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  [ Transcriber's Note:
    This e-book belongs to Tolstoy's Plays (Complete Edition). The
    front matter, including the table of contents, can be found in
    e-book #26660; it lists the other plays in the collection.

    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
    possible; changes (corrections of spelling and punctuation) made to
    the original text are listed at the end of this file.
  ]




                      THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS

                                 DRAMA




CHARACTERS


NICHOLAS IVÁNOVICH SARÝNTSOV.

MARY IVÁNOVNA SARÝNTSOVA. His wife.

LYÚBA. Their daughter.

STYÓPA. Their son.

VÁNYA. A younger son.

MISSY. Their daughter.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' LITTLE CHILDREN.

ALEXANDER MIKÁYLOVICH STARKÓVSKY. (Lyúba's betrothed in Act IV).

MITROFÁN ERMÍLYCH. Ványa's tutor.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' GOVERNESS.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA KÓHOVTSEVA. Mary Ivánovna's sister.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH KÓHOVTSEV. Her husband.

LISA. Their daughter.

PRINCESS CHEREMSHÁNOV.

BORÍS. Her son.

TÓNYA. Her daughter.

A YOUNG PRIEST.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' NURSE.

THE SARÝNTSOVS' MEN-SERVANTS.

IVÁN ZYÁBREV. A peasant.

A PEASANT WOMAN. His wife.

MALÁSHKA. His daughter (carrying her baby-brother).

PETER. A peasant.

A RURAL POLICEMAN.

FATHER GERÁSIM. A priest.

A NOTARY.

A CARPENTER.

A GENERAL.

HIS ADJUTANT.

A COLONEL.

A REGIMENTAL CLERK.

A SENTINEL.

TWO SOLDIERS.

A GENDARME OFFICER.

HIS CLERK.

THE CHAPLAIN OF THE REGIMENT.

THE CHIEF DOCTOR IN A MILITARY ASYLUM.

AN ASSISTANT DOCTOR.

WARDERS.

AN INVALID OFFICER.

PIANIST.

COUNTESS.

ALEXANDER PETRÓVICH.

PEASANT MEN AND WOMEN, STUDENTS, LADIES, DANCING COUPLES.




                      THE LIGHT SHINES IN DARKNESS




ACT I


SCENE 1

    The scene represents the verandah of a fine country-house, in front
    of which a croquet-lawn and tennis-court are shown, also a
    flower-bed. The children are playing croquet with their governess.
    Mary Ivánovna Sarýntsova, a handsome elegant woman of forty; her
    sister, Alexándra Ivánovna Kóhovtseva, a stupid, determined woman of
    forty-five; and her husband, Peter Semyónovich Kóhovtsef, a fat
    flabby man, dressed in a summer suit, with a pince-nez, are sitting
    on the verandah at a table with a samovár and coffee-pot. Mary
    Ivánovna Sarýntsova, Alexándra Ivánovna Kóhovtseva, and Peter
    Semyónovich Kóhovtsev are drinking coffee, and the latter is
    smoking.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. If you were not my sister, but a stranger, and
Nicholas Ivánovich not your husband, but merely an acquaintance, I
should think all this very original, and perhaps I might even encourage
him, _J'aurais trouvé tout ça très gentil_;[1] but when I see that
_your_ husband is playing the fool--yes, simply playing the fool--then I
can't help telling you what I think about it. And I shall tell your
husband, Nicholas, too. _Je lui dirai son fait, ma chère._[2] I am not
afraid of anyone.

  [1] I should have considered it all very pretty.

  [2] I will tell him the plain fact, my dear.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. I don't feel the least bit hurt; don't I see it all
myself? but I don't think it so very important.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. No. You don't think so, but I tell you that, if you
let it go on, you will be beggared. _Du train que cela va ..._[3]

  [3] At the rate things are going.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Come! Beggared indeed! Not with an income like
theirs.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. Yes, beggared! And please don't interrupt me, my
dear! Anything a _man_ does always seems right to you!

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. Oh! I don't know. I was saying----

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But you never do know what you are saying, because
when you men begin playing the fool, _il n'y a pas de raison que ça
finisse_.[4] I am only saying that if I were in your place, I should not
allow it. _J'aurais mis bon ordre à toutes ces lubies._[5] What does it
all mean? A husband, the head of a family, has no occupation, abandons
everything, gives everything away, _et fait le généreux à droite et à
gauche_.[6] I know how it will end! _Nous en savons quelque chose._[7]

  [4] There is no reason for it to stop.

  [5] I should put an end to all these fads.

  [6] And plays the bountiful left and right.

  [7] We know something about it.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH [to Mary Ivánovna]. But do explain to me, Mary, what
is this new movement? Of course I understand Liberalism, County
Councils, the Constitution, schools, reading-rooms, and _tout ce qui
s'en suit_;[8] as well as Socialism, strikes, and an eight-hour day; but
what is this? Explain it to me.

  [8] All the rest of it.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. But he told you about it yesterday.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. I confess I did not understand. The Gospels, the
Sermon on the Mount--and that churches are unnecessary! But then how is
one to pray, and all that?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. Yes. That is the worst of it. He would destroy
everything, and give us nothing in its place.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. How did it begin?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. It began last year, after his sister died. He was very
fond of her, and her death had a very great effect on him. He became
quite morose, and was always talking about death; and then, you know, he
fell ill himself with typhus. When he recovered, he was quite a changed
man.

ALEXÁNDRA IVÁNOVNA. But, all the same, he came in spring to see us again
in Moscow, and was very nice, and played bridge. _Il était très gentil
et comme tout le monde._[9]

  [9] He was very nice, and like everybody else.

MARY IVÁNOVNA. But, all the same, he was then quite changed.

PETER SEMYÓNOVICH. In what way?

MARY IVÁNOVNA. He was completely indifferent to his family, and purely
and simply had _l'idée fixe_. He read the Gospels for days on end, and
did not sleep. He used to get up at night to read, made notes and
extracts, and then began going to see bishops