countenance._

GRÍSHA, _a boy of nineteen, a favorite of the mistress, dandified in dress,
wearing a watch with a gold chain. He is handsome, curly-headed, with a
foolish expression._

NEGLIGÉNTOV, _a clerk in a government office; a very disreputable young
man._

LÍZA, _a housemaid, not bad-looking, but very stout and snub-nosed; in a
white dress, of which the bodice is short and ill-fitting. About her neck
is a little red kerchief; her hair is very much pomaded._

_A peasant girl, a footman, and a housemaid: mute personages._

_The action takes place in the springtime, at the suburban estate of_ MADAM
ULANBÉKOV



A PROTÉGÉE OF THE MISTRESS


I

_Part of a densely grown garden; on the right benches; at the back a rail
fence, separating the garden from a field._