ASTROFF. Of course I have!

He lays the portfolio on the table, takes out the sketch and
fastens it to the table with thumb-tacks.

ASTROFF. Where were you born?

HELENA. [Helping him] In St. Petersburg.

ASTROFF. And educated?

HELENA. At the Conservatory there.

ASTROFF. You don't find this life very interesting, I dare say?

HELENA. Oh, why not? It is true I don't know the country very
well, but I have read a great deal about it.

ASTROFF. I have my own desk there in Ivan's room. When I am
absolutely too exhausted to go on I drop everything and rush over
here to forget myself in this work for an hour or two. Ivan and
Miss Sonia sit rattling at their counting-boards, the cricket
chirps, and I sit beside them and paint, feeling warm and
peaceful. But I don't permit myself this luxury very often, only
once a month. [Pointing to the picture] Look there! That is a map
of our country as it was fifty years ago. The green tints, both
dark and light, represent forests. Half the map, as you see, is
covered with it. Where the green is striped with red the forests
were inhabited by elk and wild goats. Here on this lake, lived
great flocks of swans and geese and ducks; as the old men say,