Free Man From the USSR & Other Plays by Vladimir Nabokov

criticize him or even discuss his actions. He is magnificent, he is something very special.... But—he has given you up for Russia. He is simply incapable of other interests. That’s why I don’t feel any guilt toward him.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    I don’t know if you should be telling me all this, Nikolay Karlovich.
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    TAUBENDORF
(sitting down again)

Of course I should. It’s practically impossible to keep silent. Listen: I ask nothing of you. I mean, that’s nonsense—of course I ask, and I ask a great deal. Maybe if one tries, if one makes a real effort, one can force oneself—well, at least to notice a person.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Wait....There’s a misunderstanding here.
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    TAUBENDORF
    No, no! I know everything you’re going to say. I know that for you I am nothing more than Nikolay Karlovich, and that’s the end of it. But then, you don’t notice anybody. For you, too, the only thing in life is your longing for Russia. And I can’t live like that.... For you I would give up everything.... God knows I’d like to get back over there too, but for you I’d stay, for you I’d do anything....
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Please wait a minute. Calm down. Give me your hand. Please calm down. Your forehead is even perspiring. I want to tell you something very different.
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    TAUBENDORF
    But why? Why? You would never feel sad with me. You’re only sad because you’re alone. I would surround you ... you’re my joy....
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    I’ll tell you something I’ve never told anybody before. You see, you ... you are mistaken. I’ll tell you the truth. I’m not interested in Russia now—I mean, I’m interested, but not all that passionately. The point is I’ve never stopped loving my husband.
(silence)
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    TAUBENDORF
    Oh. Yes, that changes everything.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    No one knows this. Even he doesn’t know.
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    TAUBENDORF
    Yes, of course.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    To me he is not at all a leader and a hero as he is for you—but simply ... I simply love him, his way of speaking, walking, raising his eyebrows when he finds something funny. Sometimes I feel I’d like to arrange for him to be caught and put in jail forever, and for me to be in that jail with him.
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    TAUBENDORF
    He’d escape.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Now you want to hurt me. Yes, he’d escape. That’s exactly my misfortune. But there’s nothing I can do to change it.
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    TAUBENDORF
    Thirteen.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Pardon me?
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    TAUBENDORF
    I was just counting the money, and when you came in I stopped at thirteen. Unlucky number.
(silence)
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Does it add up to much?
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    TAUBENDORF
    No, not much I think. Just barely enough to pay for the hall. What difference does it make?
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Nikolay Karlovich, you understand, of course, that Alyosha must not find out about what I told you. Don’t talk to him about me.
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    TAUBENDORF
    I understand everything, Olga Pavlovna.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    I guess he isn’t coming.
(They both get up.)
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    TAUBENDORF
    He and I have an appointment to meet tomorrow morning at the studio. It’s an awfully silly place for a business meeting, but there was no other way. Would you like me to give him any kind of message at all?
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    No, nothing. I’m sure he’ll drop by to see me tomorrow anyway. And now I’ll run along.
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    TAUBENDORF
    Please excuse me for ... for what I said. I had no way of knowing.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Of course. Probably it’s my own fault. Well, so long.
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    TAUBENDORF
    Olga Pavlovna, you have my admiration. You are an absolutely marvelous person. Alyosha does not understand.
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    OLGA PAVLOVNA
    Oh, Nikolay Karlovich, really—let’s not talk about it any more.... After all, I’m not the Chinese language that one either understands or doesn’t understand. Believe me,