Rakitin and Beliayev make small talk about the weather, life in the country, sport shooting, reading, talking with ladies, where to get gunpowder to make fireworks, magazines and poetry. Beliayev says that most poetry is sentimental and unreal. After complimenting him on his common sense, Rakitin asks whether he knows French. Beliayev says he's too lazy to learn it, but Rakitin tells him that instead of thinking of himself as lazy, he should think of himself as impulsive and free from constraint. Rakitin observes that several people, including Natalya, find those characteristics attractive. Beliayev says that he doesn't feel free at all around Natalya and that he can't understand why Rakitin is talking to him the way he is. He suddenly hears a bird in the garden and runs out to.....
