SCENE VII
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA and USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Won't you have a sip of cordial before your tea,
Ustinya Naúmovna?
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. Don't care if I do, my jewel.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. [Pouring] With my compliments.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. You ought to drink first, my pearl.
[Drinks.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. I'll look out for myself!
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. Ya! Phoo! Where d'you get this decoction?
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. At the wine-shop. [Drinks.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. Buy it in bulk, I suppose?
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. By the gallon. What should you want to buy in small quantities for? Our expenses, you see, are heavy.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. What's the use of talking, my dear, what's the use! Now, I've been bustling about, bustling about for you, Agraféna Kondrátyevna; trudging, trudging over the pavement, and at last I've grubbed up a suitable man: you'll gasp for joy, my jewels, for a fact.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. At last you're talking sense!
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. A man of birth and of standing; such a grandee as you never even dreamed of.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. I see I'll have to ask Samsón Sílych for a couple of fivers for you.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. That's all right, my jewel, I don't mind! And he has peasants, wears a norder on his neck; and as for intellect, why, he's simply a bonanza.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Then, Ustinya Naúmovna, you ought to have informed him that our daughter hasn't got piles of money.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. But he doesn't know where to put his own.
AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. That would be good, and jolly good; only, look here,
Ustinya Naúmovna, and just consider it yourself, my friend: what am I going
to do with a nobleman for a son-in-law? I shan't dare say a word to him;
I'll be all at sea.
USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. It's a little scary at first, my jewel, but afterwards you'll get used to things, you'll manage somehow or other. But, here, we must talk a bit with Samsón Sílych; he may even know him, this man of ours.