SVIETLOVIDOFF. [With a candle in his hand, comes out of a dressing-room
and laughs] Well, well, this is funny! Here's a good joke! I fell asleep
in my dressing-room when the play was over, and there I was calmly
snoring after everybody else had left the theatre. Ah! I'm a foolish
old man, a poor old dodderer! I have been drinking again, and so I fell
asleep in there, sitting up. That was clever! Good for you, old boy!
[Calls] Yegorka! Petrushka! Where the devil are you? Petrushka! The
scoundrels must be asleep, and an earthquake wouldn't wake them now!
Yegorka! [Picks up the stool, sits down, and puts the candle on the
floor] Not a sound! Only echos answer me. I gave Yegorka and Petrushka
each a tip to-day, and now they have disappeared without leaving a trace
behind them. The rascals have gone off and have probably locked up the
theatre. [Turns his head about] I'm drunk! Ugh! The play to-night was
for my benefit, and it is disgusting to think how much beer and wine I
have poured down my throat in honour of the occasion. Gracious! My body
is burning all over, and I feel as if I had twenty tongues in my mouth.
It is horrid! Idiotic! This poor old sinner is drunk again, and doesn't
even know what he has been celebrating! Ugh! My head is splitting, I am
shivering all over, and I feel as dark and cold inside as a cellar! Even
if I don't mind ruining my health, I ought at least to remember my age,
old idiot that I am! Yes, my old age! It's no use! I can play the fool,
and brag, and pretend to be young, but my life is really over now, I
kiss my hand to the sixty-eight years that have gone by; I'll never see
them again! I have drained the bottle, only a few little drops are left
at the bottom, nothing but the dregs. Yes, yes, that's the case, Vasili,
old boy. The time has come for you to rehearse the part of a mummy,
whether you like it or not. Death is on its way to you. [Stares ahead
of him] It is strange, though, that I have been on the stage now for
forty-five years, and this is the first time I have seen a theatre at