too hot now. [A pause] Tell me, nurse, how long have we known
each other?

MARINA. [Thoughtfully] Let me see, how long is it? Lord--help me
to remember. You first came here, into our parts--let me
think--when was it? Sonia's mother was still alive--it was two
winters before she died; that was eleven years
ago--[thoughtfully] perhaps more.

ASTROFF. Have I changed much since then?

MARINA. Oh, yes. You were handsome and young then, and now you
are an old man and not handsome any more. You drink, too.

ASTROFF. Yes, ten years have made me another man. And why?
Because I am overworked. Nurse, I am on my feet from dawn till
dusk. I know no rest; at night I tremble under my blankets for
fear of being dragged out to visit some one who is sick; I have
toiled without repose or a day's freedom since I have known you;
could I help growing old? And then, existence is tedious, anyway;
it is a senseless, dirty business, this life, and goes heavily.
Every one about here is silly, and after living with them for two
or three years one grows silly oneself. It is inevitable.
[Twisting his moustache] See what a long moustache I have grown.
A foolish, long moustache. Yes, I am as silly as the rest, nurse,
but not as stupid; no, I have not grown stupid. Thank God, my
brain is not addled yet, though my feelings have grown numb. I
ask nothing, I need nothing, I love no one, unless it is yourself
alone. [He kisses her head] I had a nurse just like you when I
was a child.