ARKADINA. Rag-bag!

TREPLIEFF sits down and begins to cry softly.

ARKADINA. [Walking up and down in great excitement] Don't cry! You
mustn't cry! [She bursts into tears] You really mustn't. [She kisses his
forehead, his cheeks, his head] My darling child, forgive me. Forgive
your wicked mother.

TREPLIEFF. [Embracing her] Oh, if you could only know what it is to have
lost everything under heaven! She does not love me. I see I shall never
be able to write. Every hope has deserted me.

ARKADINA. Don't despair. This will all pass. He is going away to-day,
and she will love you once more. [She wipes away his tears] Stop crying.
We have made peace again.

TREPLIEFF. [Kissing her hand] Yes, mother.

ARKADINA. [Tenderly] Make your peace with him, too. Don't fight with
him. You surely won't fight?

TREPLIEFF. I won't, but you must not insist on my seeing him again,
mother, I couldn't stand it. [TRIGORIN comes in] There he is; I am
going. [He quickly puts the medicines away in the cupboard] The doctor
will attend to my head.

TRIGORIN. [Looking through the pages of a book] Page 121, lines 11 and
12; here it is. [He reads] "If at any time you should have need of my
life, come and take it."