PAULINA. You men are all ready to go down on your knees to an actress,
all of you.

DORN. [Sings]

"Once more I stand before thee."

It is only right that artists should be made much of by society and
treated differently from, let us say, merchants. It is a kind of
idealism.

PAULINA. When women have loved you and thrown themselves at your head,
has that been idealism?

DORN. [Shrugging his shoulders] I can't say. There has been a great deal
that was admirable in my relations with women. In me they liked, above
all, the superior doctor. Ten years ago, you remember, I was the only
decent doctor they had in this part of the country--and then, I have
always acted like a man of honour.

PAULINA. [Seizes his hand] Dearest!

DORN. Be quiet! Here they come.

ARKADINA comes in on SORIN'S arm; also TRIGORIN, SHAMRAEFF, MEDVIEDENKO,
and MASHA.

SHAMRAEFF. She acted most beautifully at the Poltava Fair in 1873; she
was really magnificent. But tell me, too, where Tchadin the comedian is