[27] [NOTE 27: Karenin does not produce Fedya's letter because it would have proved connivance in the divorce proceedings.] EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. It is strange that everything which might convince the Court of the truth of your evidence should either be lost or non-existent. KARENIN. Do you want anything more? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I want nothing, except to do my duty; but you'll have to exonerate yourselves, and I have just advised Mrs. Protasova, and I advise you also, not to try to hide what everyone can see, but to say what really happened. Especially as Mr. Protasov is in such a condition that he has already told everything just as it happened, and will probably do the same in Court, I should advise ... KARENIN. I request you to keep within the limits of your duty, and not to give me your advice! May we go? [Approaches Lisa, who rises and takes his arm]. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I am very sorry to be obliged to detain you ... [Karenin looks round in astonishment] Oh, I don't mean that I arrest you. Though that would make it easier to get at the truth, I shall not resort to such a measure. I only want to take Protasov's deposition in your presence, and to confront him with you--which will make it easier for you to detect any falsehood in what he says. Please take a seat. Call in Mr. Protasov! [Enter Fedya, dirty and shabby.] FEDYA [addresses Lisa and Karenin] Lisa! Elisabeth Andreyevna! Victor! I am not guilty! I wished to act for the best. But if I am guilty ... forgive me, forgive me! [Bows low to them]. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Please to answer my questions. FEDYA. Ask, then. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Your name? FEDYA. Why, you know it! EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Please answer. FEDYA. Well then, Theodore Protasov. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Your calling, age and religion? FEDYA [after a pause] Aren't you ashamed to ask such nonsense? Ask what you want to know, and not such rubbish! EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I beg you to be more careful in your expressions, and to answer my questions! FEDYA. Well, if you're not ashamed of it, here you are: Calling, graduate; age, forty; religion, Orthodox. What next! EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Did Mr. Karenin and your wife know that you were alive when you left your clothes on the river bank and disappeared? FEDYA. Certainly not! I wished really to commit suicide, but afterwards--but there's no need to go into that. The thing is, that they knew nothing about it. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. How is it that you gave a different account to the police officer? FEDYA. What police officer? Oh, when he came to see me at the dosshouse? I was drunk, and was romancing. I don't remember what I said. All that was rubbish. Now I am not drunk, and am telling the whole truth! They knew nothing. They believed that I was no longer alive, and I was glad of it. And everything would have gone on as it was, but for that rascal, Artemyev! If anyone is guilty, it is I alone. EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I understand your wish to be magnanimous, but the law demands the truth. Why was money sent to you? [Fedya is silent.] You received through SemyOnov the money sent to you in Saratov? [Fedya is silent.] Why don't you answer? It will be put down in the depositions that the accused did not answer these questions, and this may harm you and them very much. Well then, how was it? FEDYA [after a pause] Oh, Mr. Magistrate, how is it you are not ashamed! Why do you pry into other people's lives? You are glad to have power, and to show it, you torment not physically but morally--torment people a thousand times better than yourself! EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I beg ... FEDYA. You've nothing to beg! I shall say what I think, and you [to Clerk] write it down! At least for once there will be sensible human words in a police report! [Raises his voice] There are three people: I, he, and she. Our relations to one another are complex--a spiritual struggle such as you know nothing of, a struggle between good and evil goes on. That struggle ends in a manner which sets them free. They were all at peace. They were happy, and remembered me with affection. I, fallen as I was, was glad that I had acted as I ought, and that I, a good-for-nothing, had gone out of their lives, so as not to stand in the way of people who were good and who had life before them. And so we were all living, when suddenly a blackmailing scoundrel appears who wants me to take part in his rascality, and I send him about his business. Then he comes to you, to the champion of Justice! The guardian of Morality! And you, who receive each month a few pounds for doing your dirty work, put on your uniform, and calmly bully these people--bully people whose little finger is worth more than your whole body and soul! People who would not admit you to their anteroom! But you have got so far, and are pleased ... EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. I shall have you turned out! FEDYA. I'm not afraid of anyone, because I'm a corpse and you can't do me any harm. No position could be worse than mine! So turn me out! KARENIN. May we go? EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Immediately, but first sign your deposition. FEDYA. You'd be quite comic, if you weren't so vile! EXAMINING MAGISTRATE. Take him away! I arrest you. FEDYA [to Lisa and Karenin] Forgive me! KARENIN [approaches and holds out his hand] It had to happen! Lisa passes by. Fedya bows low to her. [Curtain.] _ |
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