Serebrakoff has called the household together for a meeting to discuss “business,” and Sonia, Voitski, and Helena wait in the drawing room. Voitski wonders if the idle professor has any business at all, and Sonia and Helena chastise Voitski for his uncharitable opinion. Helena wonders if Voitski can keep expressing the same complaints ad nauseum without boring himself because she is suffering from tedium and aimlessness. Sonia consoles her and suggests several worthwhile pursuits with which she could occupy herself while living in the country: helping with the estate or at the market, teaching local children, or caring for the sick. Helena refuses all of these options because she has no knowledge or experience in such matters and has no interest in learning. She claims that only in novels do young women go out and do such things.

Sonia promises that Helena will eventually get used to her new surroundings, but she points out that her restlessness and idleness are contagious: Voitski neglects his work to follow Helena around, Astroff neglects his medical practice and forestry to visit their household daily, and even Sonia is neglecting her work by waiting around with them. Voitski accuses Helena of having the blood of a water spirit or “Nixey,” and he encourages her to succumb to her nature and return underwater to free them all from her influence.