[Deemer]
(Irina and Ilya are gone.)
SORIN: So maybe we'll have peace and quiet around here again.
MED.: You handled that very nicely. Didn't he, Masha?
MASHA: Better than I would have.
POLINA: He would die if he lost this job.
SORIN: Proud people are like horses that haven't been broken in yet - you have to give them a lot of rope.
MASHA: Father is disagreeable just to hear himself talk.
MED.: I think he had a legitimate point.
MASHA: You would.
MED.: It's not easy planning all the work around here.
SORIN: That's true enough, and your father does a good job most of the time, Masha. If that wasn't true, I would've fired him a long time ago.
MASHA: He's always complaining. It drives me crazy.
SORIN: For some men, complaining is in their nature.
MASHA: It's hard to hear all day long.
SORIN: Let it go in one ear and out the other. Polina, since you're still employed, maybe we can have lunch?
POLINA: Right away.
SORIN: Nothing like a good argument to whet the appetite! (He turns to the audience.) Now we have an intermission.
(All actors move off.)
(End of Act II)