SCENE X

The same and LYUBÍM KÁRPYCH

LÍZA. Oh, good heavens, again!

MÁSHA. This is terrible!

RAZLYULYÁYEV. Ha, ha, ha!

LYUBÍM KÁRPYCH. Gurr, gurr, gurr; bul, bul, bul! With the finger nine! With the cucumber fifteen! How do, friend! [Holds out his hand to KÓRSHUNOV] My respects! I haven't seen you for a thousand years and a day! How are you?

KÓRSHUNOV. Oh, is this you, Lyubím?

LYUBÍM KÁRPYCH. [Covering his face with his hands] I'm not I, and the horse is not mine, and I'm not a coachman.

KÓRSHUNOV. I remember you, brother! You used to roam the town and pick up kopeks.

LYUBÍM KÁRPYCH. You remember how I used to pick up kopeks, but do you remember how you and I used to go on sprees together? How we sat through the dark autumn nights, and how we skipped back and forth, from the tavern to the wine-shop? And don't you know who ruined me, and who turned me out with a beggar's wallet?