Redemption

Episode 2 of "Arthur Hopkins Presents"
Originally broadcast 26 April 1944

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MUSIC: (NBC CHIMES PLAYED BY ORCHESTRA)

ANNOUNCER: "Arthur Hopkins Presents"!

MUSIC: (THEME ... THEN UNDER)

ANNOUNCER: Through the facilities of the National Broadcasting Company and its 
independent affiliated stations, Arthur Hopkins presents a radio version of 
Leo Tolstoy's tragedy "Redemption" written by Wyllis Cooper and directed by 
Wynn Wright and starring Louis Calhern who is presently appearing on Broadway 
in "Jacobowsky and the Colonel" and Dorothy Gish, one of the all time 
luminaries of the stage and screen. And here is Mr. Hopkins, in person, to 
speak to you.

MUSIC: (OUT)

ARTHUR HOPKINS: Ladies and gentlemen, this performance is our tribute to John 
Barrymore who created the part of Fédya in English. It was the first of his 
appearances under my direction, followed by "The Jest," "Richard III" and 
"Hamlet." This was the period that raised him to the heights only known to 
Irving and Booth. 

And then he renounced the crown. The inner reason for this abdication we shall 
never know. It was not vanity, because he had no vanity. He was free of that 
completely. But the one unbearable penalty of success to him was repetition. 
His whole interest in the theater was creating character -- and once the 
character had been created, his interest quickly vanished. It was not money 
that took him to Hollywood. There, once the character was photographed, he was 
free.

But it was, er, natural that a man of his indifference to money should find 
his way to the bankruptcy court. But by that time, old, proud ways of riches 
had been closed to him. His once loyal memory had deserted him. And so, he 
was, er, they printed words on a blackboard for him to read to the camera. And 
on a paper, at the microphone. And the king had become the jester.


Words that he uttered in the last speech of Hamlet had come true: "O Horatio, 
what a wounded name." But already the wounds are disappearing. He will long 
live as the artist above all others who exalted our theater. The actor who 
touched immortality and made it visible to anxious mortals. His greatness will 
be remembered. The rest is silence. 

And, now, we begin our play.

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ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Sasha, how is your sister?

SASHA: She's been writing something and crying all the time.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Why can't she try and calm herself a little?

SASHA: Mother, you're amazing. How can you expect her to behave as if nothing 
had happened?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Well, I don't exactly, but it's all over with now. She has no 
reason to be miserable. On the contrary, she ought to be delighted at being 
freed from that wretch, Fédya.

SASHA: Mother, he's not a wretch. He's wonderful, in spite of all his 
weakness.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: I suppose you'd like her to wait until they'd spent every kopec 
they had, and then welcome him back after his visit to the gypsies. The man's 
bewitched you.

SASHA: No, he hasn't.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: If I'd been Lisa, I'd have left him a year ago. I can see 
through him if you can't.

SASHA: You speak very easily of serious things.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Not at all. Do you think it's agreeable to me to have my 
daughter admit her marriage a failure? Anything's better than for her to throw 
her life away. Well, thank heaven, she's through with him for good.

SASHA: Maybe it won't be for good.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: It would be, if he'd give her a divorce.

SASHA: A divorce! Why?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Because she's young and she has a right to happiness.

SASHA: Mother, it's awful to listen to you! How could she ever love some one 
else?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Why not? There are thousands better than Fédya, and they'd be 
only too happy to marry Lisa.

SASHA: You're thinking of Victor Karénin.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Why shouldn't I? He's loved her for ten years. And she loved 
him, too, I think.

SASHA: But she didn't love him as a husband. They grew up together; they're 
just friends.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Ha! Those friendships. How do you know what keeps them warm? If 
only they both were free! (TO THE MAID) Oh, Katya?

MAID: Mr. Victor Karénin is here.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Victor Karénin? What's HE doing here?

SASHA: Probably he came in answer to the note Lisa sent.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: What note?

SASHA: I told you she was writing.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Well, but-- (TO THE MAID) Ask Mr. Karénin to come in.

MAID: Yes, ma'am.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: (PLEASED) So she sent for him at once.

SASHA: Maybe not for the reason you think.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Then what for?

SASHA: Mother, Lisa cares about as much for Victor Karénin as - as she does 
for-- well, anybody.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: You'll see. She needs consolation -- a very special sort of 
consolation.

MAID: Victor Karénin.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: (QUICKLY) Lisa sent me a note to come at once. Is she all 
right? (REMEMBERS HIS MANNERS) Excuse me. Good afternoon, madam, Sasha.

SASHA: Good afternoon, Victor.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: I'm so glad to see you, Victor. Lisa is rather upset. She'll be 
here directly.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Is she ill?

SASHA: No, just upset.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Will you have some tea?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: No, thank you.

SASHA: Sit down, Victor.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Thank you.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: You knew that he and she--?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Yes, I was here when she got his letter. Is she positive now 
about their separating?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Yes, it would be impossible to begin all over again.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Yes, but-- But are you sure she knows her mind?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Oh, I should think so. It's caused her so much pain to come to 
this decision. But it's final, at last. He understands perfectly that his 
behavior has made it impossible for him to come back on any terms.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: But why?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: After breaking every oath he swore to decency, how COULD he 
come back? And why shouldn't he give her her freedom?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: What freedom is there for a woman still married?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Divorce. 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Divorce?

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: He promised her a divorce and we shall insist on it.

SASHA: But, Mother, Lisa was so in love with him--

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Be quiet, Sasha. Her love has been tried out of existence: 
drunkenness, gambling, infidelity -- what was there to go on loving in such a 
person?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Love can do anything.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: How can one love a rag torn by every wind? Their affairs were 
in dreadful shape; the estate mortgaged; no money anywhere. Finally, when his 
uncle sent them two thousand rubles to pay the interest on the mortgage, he 
took it -- disappeared, leaving Lisa without a word. And THEN he sends a note 
asking for his linen.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Yes. I know.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Here's Lisa.

LISA: (ENTERING) Oh, Victor, thank you so much for coming. 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: I'm sorry I was a little detained, Lisa.

LISA: Victor, I have a great favor to ask of you. 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Why, I'll be glad to do anything I can.

LISA: You know about all this.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Yes, of course.

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Sasha, my dear, shall we leave these young people to 
themselves?

LISA: Mother, I'm sorry--

ANNA PÁVLOVNA: Don't think of it. Come along, Sasha.

SASHA: Good-bye, Victor.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Good-bye, Sasha, madam.

LISA: Victor, Fédya wrote to me saying it was all over between us. I was so 
hurt, so bewildered, that I agreed to separate. I wrote and told him so.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: And, now, you're sorry.

LISA: I feel I shouldn't have said yes. Oh, Victor, anything is better than 
not to see him again. Will you give him this letter and tell him I've told 
you. And bring him back to me.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: I'll do what I can, Lisa.

LISA: Tell him I'll forget everything if only he'll come back. I was going to 
mail this letter, but - I know him: he'd have a good impulse and then somebody 
would finally make him act against himself. (BEAT) Are you surprised that I 
ask you?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: No. But -- well, candidly, I am.

LISA: But you're not angry?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: You know I couldn't be angry with you.

LISA: I ask you because you're so fond of him, Victor.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Of him -- and of you, too. Thank you for trusting me, Lisa. 
I'll do all I can.

LISA: I know you will. Victor, he's living with the gypsies. I found out. And 
I know he'll be swept off his feet if he isn't stopped in time. 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: I'll do all I can, Lisa. Good-bye.

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(MUSIC ... GYPSY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS ... AND OUT)

FÉDYA: Sing! Sing some more! Let's have "No More at Evening."

MASHA: No, Fédya.

FÉDYA: Oh, why not? Come on, Masha, sing!

MASHA: No, Fédya. No more now.

FÉDYA: Oh, Masha, Masha! You turn my soul inside out.

MASHA: Do I? But what was it I asked you for, my Fédya?

FÉDYA: What? Oh, oh, money?

MASHA: Mm.

FÉDYA: All right, here. This is all I have.

MASHA: (LAUGHS) Good!

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY UNDER)

FÉDYA: Now, look at this strange creature. When she sings she rushes me into 
the sky and all she asks for it - is money.

MASHA: (LAUGHS)

FÉDYA: Little presents of money for throwing open the Gates of Paradise. Ah, 
you don't know yourself at all, do you?

MASHA: What's the use of wondering about myself? I know when I am in love. I 
know I sing best when I am in love.

FÉDYA: Do you love me, Masha?

MASHA: I love you, Fédya.

GYPSY: Oh, Fédya. Hey, Fédya!

(MUSIC ... OUT)

FÉDYA: Huh?

GYPSY: Someone asking for you, Fédya.

FÉDYA: Who is it?

GYPSY: I don't know. He's rich, though. Got a fur coat.

FÉDYA: Oh? (CHUCKLES) Well, in that case, show him in.

MASHA: (APPREHENSIVE) Who wants to see you here, Fédya?

FÉDYA: (CARELESS) Lord knows, I don't. (CHUCKLES. PLEASANT) Well! Victor 
Karénin! You're the last man I expected to break into this enchanting place. 
Take off your overcoat -- my friends will sing for you.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: (DEADLY SERIOUS) Fédya, je voudrais vous parler sans témoins.

FÉDYA: Oh? What about?

MASHA: (EXITING) I'll go away.

FÉDYA: You don't have to speak French, Victor. Now, let's see the letter.

SOUND: (LETTER EXCHANGED, OPENED)

FÉDYA: Thanks. Do you know what's in it?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Yes, I know, Fédya. But, really, Fédya, you're in no 
condition--

FÉDYA: (INTERRUPTS) Oh, please, please, please, now don't - don't think I'm 
drunk and don't know what I'm saying. Of course I'm drunk, but I see 
everything very clearly. Now go ahead. What was it you were told to tell me?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Your wife asked me to find you and tell you she's waiting for 
you. She wants you to forget everything and come home.

FÉDYA: So?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Come along to my rooms, Fédya. I'll tell Lisa you'll be back 
tomorrow.

FÉDYA: To-morrows don't change what we are. Tomorrow, she'll still be Lisa. 
And I'll still be myself. No, no, it's better to have the tooth out at one 
pull. Didn't I say if I broke my word she was to leave me? Well, I've broken 
it. And that's enough.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: For you, but not for her.

FÉDYA: Victor, my friend, you shall hear MY friends sing.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Fédya, listen to me--

FÉDYA: Sing! Let's have music for my friend! Oh, come on, sing!

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY)

FÉDYA: Masha? (NO REPLY) Masha? Come here and listen with me.

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES SING AND PLAY A MOURNFUL REFRAIN ... THEN MUSIC UNDER)

FÉDYA: How did you like that, Victor, my friend?

MASHA: He's gone, Fédya.

FÉDYA: What? Gone? Oh, well, all right, the devil with him.

MASHA: Who is he?

FÉDYA: A splendid fellow. Victor Karénin. He came to take me home to my wife. 
You see she loves even a fool like me. And look what I am doing.

(MUSIC ... OUT)

MASHA: Stop, Fédya, you're mussing my hair. You should go back to her and be 
very sorry.

FÉDYA: Do you think I should? Well, I think I shouldn't.

MASHA: Of course, you needn't go back to her if you don't love her. Love is 
all that counts.

FÉDYA: (PLAYFUL) Now, how do you know that?

MASHA: (SERIOUS) I don't know, Fédya, but I do.

FÉDYA: Let's have some more music! Sit here by me.

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING A ROMANTIC STRAIN)

FÉDYA: Ah, that's wonderful! Divine! If I could only stay this way forever, 
with my arms around the heart of joy, and sleep ... and die.... 

(MUSIC ... UP ... CONTINUES FOR A WHILE ... THEN OUT)

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PRINCE SERGIUS: Good afternoon, my dear Sophia Karénina.
 
SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Sergius Abréskov! Oh, I'm so glad to see you.

PRINCE SERGIUS: I'm glad that you sent for me. Even if I am concerned at the 
necessity.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: My dear friend. I begin to lose hope. Do sit down.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Thank you.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Sergius, Victor has completely changed.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: He's made up his mind to marry her at any cost.

PRINCE SERGIUS: What about her husband?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: He agrees to a divorce.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Really?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: And Victor is willing to put up with all this sordidness, the 
vulgarity of the divorce court, the lawyers, the evidence -- all that! Oh, I 
can't understand his sensitive nature not being revolted by it.

PRINCE SERGIUS: He's in love, my dear Sophia, and when a man's in love--

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: He seems bewitched, hardly my son. Did you know that Victor 
asked me if I could receive her here to-day?

PRINCE SERGIUS: To-day?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Yes, I expect her any moment. Sergius, I need your help.

PRINCE SERGIUS: You do me an honor.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: This visit will decide Victor's fate. I must refuse my 
consent, or-- No, that's impossible. She should bear her cross without 
complaint. And Victor must cease trying to persuade himself that his happiness 
lies in defying his principles. What I don't understand is how Victor, with 
his religious views, can think of marrying a divorced woman. 

PRINCE SERGIUS: Sophia, why not submit to Victor's wish and help him?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: To marry a divorcée? And afterwards having him running into 
his wife's husband? Why, it's impossible, Sergius.

PRINCE SERGIUS: But, my dear, why not approve of the inevitable?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: How CAN a good woman leave her husband?

PRINCE SERGIUS: Now, that's not like you. You're being unkind and harsh. Her 
husband is-- well, he's his own worst enemy. A weakling, a ne'er-do-well. He's 
spent all his money - and hers, too. As a matter of fact, she didn't leave 
him, he left her. Fédya himself -- you know what a charming clever fellow he 
is when he's in his senses -- Fédya advised her to leave him.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Oh, Victor.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Oh, good afternoon, Victor.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: (ENTERING) Prince Sergius! Mother, excuse me. 

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: What is it, son?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Lisa will be here directly. 

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: I was expecting that.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Mother, do you still refuse your consent to my marriage?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: And I most assuredly do.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Mother dear, I just want you to know her. Life is far too 
complex to be managed by a few formulas. Why are you so bitter about it all?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: (HONESTLY) I love you, my son. I want you to be happy.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Prince Sergius, can't you help--?

PRINCE SERGIUS: Come, come, Victor, your mother speaks much more severely than 
she could ever act.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: I shall tell her exactly what I think and feel. I hope I can 
do it without offending her.

MAID: (ANNOUNCING) Madam, Elizaveta Andreyevna Protosova.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: I'll go, Mother.

PRINCE SERGIUS: I must go also. You'll forgive me?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Thank you for coming, Sergius. 

PRINCE SERGIUS: Good-bye.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Good-bye. (TO THE MAID) Show madam in. 

LISA: (AFTER A PAUSE, ENTERS, TIMIDLY) Madam Karénina?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: How do you do? It's most kind of you to come and see me.

LISA: I'm so grateful that you permitted me to come to you.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: I knew your husband quite well, my dear. He was a great 
friend of Victor's and he used to write to us in Tambov. (POLITE) That was 
where you were married, wasn't it?

LISA: Yes.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: But when you came back to Moscow we were deprived of the 
pleasure of his visits.

LISA: Yes. Then he stopped going anywhere.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Oh. Well, that explains our missing him.

LISA: Madam Karénina, please forgive me if I offend you, but - but I don't 
know how to cover up what's in my heart. I came here because Victor said that
-- well, because you wanted to see me. It's difficult, but - but you're so 
sweet.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Please believe me, my child, I'm truly sorry for you.

LISA: I know.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: I love my son. I know his soul as I do my own. Victor is very 
proud -- oh, I don't mean of his position and his money -- but of his very 
high ideals, his purity. It may sound strange to you, but, at heart, he's as 
pure as a young child.

LISA: Yes, I know.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: And you're the first woman he's ever loved. And I don't say 
I'm not a little jealous. I am. But that's something we mothers have to face, 
you don't know. I was ready to give him up. But I wanted his wife to be-- 
well, like himself.

LISA: And I--? Am I not--?

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: (INTERRUPTS, KINDLY) Forgive me, my dear. I know it's not 
your fault. I know you've been most unhappy. But, you see, I also know Victor. 
He'll bear anything without saying a word, but his pride will suffer and it 
will bring you infinite regrets. He has always felt that the bonds of marriage 
is indissoluble.

LISA: Yes. I've thought of that.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: You're a wise woman. You're a good woman, too. And if you 
love him, you must want his happiness more than you want your own. You won't 
want him to be sorry all his life -- sorry even if he never says a word.

LISA: I've thought about all that, too. I've even talked to Victor about it. 
But what can I do when he says he can't live without me? 

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Ah, that's what he would say.

LISA: If you could persuade him not to marry me, you know I'll agree, don't 
you? I just want him to be happy. I - I don't care about myself. But please 
help me. Don't hate me. Let's do everything we can for Victor -- because we 
both love him.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: I know, Lisa. And I think I love you too. Oh, it's all so 
dreadful. If only he had fallen in love with you before you were married!

LISA: He said he did. But he had to be loyal to his friend. To Fédya.

SOPHIA KARÉNINA: Oh, it's so heart-breaking. But let us love one other, and 
God will help us to find what we are seeking.

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(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING ... HOPEFUL, THEN JOYOUS, THEN OUT)

MASHA: (CALLING) FÉDYA! FÉDYA! FÉDYA!

FÉDYA: Thank Heaven you've come, Masha. I was wasting away in boredom.

MASHA: Why didn't you come over to us, Fédya? ... So, you've been drinking 
again? And after all your promises!

FÉDYA: I didn't come over because I didn't have any money.

MASHA: (DISGUSTED) Oh, why do I love you so?!

FÉDYA: Masha!

MASHA: (MIMICS HIM) Masha! Masha! What's that mean? If you loved me, you'd 
have your divorce by now. 

FÉDYA: (INTERRUPTS) You know why I don't want to and you know the only joy I 
have in life is being in love with you.

MASHA: It's always "My joy," and "Your love." Where's your love and my joy?

FÉDYA: Well, Masha, after all, you've got all I can give. You're so strong, so 
beautiful.

PRINCE SERGIUS: (ENTERING) Excuse me.

MASHA: Oh! Another fur coat. You don't need me, Fédya. Good-bye! (EXITS)

PRINCE SERGIUS: I'm afraid I'm intruding on a rather painful scene.

FÉDYA: Ah, Prince Sergius Abréskov, how do you do? Come in, sir.

PRINCE SERGIUS: I would much rather not have heard.

FÉDYA: But do sit down. 

PRINCE SERGIUS: Thank you.

FÉDYA: Thank you for telling me you heard. It gives me an opportunity to 
explain. Incidentally, my relations with that girl are simply friendly ones. 

PRINCE SERGIUS: (CLEARS HIS THROAT IN DISBELIEF)

FÉDYA: Possibly there's a ray of poetry in them, but that could hardly degrade 
her. However, what can I do for you?

PRINCE SERGIUS: Well, to be as brief as possible, Victor Karénin--

FÉDYA: Oh, yes, yes. Good old Victor. (CHUCKLES) Excuse me, sir.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Victor Karénin, who is the son of my old friend, Sophia 
Karénina, has asked me to discover from you personally what your present 
relations are with your wife, and what intentions you have concerning them.

FÉDYA: My relations with my wife -- I should say my former wife -- are 
several.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Victor and his mother are anxious to know your exact 
intentions regarding the future.

FÉDYA: I have no intentions. I've given her full freedom. I know she loves 
Victor Karénin, let her. He's a bore, but he's a good bore. So they'll 
probably be very happy together. And God bless them.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Yes, but there are certain matters--

FÉDYA: Oh, I'm - I'm - I'm not jealous. If - if - if I just said Victor was 
dull, I take it back. He's splendid, he's - he's very decent. In fact, he's 
the opposite of myself. And he's loved her ever since her childhood. Maybe she 
loved him even when we were married. After all, you know, that happens. And 
the strongest love is perhaps unconscious love. Yes, I feel she's always loved 
him far, far down beneath what she would admit to herself. Oh, but really, I - 
I don't suppose I ought to be talking to you like this, ought I?

PRINCE SERGIUS: Please go on.

FÉDYA: I suppose I never was satisfied with what I found in my wife. And I 
looked for any kind of distraction, sick at heart that I did so. Yes, I see it 
more and more clearly since we're apart. 

PRINCE SERGIUS: I understand.

FÉDYA: Now, I sound as if I were defending myself. I - I don't want to do 
that. No, I - I was a shocking bad husband. And I say "was" because now I 
don't consider myself her husband at all. She's perfectly free. Now then, does 
that satisfy you?

PRINCE SERGIUS: Yes, yes. But - but you know how strictly orthodox Victor and 
his family are. 

FÉDYA: Yes, I know, I know, he's very stupid-- I mean to say, he's very 
strict. "Conservative" is the word, isn't it? But what do they want, a 
divorce? I told them long ago I was perfectly willing, but this business of 
conniving, being caught by witnesses, I-- That's all so -- so revolting.

PRINCE SERGIUS: I know. I know. But how can one avoid it? It's the only way 
out. Oh, I assure you that I sympathize with you, Fédya. 

FÉDYA: Thank you, Prince Sergius. I always knew you were kind and just. Now 
tell me what to do. I don't pretend to be any better than I really am but 
there are some things that even I can't do. I can't tell lies.

PRINCE SERGIUS: I confess that you bewilder me, my boy. You with your gifts, 
your charm, your - your wonderful sense of what's right. How could you have 
permitted yourself to plunge into - all this? How could you?

FÉDYA: I've led this sort of life for ten years. You're the first real person 
ever to show me any sympathy. Thank you more than it's possible to say. Hm? 
Oh, yes, yes, my ruin. Well, first, drink -- not because it tasted well, but 
because everything I did disappointed me so, made me so ashamed of myself. I 
feel ashamed now, when I try to explain. But whenever I drank, shame was 
drowned in the first glass. Then music -- not Beethoven or the opera, but 
gypsy music; the passion of it poured energy into my body. Those dark 
bewitching eyes looked into my soul. And the more alluring it was, the more 
shame I felt afterward.

PRINCE SERGIUS: What about your career, Fédya?

FÉDYA: My career? This seems to be my career. Once I was director of a bank. 
But, oh, there was always something terribly lacking between what I felt and 
what I could do. I-- I-- Well, this is my career.

PRINCE SERGIUS: What answer am I to take back?

FÉDYA: Oh, tell them I'm quite at their disposal. They want to marry, there 
mustn't be anything in their way, is that it? (NO REPLY) Is that it?

PRINCE SERGIUS: Yes. That is it. May I say then that you - that you give them 
your word, Fédya?

FÉDYA: Yes. Yes. Good-bye, Prince Sergius. And thank you again.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Good-bye, my boy.

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING ... HOPEFUL)

FÉDYA: (ALONE, TO HIMSELF) Why not? Why not? And it's good not to be ashamed--

(MUSIC ... OUT)

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IVÁN PETROVICH: (APPROACHING) May I come in?! Fédya? May I come in?

FÉDYA: Now, look here, I'm awfully busy.

IVÁN PETROVICH: I see you are. Writing an answer to their demand, eh? Good. 
I'll help you. I'll tell you what to say. Speak out. Say what you mean. 
Straight from the shoulder. That's my system. 

FÉDYA: Now, will you please--?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Huh! What's this? 

FÉDYA: Put that back.

IVÁN PETROVICH: A revolver, huh? Going to shoot yourself. Well, of course, why 
not? 

SOUND: (GUN OPENED AND CLOSED)

IVÁN PETROVICH: Oh, loaded, too. I understand. They want to humiliate you, and 
you'll show them where the courage is -- put a bullet through your head and 
heap coals of fire on theirs. Oh ho! You've got a bottle, too.

FÉDYA: Now, look here, Iván Petrovich--

SOUND: (POURS BOTTLE)

IVÁN PETROVICH: I understand, Fédya. I understand perfectly. I understand 
everything and everybody. I am a genius.

FÉDYA: All right, all right, you're a genius. But will you please go away?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Here is to your immortal journey. May it be swift and 
pleasant. Oh, I see it from your point of view, Fédya. So why should I stop 
you? Life and death are the same to a genius. 

FÉDYA: Let that revolver alone.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Take it and "one, two" -- it's all over -- like that! But I 
won't write anything, Fédya. The world'll have to understand all by itself. 
Ha! The world -- a - a mass of - of preposterous creatures, crawling through 
life, understanding nothing - nothing at all - do you hear me? 

FÉDYA: I hear you.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Oh, I'm not talking to you. This is between me -- and the 
cosmos. 

SOUND: (POURS BOTTLE)

IVÁN PETROVICH: Ah, this is good wine. After all, what does humanity lack 
most? Appreciation for geniuses. We're persecuted, tortured, through a 
lifetime of perpetual agony, into the grave. But I will no longer be their 
bauble. Humanity, hypocrite that you are -- I'm done with you.

FÉDYA: And I'm done with you. Will you please go away?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Away? Away? Me? So be it. I shall away. I shall not deter you 
from accomplishing what I also shall commit -- at the proper time. Only I 
should like to say this--

FÉDYA: Oh, later. Later. Later, please, Iván. Now, listen, old man, give this 
to the head waiter. 

SOUND: (COINS ON A TABLE)

IVÁN PETROVICH: Money?

FÉDYA: You understand? To pay for the wine.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Well, shall I give him ALL the money?

FÉDYA: No. No, no, no, no, just what I owe him. Ask him how much.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Fine! Then I'll come back. You wait for me. I've got a lot to 
tell you. Now, you wait now. (EXITING)

FÉDYA: All right. All right.

Now, Fédya. It's time. 

Will you say good-bye to yourself? Here's the mirror.

What have you done to that handsome face, Fédya?

Well, that doesn't matter.

Now, just raise the gun to your temple. That's it.

Oh, your hand shakes. Steady.

Steady.

That's it.

Up.

Up.

There now.

Now, good-bye, Fédya.

Good-bye.

(A LONG PAUSE ... THEN, WITH AWED DISBELIEF)

I can't do it. I can't do it.

MASHA: (CALLING) Fédya?! Fédya?! Fé--? Fédya! You fool! You hideous fool! 

FÉDYA: I can't do it. I can't do it. I always thought when the moment came to 
be free-- I - I just--

MASHA: As if I weren't in your life at all. How godless you are to think of 
killing yourself! What about my love for you?

FÉDYA: I wanted to set them free, Masha. I promised to. And when the time 
came, I couldn't.

MASHA: But what about me?

FÉDYA: I thought you'd be free, too. My torturing you can't make you happy, 
Masha.

MASHA: I can look out for myself. Oh, Fédya, I'd - I'd rather be unhappy, 
miserable, wretched with you every minute than even think of living without 
you.

FÉDYA: Masha, I only wanted to set them free.

MASHA: Yourself free, you mean.

FÉDYA: Yes. Yes, myself above all. And now--

MASHA: (EXASPERATED) Fédya, what do you want?

FÉDYA: So many things. I promised to free Lisa but how can I lie? How can I 
drag through the filth of a divorce? But I can't let them down. They're such 
good people, my wife and Victor. 

MASHA: (SCORNFUL) Where's the good in her if she left you?

FÉDYA: She didn't. I left her.

MASHA: She made you think she'd be happier without you. But what else do you 
want?

FÉDYA: There's you, Masha. Young, lovely, dear to me. If I stay alive, where 
will you be?

MASHA: Don't bother about me.

FÉDYA: The big reason, the biggest reason of all, is myself. I'm lost. I'm 
lost, Masha.

MASHA: (TENDER AND SAVAGE AT ONCE) I won't - I won't unfasten myself from you. 
I'll stick to you no matter where you take me, no matter what you do. You're 
alive, terribly alive, and I love you. Fédya, stop all this horror.

FÉDYA: How can I?

MASHA: You can do anything, Fédya! Get anywhere you want to! (BEAT) Hm! So, 
you even wrote them a letter, telling them what you were going to do.

SOUND: (PICKS UP LETTER)

MASHA: (AFTER A PAUSE) A beautiful letter, Fédya. (REALIZES SOMETHING) But 
Fédya!

FÉDYA: What?

MASHA: You didn't mention the revolver. 

FÉDYA: What?

MASHA: You didn't tell them HOW you were going to do it. Oh, Fédya, listen to 
me. Do you remember the day we went on the picnic to the White Lakes with Mama 
and Afrémov and the young Cossack officer? You do? Well, do you remember how 
we went bathing? Do you remember how you took my hands and - and drew me out 
beyond the waves till the water was silent and - and flashing almost up to our 
throats? Then suddenly there was nothing under our feet. And we tried to get 
back. And you couldn't swim, Fédya. You remember? You couldn't swim!

FÉDYA: Afrémov pulled us out.

MASHA: Yes! Fédya, don't you see? She KNOWS you can't swim. Why, it's as clear 
as daylight. Send her this beautiful letter! Send it to her. And then your 
clothes will be found on the river bank.

FÉDYA: Masha!

MASHA: And you won't be in the river at all. You'll be far away with me. Don't 
you see, Fédya? You'll be dead to her, but alive to me. Oh, Fédya!

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING ... HOPEFUL ... OUT)

_____________


ANNOUNCER: We pause briefly for station identification. ... WEAF, New York.

_____________


(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING ... UPBEAT ... OUT)

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Oh, he's promised me definitely, Lisa. I'm sure he'll keep his 
promise.

LISA: I'm a little ashamed to confess it, Victor, but - but since I found out 
about this gypsy, I feel completely free of him. I'm not jealous, but knowing 
about her makes me see that I owe him nothing more. 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Of course you don't.

LISA: The thing that tortured me most was that I seemed to love both of you at 
once, and that made me feel indecent to myself.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: You? Indecent?

LISA: But since I've found out there's another woman, I - I feel free. And I 
can say truthfully, I love you. Everything's clear in my mind. My only worry 
is the divorce, and all the waiting to be gone through.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Darling, everything will be settled soon. He's promised, and 
my secretary is there with him now with the petition. I told him not to leave 
till Fédya signed it.

LISA: I just wish you hadn't sent him that money.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: If I hadn't, it would have delayed things. 

LISA: I know, but money seems so ugly.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Well, it's hardly necessary to be delicate with Fédya.

LISA: Perhaps.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Lisa, you're sure you've no regret?

LISA: From the day I found out about that gypsy woman, I - I've had no regret.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: You're sure?

LISA: I've only one desire now, and that's to forget the past and be happy in 
your love. And you?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Ah, what more could I ask? And yet-- The past. Awful fancies 
flush up into my happiness, turning it all into hatred for the past.

LISA: (REPROACHFUL) Victor!

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Forgive me, Lisa. I only tell you this because I don't want to 
keep a single thought from you. 

LISA: Oh, dearest, I'm so happy. Everything has happened in my heart to make 
it as you wish -- everything.

SOUND: (KNOCK AT DOOR)

LISA: Who is that?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: It's probably my secretary. I hope so, at least.

SOUND: (DOOR OPENS)

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Ah, Voznesénsky, come in. Well, what happened?

SECRETARY: He wasn't there, sir.

LISA: Not there? 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: You mean he hasn't signed the petition yet?

SECRETARY: No, sir. But there was this letter there -- addressed to you and 
madam.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Let me see it. 

SOUND: (TAKES LETTER, OPENS IT)

VICTOR KARÉNIN: More excuses. It's perfectly outrageous.

LISA: Read it aloud, Victor, won't you?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Yes. (READS) "Lisa, Victor, I write you both without terms of 
endearment, since I can't feel them. ... know, in spite of being the husband, 
I was also the barrier, stood in your way--" Oh, why doesn't he get to the 
point?! Ah! (READS) "... going to fulfill your wishes in perhaps a little 
different way from what you desire. I am the obstacle, consequently that 
obstacle must be removed."

LISA: Victor!

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Must be removed? (READS) "By the time this letter reaches you, 
I shall no longer exist."

LISA: (GASPS) 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: (READS) "All I ask you is to be happy, and whenever you think 
of me, think tender thoughts. God bless you both. Good-bye. FÉDYA."

LISA: He's killed himself!

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Lisa!

LISA: No! No, it's not true! It's not true that I've stopped loving him! He's 
the only man in the world I love! 

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Lisa!

LISA: And now I've killed him! I've killed him as surely as if I'd murdered 
him with my own two hands!

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Lisa, for Heaven's sake!

LISA: Stop it! Don't come near me! (WEEPS) Oh, don't be angry with me, Victor. 
You see I, too, cannot lie!

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING ... MOCKINGLY UPBEAT ... THEN SADLY UNDER)

_____________


PETRUSHKÓV: I know. I know. Well, that's real love, Fédya. So what happened 
then?

FÉDYA: You might expect a girl of our own class to be capable of sacrificing 
for the man she loves, but this was a gypsy, reared in greed, yet she gave me 
the purest sort of self-sacrificing love. 

PETRUSHKÓV: It's amazing. But what happened?

FÉDYA: Oh, ho, we parted. I felt it wasn't right to go on taking, taking where 
I couldn't give. So one night we were having dinner in a little restaurant and 
I told her we'd have to say good-bye. My heart was so wrung all the time I 
could hardly keep from crying.

(MUSIC ... CHANGES TO TAVERN MUSIC ... UNDER ... SLOWLY FADES OUT)

PETRUSHKÓV: And she?

FÉDYA: Oh, she was unhappy, but - she knew I was right. So we kissed each 
other, and she went back to her gypsy troupe. Hm.

PETRUSHKÓV: And what about your family life?

FÉDYA: Marriage? Did you say marriage? 

PETRUSHKÓV: Yes.

FÉDYA: Oh, yes, of course. My wife was quite an ideal woman. I don't know why 
I say "was" because she's still living. But there's something-- I don't know, 
it's - it's difficult to explain. But do you know those millions of iridescent 
bubbles when you pour champagne into a glass? Well, there was none of that in 
our married life. No fizz, no sparkle, no taste. Days were all one color -- 
flat, stale and gray. 

PETRUSHKÓV: I understand.

FÉDYA: Do you? But that's why I wanted to get away and forget. And you can't 
forget unless you stray.  I strayed into every kind of muck there is. Even as 
low as this.

PETRUSHKÓV: I've done that, too.

FÉDYA: You know, it's a funny thing. We love people for the good we do them, 
and we hate them for the harm. That's why I hated Lisa. That's why she seemed 
to love me.

PETRUSHKÓV: Seemed to love you?

FÉDYA: She could never creep into the center of my being like Masha. Ah, but 
that's not what I mean. I used to stay away for days and days, and come home 
drunk -- drunk! -- and love her less and less each time because I was wronging 
her so terribly. That's it, I never realized it before. The reason I loved 
Masha was that I did her good, not harm. And I crucified my wife and her 
contortions filled me almost with hatred.

PETRUSHKÓV: I think I understand. It was different in my case--

ARTIMIEV: (APPROACHES) Well, good evening, gentlemen! I see you've already met 
our artist friend, Fédya.

FÉDYA: Yes, I have.

ARTIMIEV: Uh, I'm not in your way, am I? Mind if I sit down? Move over, will 
you?

PETRUSHKÓV: This gentleman was telling me about his life.

ARTIMIEV: Oh, ho! Ha ha! His secrets? Oh, well, then I won't disturb you. 
Pardon me for interrupting. (TO HIMSELF, MOVING AWAY) Couple of swine!

FÉDYA: I don't like that fellow.

PETRUSHKÓV: I think we've offended him.

FÉDYA: Well, let him be. I can't stand him. Now, what was I saying?

PETRUSHKÓV: You were talking about your wife. 

FÉDYA: Oh, yes, very curious thing. Let's have another drink.

PETRUSHKÓV: What's curious?

SOUND: (DRINK POURED)

FÉDYA: My wife. She's married.

PETRUSHKÓV: What? Oh, you mean you're divorced.

FÉDYA: No. My wife is a widow.

PETRUSHKÓV: She's what? 

FÉDYA: A widow. I don't exist.

PETRUSHKÓV: What are you talking about?

FÉDYA: Me. I'm dead. You're talking to a living corpse.

PETRUSHKÓV: You're mad.

FÉDYA: No, no, no. Not at all. Funny thing, I seem to be able to tell you - 
anything. Well, I left her -- and then, after a while, they asked me for a 
divorce. I couldn't bear all the recrimination there was to go through. It was 
easier to think of killing myself. Er, give me another drink?

PETRUSHKÓV: Yes, here.

SOUND: (DRINK POURED)

FÉDYA: So I tried to commit suicide, and I couldn't do it. Then a kind friend 
came along and said, "Don't be foolish!" 

PETRUSHKÓV: Here you are.

FÉDYA: Ah, thank you. So she arranged the whole business for me. I sent my 
wife a farewell letter and the next day my clothes and pocketbook were found 
on the bank of the river. Everybody knew I couldn't swim. Do you understand?

PETRUSHKÓV: But what about the body? They'd have to find a body.

FÉDYA: Oh, they found a body. A week or so later, some horror was dragged out 
of the water and my wife - er, my widow - was called in to identify it. "Is 
that your husband?" they asked her. She took one glance and said, "Yes." And, 
well, that settled it.

PETRUSHKÓV: They got married?

FÉDYA: They did. And they're living right here in this city, right where I'm 
living. All living here together! Yesterday I walked right past their house. 
The windows were lit and somebody's shadow went across the blind. Of course, 
there are times when I feel bad about this, but they don't last. The worst is 
when there is no money for drinks.

ARTIMIEV: Excuse me, Fédya, I was listening to that story of yours. You know,  
that's a very good story.

FÉDYA: (ANNOYED) Listening, were you?

ARTIMIEV: A useful story, too, old man. Er, you say you don't like being 
without money. With a story like that, there's no need of your ever being 
without it.

FÉDYA: Now, look here, I wasn't talking to you and I don't need your advice.

ARTIMIEV: I'm going to give it to you just the same. Look, now you're a 
corpse. Suppose you come to life again.

FÉDYA: What?

PETRUSHKÓV: Fédya, listen--

ARTIMIEV: Shut up! I'm talking! Look, if you came to life again, your wife and 
that fellow she's so happy with -- they'd be arrested for bigamy. The least 
they'd get is ten years in Siberia. Now you see--?

FÉDYA: (FURIOUS) You - you get out of here!

ARTIMIEV: The best way is just to write them a letter. I'd even do that for 
you, old man. Just give me their name and address and when the ruble notes 
begin to come in--!

FÉDYA: Get out! Get away from here! I haven't told you anything!

ARTIMIEV: Oh, yes, you have! Petrushkóv here heard you say you were a corpse! 
Don't try to tell me--!

FÉDYA: You blackmailing thief-- You get out of here before I--!

ARTIMIEV: Oh, so I'm a thief, am I? Well, we'll see about that! Police! Help! 
Police! Help! Help! Police!

SOUND: (CROWD NOISES DROWN OUT THE FIGHT)

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING ... SPIRITED ... OUT)

_____________


MAGISTRATE: Er, show Madam Karénin in. Good.

SOUND: (LISA ENTERS, DOOR SHUTS)

MAGISTRATE: You will please sit down, madam. I'm very sorry it's necessary to 
ask you questions. Oh, you needn't answer them unless you wish. But in the 
interests of everyone concerned, I advise you to help me reach the entire 
truth.

LISA: I have nothing to conceal.

MAGISTRATE: Exactly. Now, let's see. Name, state, religion, I've got all that. 
You are accused of contracting a marriage with another man, knowing your first 
husband to be alive.

LISA: But I didn't know it.

MAGISTRATE: You are also accused of having persuaded your first husband to 
commit a fraud, a pretended suicide, in order to rid yourself of him.

LISA: That's not true.

MAGISTRATE: Then why did you send him twelve hundred rubles in July of last 
year?

LISA: That was his own money - obtained from selling his things.

MAGISTRATE: Very well. When the police asked you to identify the corpse, how 
were you sure it was your husband's?

LISA: Oh, I - I was so terribly distressed that I - I couldn't bear to look at 
the body. Besides, I was so sure that it was he, and when they asked me, I 
just said yes.

MAGISTRATE: Very good indeed. I understand perfectly, Madam, and permit me to 
observe that although a servant of the law, I remain a human being, and I beg 
you to be assured that I sympathize with your situation. You were married to a 
spendthrift, a drunkard, a man whose dissipation caused you infinite misery.

LISA: Please. I loved him.

MAGISTRATE: Of course. Of course. Yet you naturally wished to be free, and you 
took this simple course without counting the consequences, which are 
considered criminal -- to wit, bigamy. I understand, Madam, and I feel sure a 
judge and jury will also. And it is for that reason, Madam, that I counsel you 
to tell the exact truth.

LISA: I have nothing to tell but the truth. I've never have lied. Do you want 
me any longer?

MAGISTRATE: Er, a few more moments, please. Er, no more questions, though, 
Madam. (TO THE CLERK) Uh, show in Victor Karénin. 

CLERK: Yes, Excellency.

SOUND: (DOOR OPENS, VICTOR ENTERS, DOOR SHUTS)

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Well?

MAGISTRATE: I have to take your deposition, Mr. Karénin. Will you sit down?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: No.

MAGISTRATE: Very well, sir. You are here because you're charged with a crime.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Really? What crime?

MAGISTRATE: Bigamy. Now will you sit down, sir?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: No.

MAGISTRATE: Very well. Your name?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Victor Karénin.

MAGISTRATE: Rank?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Chamberlain of the Imperial Court.

MAGISTRATE: Your age?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Thirty-eight.

MAGISTRATE: Religion?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Orthodox, and I've never been tried before of any charge. What 
else?

MAGISTRATE: Did you know that Fedor Protosov was alive when you married his 
wife?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: No.

MAGISTRATE: Why did you send him twelve hundred rubles last July, a few days 
before he simulated death?

VICTOR KARÉNIN: That money was given me by my wife.

MAGISTRATE: By Madam Protosova.

VICTOR KARÉNIN: By my wife to send to her husband. She considered the money 
his and, having broken off all relations with him, felt it unjust to withhold 
it. What else do you want?

MAGISTRATE: Nothing, except to find out the truth, Mr. Karénin. And I advise 
you not to try to conceal the truth because your answers will be compared with 
those of Protosov who is in a very weakened condition, mentally and 
physically, and he is certain to come out with certain exact truth as soon as 
he is asked. So, er, from your point of view, I advise you--

VICTOR KARÉNIN: Please don't advise me. Just stay within the limits of your 
official capacity. Are we at liberty to go now?

MAGISTRATE: No, I'm sorry. No, no, I'm not going to arrest you, Mr. Karénin, 
although that might be a quicker way of reaching the truth. I merely want to 
take Protosov's evidence in your presence, to confront him with you so that 
you may advance your own case better by proving his charges false. Er, please 
sit down. (TO THE CLERK) Bring in Fedor Protosov.

CLERK: Yes, Excellency.

SOUND: (DOOR OPENS)

CLERK: All right, you.

SOUND: (FÉDYA ENTERS, DOOR SHUTS)

MAGISTRATE: All right. Your name?

FÉDYA: You know my name.

MAGISTRATE: Answer my questions exactly, if you please.

FÉDYA: Fedor Protosov.

MAGISTRATE: Your name, rank, religion?

FÉDYA: Aren't you ashamed to ask me these foolish questions? Ask me what you 
need to know, only that.

MAGISTRATE: I shall ask you to take care how you express yourself, my man.

FÉDYA: Well, if you're not ashamed, then - my rank, graduate of the University 
of Moscow; age forty; religion orthodox. 

MAGISTRATE: Did, er, Victor Karénin and Elizaveta Andreyevna Protosova know 
you were alive when you left your clothes on the riverbank and disappeared?

FÉDYA: Of course not. I really intended to commit suicide when I wrote.

MAGISTRATE: You gave a different account to the police officer who arrested 
you. How do you explain that?

FÉDYA: Which police officer? Oh. Oh, the one that arrested me in that dive. 
Well, I was drunk. But I'm not drunk now. And I'm telling you the truth. They 
knew nothing; they thought I was dead, and I was glad of it. Everything would 
have stayed all right if it hadn't been for that beast Artimiev. So if there's 
any one's guilty, it's I.

MAGISTRATE: Oh, you wish to be generous. (CHUCKLES) Unfortunately the law 
demands the truth. Come now, why did you receive money from them? (NO REPLY) 
Speak up. Do you realize that it will be stated in your deposition that the 
accused refused to answer these questions, and that will harm all of you? Come 
now, the truth, Protosov.

FÉDYA: The truth! What do you know about the truth? Your business is crawling 
up into a little power, that you may use it to tantalize people a thousand 
times better than you. You sit there in your smug authority--

MAGISTRATE: I must ask you--

FÉDYA: (INTERRUPTS) Don't ask me! I'll speak as I feel. And you write it down 
so for once some human words will get into a deposition. Now: There were three 
human beings alive: I, he, and she. We all bore toward one another a most 
complex relation. We were all engaged in a spiritual struggle beyond your 
comprehension: the struggle between anguish and peace; between falsehood and 
truth. Suddenly this struggle ended in a way that set us free. Everybody was 
at peace. They loved my memory, and I was happy even in my downfall because 
I'd done what should have been done, and cleared away my weak life from their 
strong good lives. And yet we were all alive. When suddenly a filthy 
adventurer appears, who demands that I abet his vicious scheme. I drive him 
off as I would a diseased dog, but he finds you, the defender of public 
justice, the appointed guardian of morality, to listen to him. And you, who 
receive each month a few kopeks' gratuity for your wretched business, get into 
your uniform, and in good spirits proceed to torture people whose threshold 
you're not clean enough to pass. Then when you've had your fill of showing off 
your wretched power, oh, then you are satisfied, and sit and smile there in 
your complacent dignity and--

MAGISTRATE: Be silent or I'll have you punished!

FÉDYA: You'll have ME punished?! How can you punish ME? Who should I be afraid 
of? I'm dead! ... Dead! And away out of your power. What can you do to me? How 
can you punish me -- a corpse?

MAGISTRATE: Be silent! Take him out!

FÉDYA: Lisa? (A PAUSE, PASSIONATE) Lisa! Lisa!

LISA: (LOVINGLY) Fédya.

MAGISTRATE: Take him out.

CLERK: Come with me.

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES PLAY AND SING ... SAD ... THEN UNDER)

LISA: (SURPRISED, PLEASED) He kissed the hem of my skirt.

(MUSIC ... OUT)

_____________


GUARD: Hey, you. Where do you think you're going?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Why shouldn't I get through? The law says these trials are 
public.

GUARD: Who do you think you are?

IVÁN PETROVICH: My name is Iván Petrovich, peasant. And I am the public.

GUARD: Be silent! Get out of the way and let this gentleman pass.

LAWYER: Thank you, guard. What does this man want?

IVÁN PETROVICH: I want to get in.

LAWYER: The public's excluded. Stand aside. You can wait outside till they're 
adjourned.

IVÁN PETROVICH: When'll that be?

LAWYER: Very soon. Oh, excuse me. Good afternoon, Prince Sergius.

PRINCE SERGIUS: How are you? How is it going?

LAWYER: The defense has just begun. Protosov's counsel is speaking.

PRINCE SERGIUS: Are the Karénins bearing up well?

LAWYER: Yes, with great dignity. They look as if they were the judge instead 
of the accused. And Petrúshin's taking advantage of it all the way through.

PRINCE SERGIUS: How about Protosov?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Yes, how about my friend Fédya?

LAWYER: He's in pretty bad shape -- nervous, trembling. But that's natural 
considering the life he's been leading. 

PRINCE SERGIUS: How do you think it will end, then?

LAWYER: Hard to say. The jury's mixed. At any rate, I don't think they'll find 
the Karénins guilty of premeditation. Do you want to go in?

PRINCE SERGIUS: I should like to very much.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Me, too!

LAWYER: Go right ahead, Prince Sergius. Guard, open the door.

GUARD: Yes, sir.

SOUND: (DOOR OPENS)

GUARD: Get back there, you.

IVÁN PETROVICH: A prince goes in and I, an aristocrat of the soul, am refused.

GUARD: Stand aside.

PETRUSHKÓV: Hey, Iván Petrovich!

IVÁN PETROVICH: Hello, Petrushkóv. You come to see the show?

PETRUSHKÓV: How are things going?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Speeches for the defense have begun, but this ignorant rascal 
here won't let us in. 

GUARD: Silence! Where do you think you are?

SOUND: (DOOR OPENS, CROWD MURMURS)

GUARD: Stand aside there, you two. Aside and let them out.

FIRST WOMAN: It's wonderful! When he spoke I thought my heart would break.

SECOND WOMAN: Really, I don't see how she could ever have loved that man. 

FIRST MAN: Well, it's better than a novel.

SECOND MAN: A sinister figure.

WOMAN: Here he comes!

CROWD: (MURMURS) Protosov. Protosov. Protosov.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Hey, Fédya! Fédya!

PETRUSHKÓV: He sees you.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Fédya, I brought it.

PETRUSHKÓV: He's coming over here. That's his lawyer with him.

IVÁN PETROVICH: I brought it, Fédya.

FÉDYA: Well, stop shouting. Where is it?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Here.

FÉDYA: Thank you, my friend.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Well, how is it going?

FÉDYA: Ask Petrúshin here.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Well, Petrúshin?

PETRÚSHIN: Not too bad, not too bad. If Fédya'll not spoil things for me in 
his final speech.

FÉDYA: What will be the worst, Petrúshin?

PETRÚSHIN: I've already told you. Exile to Siberia.

PETRUSHKÓV: Who'll be exiled to Siberia?

PETRÚSHIN: Fédya here and his wife.

FÉDYA: What is the best that will happen, then?

PETRÚSHIN: Religious pardon and the annulment of the second marriage.

FÉDYA: You mean - we should be bound together again to one another?

PETRÚSHIN: Yes. Now try to collect yourself. There's no occasion for alarm.

FÉDYA: There couldn't be any other sentence? You're sure?

PETRÚSHIN: None other. Impossible.

FÉDYA: I see.

IVÁN PETROVICH: Fédya, here they come.

FÉDYA: Who?

IVÁN PETROVICH: Your wife. And him.

PETRUSHKÓV: The Karénins, Fédya. Pay no attention to them.

FÉDYA: Yes, I see them. I see them. Lisa. Victor.

PETRUSHKÓV: Hey! Stop him! Stop him! Somebody!

SOUND: (GUNSHOT ... CROWD REACTS)

CROWD: A shot! He shot himself!

IVÁN PETROVICH: Fédya, a beautiful job. 

FÉDYA: This time -- it's well done... 

LISA: Fédya! Fédya!... What have you done? Oh, why, why?!...

GUARD: Stand back, you people! Stand back!

PETRÚSHIN: Stand back, everybody!

LISA: Fédya! Why?!

FÉDYA: Forgive me, Lisa-- No other way-- Not for you-- For myself--

LISA: (DESPERATE) You'll live, Fédya. You'll live.

FÉDYA: No-- No-- Good-bye-- Masha--

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES SING AND PLAY MOURNFULLY .. PAUSES)

FÉDYA: You're too late-- 

(MUSIC ... GYPSIES SING AND PLAY MOURNFULLY .. PAUSES AGAIN)

FÉDYA: (DYING) Ah.... Happiness!...

(MUSIC ... UP TO A CLIMAX ... AND OUT)


_____________


ARTHUR HOPKINS: Thank you, Louis Calhern and Dorothy Gish, and members of the 
company, for a beautiful performance. Next Wednesday, we bring you Clare 
Kummer's "A Successful Calamity" with Philip Merivale. Thank you and good 
night.

ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Mr. Hopkins.

(APPLAUSE IN AND OUT)

ANNOUNCER: In tonight's presentation of "Arthur Hopkins Presents," Louis 
Calhern was heard as Fédya and Dorothy Gish as Lisa. Palmer Ward played Victor 
Karénin, Charlotte Holland was Masha, Edgar Stehli played Prince Sergius 
Abréskov, and Alan Devitt was the magistrate. Others in the cast included 
Valya Karilyova, Alix Duran, Stefan Schnabel, Roger DeKoven, Stella Reynolds, 
Jane Robbins, Charles Kennedy, Norman Lord, and Ted Osborne. Tonight's 
production of "Redemption" by Arthur Hopkins was directed by Wynn Wright from 
the radio version by Wyllis Cooper. The music was under the direction of 
[Waslaf Davina?].

MUSIC: (ORCHESTRA)

(APPLAUSE)

ANNOUNCER: This is the National Broadcasting Company.


________________________________






FÉDYA: You know among our class -- I mean the class I was born in -- there are 
only three courses: the first, to ... make money to squander over your sensual 
appetites. And all that was appalling to me -- perhaps because I couldn't do 
it. The second thing is to live to clear out, to destroy what is foul, to make 
way for the beautiful. But for that you've got to be a hero, and I'm not a 
hero. And the third is to forget it all -- overwhelm it with music, drown it 
with wine. That's what I did. 


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