Man From the USSR & Other Plays by Vladimir Nabokov

must be very hard for you, with no money and all....
    Â 
    OSHIVENSKI
    No, it’s all right. We’ll dig some up, somewhere. It doesn’t matter much.
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Nevertheless ... I do have a little extra cash.
    Â 
    OSHIVENSKI
    Oh well, if that’s the case.... I’m very grateful. Yes, yes, it’s more than enough. I’ll give it back to you in three days.
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    There, I’m glad. That’ll be fine. There’s no rush.
    Â 
    OSHIVENSKI
    I’ll leave you two alone. Thanks for the very pleasant chat, Mr. Kuznetsoff. I have to go down and discuss something with the landlady,
(hurries out)
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Alyosha, forgive me if we ran into each other again. It’s time for you to leave for the station, isn’t it?
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    That radiant expression on your face....Oh, Olya, Olya....
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Naturally I’m glad it turned out this way. You’re so funny. Do you have to leave at once?
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Yes, in ten minutes. What in hell ever made me come to see that old grouch. Incidentally, you know, if he were younger I might actually have even been able to use him for some minor assignment. In tandem with Taubendorf, or something like that.
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Listen, let’s not talk about trifles right now. When we were saying good-by before I restrained myself. But now I feel like rebelling a little.
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    You call my work a trifle? Then it’s really true—you were lying to me?
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Alyosha, you know perfectly well I was lying to you. If you chose to ignore it, it’s your business. Tomorrow, maybe, I’ll regret that I blurted all this out to you. But right now I can’t help it.
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
(smiling)

Olya, please, don’t blurt.
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    No, no—wait. We’ve already said good-by, haven’t we? You’ve left. Imagine that you’ve left. And right now you’re only reminiscing about me. There’s nothing more honest than reminiscence.
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Olya, I’ll tell you one more time: my work, to me, is.... Anyway, you know that without my having to tell you. But here’s something you don’t know: I’ve done things after which any personal life—affairs of the heart and so on—is impossible for me....
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Oh, Alyosha, this is all silly nonsense. I’m sick and tired of it. Since fate decided we should meet now, I know what fate wants.
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    Last year, when I was in Russia, the following incident occurred. The Soviet sleuths got wind of something. I sensed that if I did not take resolute action they would eventually get to the bottom of it. And you know what I did? I deliberately let three people, minor pawns in my organization, go before the firing squad. Don’t start thinking I regret it one bit. I don’t. That gambit saved the whole project. I knew perfectly well that those people would accept the entire guilt, rather than betray the least detail of our work. And the trail vanished into thin air.
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    That’s all very frightening. But I fail to see how it can change anything. Even if you began forging bank notes, that wouldn’t change anything. Really, Alyosha, let’s talk like humans.
    Â 
    KUZNETSOFF
    But how, with a life like that, can you expect me to have room for any sentiments or attachments? And the main thing—and I’ve told you this already—is that I don’t want anybody being afraid for me, thinking about me, waiting for me, agonizing if, because of some stupid quirk of fate.... What are you smiling for, Olya?—it’s silly.
    Â 
    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    If you didn’t love me, you wouldn’t care whether I was afraid for you or waiting for you. And, you see, I’ll be much less afraid if you leave knowing that I love you. It’s very funny: I love you a thousand times more than I did at