The Curse of Hermes Trismegistus | страница 16
Golyshkin. Why are you silent, Olenka? Go on! What would you like?
Olga. To know my future. Isn't that clear, professor? Or does it seem strange? Any woman would give a lot to know what awaits her in the future. And not in some distant future, but in the nearest. Will she get married and when? Will she have children and how many?…
Golyshkin. But it's so dangerous!
Olga. Dangerous? Why?
Golyshkin. Knowledge about the future is not given without loss. Communication with the spirits of the dead suggests some unpredictable consequences.
Olga. So what?
Golyshkin. Well, don't you understand, Olenka?
Olga. I don't think you understand, professor. Life is short. Especially for women. After all, they live only while they are young and beautiful. When youth passes and beauty fades the life ends for us. Instead, existence begins. Just existence – boring, tedious, which nobody needs, including themselves. But if only a woman could know her future! Oh! It would change a lot.
Golyshkin. I don't understand what exactly?
Olga. Of course you don’t, since you are a man! It would protect her from many mistakes. Those which are made easily, but it takes years to correct them. If there are no mistakes, there will be no wasted years. Isn't it worth it, professor?
Golyshkin. And yet you have not convinced me, Olenka.
Olga. Neither have you, Stalver Udarpyatovich.
Golyshkin. I can predict your future even without a séance.
Olga. And that would be false, professor. Shame on you! There is nothing easier than to mislead a naive girl who trusts you so much. But if you really want me to believe you…
Golyshkin. What then? Speak up, Olenka, what should I do for this?
Olga. Hold a spiritual seance.
Golyshkin. And whose spirit would you like to summon?
Olga. Anyone’s. The main thing: he has to be dead for at least a couple of centuries or millennia ago. But not as outrageously alive and healthy as you are, Stalver Udarpyatovich!
Golyshkin. Olenka, you don’t understand what you are asking. That's really true: Oh, poor, you wanted this!
Olga. Actually, I'm not asking you for anything, professor. You just asked me to be frank with you. And I freaked out in my sincerity. But how can I trust men? This will be another bitter lesson for me. Thanks for that professor!
Golyshkin. Olenka! Don't talk to me so harshly! I feel like my blood pressure is rising again.
Olga. Perhaps, you need another injection, professor?
Golyshkin. Oh, don't remind me of injections!