POTÁPYCH. The husbands mostly turn out ruffians.
LEONÍD. Is that so?
POTÁPYCH. Everybody hopes to get one of our protégées, because the mistress right away becomes his patroness. Now in the case of these she marries to government clerks, there's a good living for the husband; because if they want to drive him out of the court, or have done so, he goes at once to our mistress with a complaint, and she's a regular bulwark for him; she'll bother the governor himself. And then the government clerk can get drunk or anything else, and not be afraid of anybody, unless he is insubordinate or steals a lot….
LEONÍD. But, say, Potápych, why is it that the girls run away from me?
POTÁPYCH. How can they help running? They must run, sir!
LEONÍD. Why must they?
POTÁPYCH. Hm! Why? Why, because, as you are still under age, the mistress wants to watch over you as she ought to; well, and she watches over them, too.
LEONÍD. She watches us, ha, ha, ha!
POTÁPYCH. Yes, sir. That's the truth! She was talking about that. You're a child, just like a dove, but, well—the girls are foolish. [Silence] What next, sir? It's your mamma's business to be strict, because she is a lady. But why should you mind her! You ought to act for yourself, as all young gentlemen do. You don't have to suffer because she's strict. Why should you let others get ahead of you? That'd disgrace you.
LEONÍD. Well, well, but I don't know how to talk to the girls.