Act 3 Summary

The setting changes for the first time, taking us outside the rooming house to "the Waste," the yard in the back. It is strewn with rubbish and overgrown with weeds. Nastya and Natasha sit on a beam, where Nastya is telling a sad love story, which she claims is the tale of her own life. Luka, the Baron and Kleshtch sit nearby listening. Bubnoff is listening through a window of the boardinghouse, so only his face is visible. Partway through the story, one that she has apparently told before, Nastya calls her lover by a name she has not used before, and Bubnoff and the Baron immediately begin ridiculing her. Luka stops them, saying that it is not what she says that matters, but the meaning behind the words, and encourages her to continue. He even says he believes her: "You're right, not...