FOR THE SAKE OF HONOR by Aleksandr Shirvanzade A sitting room-office used by Antreas and Pakrad Eliz-parian set between the library and the bedrooms in the upper story of the house. It is a medium sized room. At right, two windows look out onto the street. Between them Antreas' desk. On it papers and documents, a phone, and electric lamp. Near the desk at the wall a large arm chair; on the other side of the desk a plain chair. There are two doors in the upstage wall, one at center, the other at the far left. In left wall, doors which lead to the living quarters. Near these doors, Pakrad's desk with documents, pencils, engineering books, etc. A strong box behind. On the right, a stove. Chairs at the wall. A rug covers the floor at right. The windows are curtained. Act I Scene I Sakhatel and Garinian The curtain rises as Sakhatel, standing by Antreas' desk, speaks into the telephone. The middle doors are open. Garinian enters and begins to look about Antreas' desk. When these doors are open a bookkeeper's desk can be seen (with the young bookkeeper beside it). From time to time, there appear other employees and visitors who pass to and fro in occupied manner until the closing of the office. The sound of office machines can be heard as well as the ringing of the telephone, occasionally. SAKHATEL (Telephoning.) What can I do for you? Yes, he'll be back, soon. Huh? I can't hear. Yes. Good. Send it. Goodbye. (The bell rings and he hangs up.) What an invention ? This telephone! Good for business! Now, what was I saying, Aristages? After you finish what you're doing, start on Pakrad's accounts. (Derisively.) Our Mr. Engineer wants to know what his factory is costing him. GARINIAN But you haven't entered your expenses with the bookkeepers yet. Mr. Pakrad wants receipts for every item of expense. SAKHATEL That's what he's all about, your Mr. Pakrad ? receipts. I've worked with Antreas Elizparian all these years handling receipts enough. Yes, I've worked faithfully. The old man trusts me. The son should trust me, too. (Calmly.) What are you looking for? GARINIAN The unpaid bill made out to the Minatsaganians. (He stops looking.) SAKHATEL Hey, angel face. You've been working here all this time and you don't know that Antreas Elizparian never leaves important papers on his desk. GARINIAN Of course. Everyone's a born thief for Elizparian. SAKHATEL That's right. He thinks people will steal anything they can get their hands on. And he's right. There are no honest men on the face of the earth. We're all born thieves. (Fingers his beads, muttering, as he goes to Garinian.) GARINIAN You know, there is such a thing as conscience in the world. SAKHATEL Eh? You and your conscience. If you like it, eat it. But it won't fill your belly. GARINIAN For some it's indigestible. SAKHATEL What about you? A forty-two year old man. Look at you: white-haired, bent over. What has saying conscience, conscience netted you? Tell me, if you dropped dead this minute, would your wife find some money in your pockets? GARINIAN Maybe not, but I'd have died in peace. SAKHATEL (Bitterly derisive.) Sure. Peace for you. Leaving your children hungry in the streets. Conscience is a good thing. Too bad it's the slave of money, and wears you out day after day. Oh yes, listen: I wanted to ask you. Has Otarian been here, today? GARINIAN No. SAKHATEL Thank God. (He fingers his beads and turns away.) GARINIAN Tell me, what's going on between the young man and Mr. Antreas? SAKHATEL It's a long story. And really not our business. Scene II Same and Suren Suren enters left with hat and coat. SUREN Is poppa home? That's just as well. (To Sakhatel.) Uncle, for God's sake, give me three hundred rubles, right away. SAKHATEL (Putting his beads in his pocket.) Huh! How's that? What's the matter? You seem angry. SUREN No time for questions. What I need is three hundred rubles, cash. GARINIAN Gambling. You've lost again. SAKHATEL He calls them business transactions. Either gambling or some sweet young ladies. SUREN (Angry at Garinian.) Listen, Mr. Ink-licker, mind your own business. I don't need your lectures. Uncle, if I don't get three hundred rubles right away, I'm finished, disgraced. It's a question of honor. If you love me, don't deny me. SAKHATEL It isn't a question of love, my boy. I don't have the money. What can I do? Your brother runs your father's business, now. You know that. (He takes out his beads.) SUREN My brother, my brother. Always spoiling things. But, we'll see. One day, I'll bite him where it hurts. SAKHATEL Hey, he's not the kind to be afraid of your teeth. SUREN (Impatiently.) Are you lending me the money or not? SAKHATEL What can I do? Look. There's the box and there you are. Help yourself. Why do you bother me? SUREN Give me the key. SAKHATEL (Sighing.) My boy I don't have it. I'm not the keeper of the gates of paradise. Anyway, between you and me, there's nothing in that box except receipts and checks. That's your brother's new system. In the old days, that box always had ten to twenty thousand in it. Now, your brother keeps everything in the bank. GARINIAN Your brother says that you have to keep both mind and money in circulation SUREN Okay, then, lend me your money. SAKHATEL My boy, where would I have money? I'm only a poor employee SUREN Stop singing that old song. You've got money in the soles of your shoes. SAKHATEL God, spare me this! SUREN Stop muttering your old father's proverbs. You're as much like him as I am like St. Paul. Let me see your wallet, come on. SAKHATEL How do I get rid of him? (He patiently puts the beads in his pocket and slowly takes out a worn, almost filthy leather wallet.) I don't have a hundred rubles. (He looks into the wallet with averted face.) Not even. . . fifty. SUREN Give me the wallet. (He grabs the wallet.) SAKHATEL (Alarmed.) What are you doing? SUREN What a piece of filth! (He begins to look through the wallet pulling out articles one by one.) You name it; it's here. Look at this. Old receipts. Bank notes. Labels. SAKHATEL You're shameless. SUREN (He takes out a letter.) What's this? A letter on pink paper in a woman's handwriting and scented. SAKHATEL (Ashamed of Garinian.) That's enough; we're not alone. SUREN (He takes out a piece of fabric from the fold of the letter.) Here's the response to the letter. And what else have we? Bless the Lord. Drug prescriptions, eyeglass prescriptions, herbs. A whole pharmacy, by God. All we need is the doctor. Tell us what ails you so we can cure you. Aha! Here we have it. Three hundred, four hundred, a thousand! SAKHATEL (Uneasy, he tries to grab the wallet.) This is out and out stealing. You see, Aristages, in broad daylight. GARINIAN That's the way to rob! Not the way you do it in dribs and drabs. SUREN Don't worry. I won't take more than one, two, three. (He puts the money into his pocket and returns the wallet.) Take your wallet! It stinks like cheap oil. SAKHATEL (He puts the wallet away.) I'm lucky to get off so lightly. SUREN Thanks. Now, my honor is saved. My creditors wouldn't let me gamble on credit, anymore. I've got to be going. (Going.) SAKHATEL What about an I.O.U.? SUREN You make it out and I'll sign it. But mind, no unusual interest. (He walks into the other room.) Garinian shakes his head and enters the far office. Scene III Suren, Eranouhi, Sakhatel Eranouhi enters at doors left, without a hat. She is agitated. ERANOUHI Stay. Don't go. SUREN (Slops and waits.) Eh, momma, enough. How far are you going to go with your crying and complaining? I'm sensitive man. ERANOUHI (To Sakhatel.) Did you give him money? SUREN Yes, momma. I found your brother to be kinder than you and my brother. ERANOUHI Take it back, Sakhatel. Take it back. Money has ruined him. . . put him into the streets. SUREN All right, momma. This is no time to sing your old song. They'll hear you in the accounting office. (He shuts the doors to the office.) ERANOUHI Let them hear. Who doesn't know by this time that you are no son to me? You are God's punishment. SUREN Why? Because I want to live the way my friends live? SAKHATEL You mean like a prodigal son? (Aside.) My God, what did I say? SUREN Uncle, don't meddle in my affairs. Your job is to keep my father's books and eat spinach. SAKHATEL (Aside.) He put you in your place, Sakhatel. SUREN And you, momma, take care of your other son. He's going to end up worse than I am. Don't fool yourself. Our money is dirty. Wasting it's no sin. You'd better believe it, sweet mother. And don't expect me for lunch. (He goes into the other room.) Scene IV Eranouhi and Sakhatel ERANOUHI (Weakened, sitting on a chair.) They're torturing me. They're slaughtering me with a broken knife. He takes a revolver and puts it to his brother's chest. "Give me money or I'll kill you." It was too much. I could hardly see. I thought it was the end. And I don't know how I separated them. And women are supposed to envy me for being a rich man's wife. SAKHATEL Forget it. If one son is prodigal, the other is good. Whatever one destroys the other builds. ERANOUHI Eh. I don't want a destroyer or builder. For one, money is the grave. For the other, well. . . he's got his father's curse. Both are beyond God's path. SAKHATEL Bless the hands of the money minter. Is there anything sweeter in the world than money? ERANOUHI Hedonist. You have no God. You worship Mammon. SAKHATEL Eh. Now you're echoing father's words. ERANOUHI May light fall on his grave. He used to say money was created by the devil's hands so men could buy and sell themselves to hell. SAKHATEL He used to say that because he was a priest. We're in this world. What's it to us? ERANOUHI Fear the judgment day, Sakhatel. Don't worship money. SAKHATEL Sister, God's punishment and his goodness are of this world. There is no greater judgment. ERANOUHI (Fearful.) There is, you heretic. There is. SAKHATEL All right. So I'm a heretic. But ask your older son. See what he says: Luckless men have thought up such things to comfort their burned out hearts. That's what your son says, do you hear? He says that's the voice of scientific knowledge. ERANOUHI Curse your knowledge. SAKHATEL Why, because it gives us electric light instead of candle light? Tell me please, were the railroad, ocean steamer, telegraph, telephone, and gramophone invented through knowledge or by your priests? ERANOUHI They know what they're talking about when they say a priest's son is unfaithful. SAKHATEL Ah, Eranouhi, you're fifty years behind the times. Come to your senses. See how other rich women live. They eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. Every year they travel. Whereas you. . . . What Judgment! (Change of tone.) Your youngest daughter Markarid is just as bad. She thinks she's just invented something: preaching honesty. Yesterday she started reading me the catechism. "Uncle, people ought to be guided by truth." ERANOUHI That's a bad thing to say, eh? SAKHATEL You know, my dear, when was there ever a man in this town more honest than our father. But what did he leave us? Nothing but poverty and hunger. Right after he died, we had to start looking about for handouts. Thank God, you were beautiful. Luck brought you to this house. What if Elizparian hadn't married you? Father didn't teach me a trade. He wanted me to become a priest, too. To go hungry like him. No, sister, I don't admire you or Markarid. You don't know how to live. Your older daughter is something else. She gives me joy. She tears out the mouth of the world. Do you see how she keeps this house in order? How chic she keeps it. You certainly don't look like a millionaire's wife. But, let's drop this. Isn't that Antreas' voice? Scene V Same and Antreas Antreas appears in the office doors with hat and coat, one foot on the threshold talking back into the office. ANTREAS Tell them I'm not here. I know why those two fellows came here with their blessings. Get them out of here. And then close the office. Go to lunch. I won't need you till early evening. (He enters, closing the doors behind him.) SAKHATEL Who were they? ANTREAS The nation's vultures. You'd think I was running a public welfare office. As if I don't know whom to help and whom not to help. They're the local unemployed. They've gathered together and are going around from door to door. They want money for the work house. (He gives coat, hat, and cane to Sakhatel. He is dressed modishly. On his vest he carries a gold watch chain. On his right hand, he wears a big diamond ring.) Don't I have my own work house? A working man has his own work and his own house for it. They collect the indolent and worthless and want them fed for free. And that's supposed to save the nation. SAKHATEL The words of a wise man. (Sakhatel takes the coat and cane into the adjoining room and returns.) SAKHATEL Not yet. ANTREAS Why are you standing there, gaping? What do you want from me? Antreas sits at his desk and at that moment sees Eranouhi. ANTREAS Ah. You're here. Why the raised eyebrows? (Irritated.) Don't start your doomsday preaching. Things are dark enough without you. ERANOUHI It's a sin to deny those who come in need. ANTREAS (Bitterly, ironically.) Hah, millionaire's daughter. Good for you. If that's the way it is, make them a donation from your dowry or from the great inheritance your father left you. ERANOUHI (Standing.) You always throw my father's poverty in my face. ANTREAS Didn't he always preach: "Do good." He had nothing of his own; and from others he was always calling for "goodness." What is goodness? Man is an animal. If you see him stuck in the mud, step on him. Push him in deeper. Never reach for his hand to pull him out. (Silence. Changing his tone, to Sakhatel.) Has that young man come? ERANOUHI (Sighing.) Nothing. ANTREAS Thank God. I thought you were going to insult me. ERANOUHI When have I ever insulted you? ANTREAS When? You've been insulting me without a let up for thirty years and you know it. You are my number one enemy. (He stands and walks to and fro.) ERANOUHI What do you mean? How am I your enemy? ANTREAS How? By your thoughts. You never think well of any¬thing I do. (Silence.) What has Otarian spoken to you about? ERANOUHI Ardashes? Nothing. Whatever he has said to you he's said to me. ANTREAS What do you think? What kind of a young man is he? ERANOUHI He's a fine young man, a fine person. Modest, good.... ANTREAS All right, all right, don't drag it on. Your praise is excessive... Eranouhi sighs. (Irritated.) Listen, I've told you a thousand times. I don't want any of your damn sighing and your "Oh my"s. All your damned fearfulness. On your face, in your eyes. I'm sick of your insults. Your complaining infuriates me. You're always after me like a shadow, to see if I make a wrong move. Who do I say no to? Who do I overcharge? Who have I short changed? Let me alone. What are you, my conscience? I don't need your eying me all the time. I have conscience, spirit, and God within me. ERANOUHI (Puzzled.) I can't understand anything you say. ANTREAS Oh, you understand everything. (Looks at his watch uneasily.) It's two o'clock. That young man hasn't come. ERANOUHI (Carefully.) Are you at home? ANTREAS Of course. What kind of question is that? ERANOUHI (Pensively.) Who knows what's on your mind? ANTREAS , do you see? Behind that "who knows" the devil lurks. Insults, always insults. Like a snake's bite. Get out! I've been hungry as a dog all morning. Prepare lunch and set a place for Ardashes. I'm asking him to join us. Treat him well. It's important. If Pakrad is at home, send him in here. Eranouhi exits left. Scene VI Antreas and Sakhatel ANTREAS (Quietly.) Your sister knows everything. She must be kept from ruining everything. SAKHATEL If you don't stop treating her the way you do, you're the one who's going to ruin things. ANTREAS You're right. Sometimes, I just lose control. What can I do? I've been irritated since this morning. People are starting to talk about me. Just being jealous isn't enough for them. They have to envy Antreas Bedros Elizparian's rising star. My house and lands cause mental anguish in many people. (Silence.) Are the office workers gone? SAKHATEL (Looking into the office.) They're gone. ANTREAS (Muttering while pacing to and fro.) I know what he's thinking. "Half of Elizparian's houses and properties are mine. No more, no less." (Silence.) From time to time, I myself think it. But how can I give him half of everything with my eyes open. What would people say? "You bought the properties in partnership with my father." Yes, it's true, but when? SAKHATEL In patriarch Noah's times. ANTREAS That's right. We were partners. But didn't I put the money to work? I did it. I, Antreas Elizparian. I, Eliz-parian's grandson, made all this with intelligence and sweat, investing my ability and talent, my name and re¬putation. For fifteen years I served as an apprentice to Aga Musiel. I took insults, spit, and dirt. I lived a dog's life. Finally, I got hold of a small sum of money. That's when I came to know Arakel Otarian. SAKHATEL Heh, I see it in my mind like a dream. In the old market. You had a grocery. You used to sell vegetables, pickles. You used to buy fish to sell at Easter. ANTREAS What can I say? Arakel was intelligent. But if I had let myself be guided by his thinking, we'd be paupers now. He had no smell for things. I said to him over and over again, "Arakel, let's buy those cheap properties; in time, they'll turn to gold." We started to buy some marshy garbage dumps for as little as fifty kopecks. Arakel didn't want to. I insisted. I made my fortune. It's mine. Only mine. Now that bastard comes along and says, "Give me half." Am I that insane? If I'm crazy, why haven't they locked me up in an asylum? (Irritated.) Welcome! Here's what you get for your benevolence. I raised him as an adopted son in memory of his father,with his mother and sister and this is what I get for my troubles. Blind ingratitude. SAKHATEL Fine. Don't get excited. One way or another, we'll make a deal and send him on his way. ANTREAS That's right. We've got to make a deal. I can't afford to go to court with him. He'll have me in some stinking lawyer's hands...take it or leave it. VARTAN (He enters from the anteroom dressed in yellow and black peasant costume with silver belt. He speaks care¬lessly, in the accent of Shamakh.) Ardashes has come. He wants to see you, now. ANTREAS He's welcome. (Vartan leaves.) Sakhatel, stay in the office a while and come in later. Sakhatel enters the office closing the door behind him. Antreas sits in a chair girding his strength and trying to appear pleasant. Scene VII Antreas, Otarian, later Pakrad, still later Sakhatel Otarian enters from the anteroom bowing to greet Antreas. ANTREAS (Affectionately.) Welcome, son. It's been some time. Have you forgotten us? OTARIAN (Shaking Antreas' hand.) I was at your house, yesterday. ANTREAS Ah, but they didn't tell me. Sit. Today you'll have lunch with us. Let's talk a little. Then we'll go in. Have you found work? OTARIAN (Sits near Antreas' desk, facing out.) Private lessons. Pakrad enters at doors left wearing boots and a working jacket. He looks at Otarian. Shaking his head, he appears indifferent. He sits at desk left and immediately is occupied with work. He draws with a compass while still attending the conversation. ANTREAS Lessons? After all that education. Teaching? OTARIAN What can I do, Mr. Antreas? For the time being, I have to. ANTREAS But that's not for you. It can't be enough. My son, we'll have to find a place for you in our business. What do you say, Pakrad? Maybe, an executive position in your factory. An appropriate position, of course. PAKRAD (Cutting.) My factory is only half built. OTARIAN Mr. Antreas. I don't think I want to work for anybody. In any case, if I did, it wouldn't be for your son. ANTREAS Why is that? PAKRAD (Bitter tone, without interrupting his work.) He wouldn't want his lily-white plumes to get blackened with bourgeois work. He's an idealist. ANTREAS You're friends! I don't understand why you have to bait one another this way. PAKRAD (Ironically.) Friends, huh. No, father, it's never been friendship. ANTREAS (Scolding.) Pakrad! PAKRAD (Throwing the pencil and compass down.) Father, I think it's about time you talked straight with this fellow. What does he want? What's he after with you? ANTREAS (Firmly.) That's not your concern. Mind your own business. PAKRAD (Standing.) Please, father. Don't expect me to say nothing. It's an attack on our name, on our honor. And from someone who is still wearing the clothes we bought him. OTARIAN (Stands, emotionally, while still controlling himself.) Mr. Antreas, control your son. I don't want to be forced to argue with him. PAKRAD All right, then; tell me what you want of us. ANTREAS (Irritated.) I told you, that's not your business. Keep out of it. PAKRAD But father, I'm not going to be put down like that. I just want to ask him a few things. (Turns to Otarian.) Have we been generous with you, or not? (Otarian is controlled.) Who has always provided for you and educated you? OTARIAN (Controlled.) Your father. PAKRAD You confess it, and you still dare to show ingratitude. You heard him father. And you expect me to take his impudence. ANTREAS I told you, it's not your business. You don't understand. OTARIAN (To Pakrad.) Listen, sir. I really didn't come here to talk about any of this. But, if that's what you want, I'll speak. Sure, I was raised by the Elizparians. You looked out for me, and protected me, for nine years: my mother and sisters, too. But how? Only I know that. How I felt all those years. You poisoned every penny you touched before you gave it to us. ANTREAS Did I so much as once flaunt my good deeds in your face? OTARIAN The question is, did you ever trouble yourself to discuss my condition with me? You were outwardly polite. But what you didn't say with words you said with your eyes, gestures, movements. You denied my self esteem when I had to ask for help. You poisoned my self respect. PAKRAD (Ironically.) It's amazing! For years you have said nothing and now you speak. OTARIAN I kept silent to spare my mother and sisters. If I angered you, you would have denied them a piece of bread. Inside I said: "I'll take these insults now and then one day I'll pay the Elizparians back, and be free." My mother was silent, too. But what kind of silence? (To Antreas.) Giving her twenty-five rubles a month, you insulted her twenty-five times. "You've spent too much. Live in cheaper places, on lower floors, in basements. Take in sewing and laundry. Send your daughters out to do house cleaning." ANTREAS (Impatient.) I beg your pardon! (Aside.) Good Lord OTARIAN One day you went so far as to suggest that she go into a poorhouse. Your words pierced her heart like needles. My sisters can't think of it without crying. Why did you do it? Who was my mother? Wasn't she your partner's widow? As rich as you? When she wept out the whole story, my blood froze. I felt helpless, beside myself. I wanted revenge and couldn't find the way. That's when my mother showed me what I ... ANTREAS She told you I had robbed your father. Yes, of course. Sure. PAKRAD She turned on her benefactor; she defamed him. OTARIAN (Not attending Pakrad.) Yes, sir. She told me my father's words at the end. "I'm dying in poverty. My partner robbed me. Here are the papers. Give them to my son when he's older and can understand." ANTREAS (Excited.) Papers? What papers? OTARIAN Signed agreements between partners which prove that half of your holdings belong to me. You took advantage of my father's illness; you tricked him again and again till you turned everything in the partnership into your name. ANTREAS (Hurt.) That's a lie! Whatever I have, I have legally, through notarized documents. OTARIAN Yes, but without payment of a kopeck. You've been able to twist the laws. And my father's papers will prove that everything I say is true. PAKRAD (Furious.) Get out of here, you liar! OTARIAN (Proudly furious.) Sir, think of your father.... ANTREAS (Slamming the table, rises.) Silence. You infuriate me. Sakhatel enters. PAKRAD he wants to dishonor you. He called you a thief. ANTREAS (Controlling himself.) Let him talk. Who believes him? He's young. He doesn't understand anything. He's excited. (Turns to Otarian.) Son, all that you've said is empty. I forgive you like a father. Let's talk like grownups. I know how your blood boils. You want to live a better life, but can't. You've thought and thought and now you've come up with this. (Otarian shows he's wounded.) Don't get excited. We'll talk calmly. I've done all I could for you, for your father's sake. And I'll do more. Here, take a few thousand rubles and give me a paper saying you have no further claim on me. That way we'll save both of us further headaches. PAKRAD (Flatly, positively.) Never. I won't allow you to give him a kopeck. ANTREAS For God's sake. Will you shut up! SAKHATEL (Aside to Pakrad.) Let him alone. You don't know what's going on. PAKRAD (Unheeding.) It's ridiculous to give him money! It means we're afraid of him. Let him go to court. I'll defend you against him. I know what he's up to. OTARIAN Be careful, sir. Those words will cost you dearly. PAKRAD Don't threaten me. I know what you're made of. That's why I despise you. But why should we waste words? This is it, short and sweet: Do whatever you want. (He takes up some papers from the,desk.) Uncle, I'm going in the factory. Tell the salesman to fill the pipe order immediately. Father, I won't be in for lunch. (He hurries out looking scornfully at Otarian.) SAKHATEL Good for you, boy. A ball of fire. Scene VIII Same, without Pakrad, later, Markarid ANTREAS Look here, my son. We of the older generation are kinder than you young ones. You can have three thou¬sand rubles. Take it and let's make up. OTARIAN (Frowning.) Anything else? ANTREAS Then you are agreed? (Gives Sakhatel the key to the strong box.) Sakhatel, get me the checkbook. OTARIAN Goodbye. Sakhatel stops. ANTREAS Where? Wait. Settling accounts is one thing-friendship is...friendship. You're dining with us. OTARIAN Goodbye. MARKARID (Markarid enters, left, in a simple housedress.) Mother invites you to lunch. Otarian, walking to the anteroom, stops. ANTREAS You see how everyone likes you in this house? And you want to walk away in a huff! MARKARID (Surprised, looking at Otarian.) You're leaving? Why? ANTREAS Who knows? He's caught in a shifting wind. But you'll bring him around. SAKHATEL Let's go. Markarid may shame him into coming. ANTREAS But, son. Don't make us wait too long. (He goes out the doors at left with Sakhatel.) Scene IX Markarid and Otarian MARKARID What is it? (She holds his hand affectionately.) Why are you so flushed? OTARIAN It's nothing. MARKARID What happened? Why won't you stay for lunch? Why did my father say you were walking away from us? OTARIAN I can't tell you, now. Please don't ask. MARKARID (Hurt, drops his hand.) That's fine! I won't ask. If you can't stay, I won't keep you. OTARIAN Oh, Markarid, please. Don't be childish. You're not like other women. MARKARID But you treat me like a child. You're the one who said there should be no secrets between people in love. Have you forgotten? OTARIAN (Confused.) There are things you can't be concerned with. You're too...sensitive. (He takes her hand again.) MARKARID But I thought there was nothing that could concern you and not me. (Taking her hand away.) Go away. You've hurt me. (Turns away from him.) You're being cruel. And you say you love me. OTARIAN have I done? Sometimes wounded pride makes us cruel. MARKARID Pride? Whose pride is wounded? Yours? Who wounded it? My father, my brother? (Silence.) You're silent. You turn your back. I've had enough. My patience is gone. I hate hypocrisy. Say it out, plainly and clearly. What's happened? Ah, I understand. You spoke to my father about me. You asked him for my hand. He denied you....But no, what am I saying? My father likes you. And in the end his rejection couldn't hurt you as long as I love you. I have my own mind. (Silence.) Wait....I suspect something else. You've spoken to him about me....But you're not the kind to bargain with him. OTARIAN You're pushing me, Markarid. I told you. There are some things you should not be concerned with. MARKARID (With feeling.) No. You mustn't keep even the smallest secret from me. Love me that way or leave me. I won't have it any other way. OTARIAN (With a decisive movement.) All right. I guess, I just can't make you understand. MARKARID (Breathy.) Well. Well? OTARIAN Tell me, Markarid. Do you love your father? MARKARID I? My father? (Positively.) Yes. OTARIAN I don't mean as a daughter. Not as your father. I mean the real person. MARKARID I don't understand. OTARIAN What I'm saying is: Do you respect him as a man? MARKARID Of course. Isn't my father a man? OTARIAN And a decent man. Isn't that right? MARKARID That's right. My father's no villain. OTARIAN Are you sure of that? MARKARID Very sure. I know of nothing dishonorable that he has ever done. I respect him as a man who after many years of hard work, managed to provide for his children's needs. He was uneducated, but he didn't stint on his children's education. (Silence.) Why are you looking at me like that? Don't you believe I'm telling you what I think? OTARIAN You find no fault in your father? MARKARID What do you mean? He likes money. He examines his accounts closely. Thinks only of his work. But aren't all businessmen like that? Nothing indecent about it. (Silence.) OTARIAN What would you do if one day you found out he's dishonest? MARKARID (Hurt and angry.) Ardashes. OTARIAN (Heatedly.) Yes, yes, dishonest. At least in the past. MARKARID (Same tone.) Ardashes. Think of what you're saying. OTARIAN I'm saying what I know. Your father has been-far from faultless. MARKARID And what was his fault? OTARIAN (Stressing his words.) A callous lack of charity. MARKARID (Shaking.) Whom has he denied? OTARIAN A fatherless and needy family. His own partner's children. MARKARID You? OTARIAN Me, my mother, my sisters. MARKARID Ah. (Shaken she sits in a chair and covers her face with her hands.) Silence for a long while. OTARIAN That's the truth. MARKARID (Gaining strength, she stands.) You'd better be able to prove that. Do you hear? Otherwise, I'll despise you as a slanderer. No, no. You couldn't slander your benefactor. You always loved and respected him. There must be some explanation. You've got to explain. He's my father, you're my happiness. For me, you're equal. But above everything else we have to have the truth. Zarouhi, the maid, appears at doors, left. ZAROUHI They're waiting for you in the dining room. MARKARID I'll be right there. OTARIAN I don't suppose I have a right to come here, anymore. MARKARID No. No. You must come. I know you can't say anything that will make it right. Not now. You've got to go. But tomorrow, you'll tell me; you'll explain. The curtain falls slowly. Turning away, he hurriedly walks out to the anteroom. Weakly, she walks to the left, stops, and leans against the door.