[Deemer]
(Ilya joins Polina in the kitchen, going quickly to the vodka bottle in the cupboard.)
POLINA: Well, there's one gentleman staying here for a change. Boris helped me with the dishes.
ILYA: Sounds like something a fancy writer would do. Women's work!
POLINA: His "work" is his art, writing.
ILYA: He hasn't done a man's work a day in his life.
POLINA: Are you a literary critic all of a sudden? Read his books before you judge him. I have - and they are wonderful. And he is a gentleman.
ILYA: He's no Tolstoy. Even the critics who like him say that.
POLINA: It's not fair to compare him to a literary lion.
ILYA: Because he comes away looking like a literary pussy cat!
POLINA: He's as good as anybody writing in Russia today. The critics say that about him, too!
ILYA: Critics, what do they know?
POLINA: Obviously not as much as Mr. Know-It-All.
ILYA: I know more than you think I know.
POLINA: You haven't even read his books.
ILYA: I wasn't talking about his books.
POLINA: What were you talking about?
ILYA: You think you fool me, but you don't.
POLINA: I see. Who is it now? You're always accusing me of being interested in some other man.
ILYA: You don't even try to hide it. Do you really think I'm that stupid?
POLINA: So who is it this time?
ILYA: You make me sick.
POLINA: Do I? You don't think so when you wake me in the middle of the night.
(He starts away.)
ILYA: I've got work to do.
POLINA: Work didn't stop you from coming in here for a drink. I don't know why you don't get fired, carrying on the way you do.
ILYA: I do the work of three men around here.
POLINA: You drink the vodka of three men, too.
ILYA: A man deserves a drink when he's as over-worked as I am.
POLINA: Over-worked! Listen to him. I'm the one who needs help. I had to
ask Irina to come to town with me today, I have so much to do.
ILYA: Well, you already got your help, didn't you? I don't see Trigorin asking if he can haul rye or groom the horses or fix the fences.
POLINA: He's on vacation.
ILYA: He's also lazy.
POLINA: As many books as he's published? Don't be ridiculous.
ILYA: Lazy to do a man's day of work. He couldn't last an hour in the fields with me.
POLINA: And I'd just like to see you try and write a novel.
ILYA: I've got stories to tell. Believe me, I do. If I had time, I could tell them, too.
POLINA: You must be drunk already.
ILYA: I don't have to listen to this.
(He starts away again.)
POLINA: One of these days you'll drink so much you get careless and hurt yourself.
ILYA: I bet you're just counting the days for that to happen.
POLINA: I'm doing no such thing.
ILYA: If you got rid of me, you think you could go to one of your fantasy men. That's what they are, just fantasies. Those that flirt back do so because they know they don't have to worry about getting serious with you. If you were available all of a sudden, watch them run then! That would be something to see!
POLINA: You're disgusting with your constant jealousy.
ILYA: You think I don't notice. I see every goddamn thing that happens around here. I know every man you get infatuated with - and when.
POLINA: Vodka has your tongue.
(But Ilya is already gone. She follows him.)