“Forgive us, Ivan Vassilevitch, we were all a little heated.”- Who is the speaker? Who is referred to by ‘us’? Why were the persons referred to ‘a little heated’? Why does the speaker ask for forgiveness?

The speaker is Natalya Stepanovna. The speaker has referred to herself and her father as ‘us’.

While conversing with each other, Lomov spoke of Oxen Meadows as his property to which both Chubukov and Natalya protested and told him that Oxen Meadows belonged to them. Lomov refused to accept their claim. This led to a bitter argument that made the persons ‘a little heated.’

The bitter argument over who was the real owner of Oxen Meadows turned into abusing each other’s family, which excited Lomov greatly. Lomov felt unwell and stormed out of the room. Later Natalya came to know that Lomov arrived there in order to propose her. Hearing this, she forced her father to bring him back and when he came back she apologised so that Lomov could forget the quarrel and give his marriage proposal to her.

“Oh, what a burden …. to be the father of a grown-up daughter!”—Who is the ‘father’? Who is the ‘daughter’? Why is the daughter a burden to the father?

Here, the father is Chubukov and the daughter is Natalya Stepanovna.

In the evening Lomov comes to Chubukov house to propose Natalya, the Chubukov daughter. Immediately after this all three of them engage themselves in an argument. When the situation becomes more critical, Lomov leaves the house, feeling sick. Natalya learns about the proposal when Chubukov confesses that Lomov’s actual purpose of visiting their house, was to propose her. Now, she becomes desperate and asks her father to bring him back. Back then a young girl in her twenties was supposed to get married as soon as possible. Both she and her parents would become desperate for marriage as society would leave no other option open for an honourable young woman. As Natalya is an unmarried girl of twenty-five, it is her father’s duty to get her married to someone. That is why she is a burden to Chubukov and for her sake, Chubukov has to call back Lomov again.