VASILÍSA PEREGRÍNOVNA. They don't give a fig for you, benefactress, not a fig. They aren't a little bit afraid of you!
MADAM ULANBÉKOV. They're going to find out pretty quick whether I amount to anything.
Enter POTÁPYCH and NÁDYA. GAVRÍLOVNA and LÍZA look through the door.
SCENE IV
The same, POTÁPYCH and NÁDYA
MADAM ULANBÉKOV. Nadezhda! Vasilísa PEREGRÍNOVNA says she saw you in the garden last night with the master. Is that so? [NÁDYA is silent] You're silent, that means it's true. Well, now, you can thank yourself. I'm not a conniver at loose conduct, and I won't endure it in my house. I can't turn you out as a vagabond, that would weigh upon my conscience. I am obliged to marry you off. [To POTÁPYCH] Send to town and tell NEGLIGÉNTOV that I shall marry Nádya to him; and let the wedding be just as soon as possible.
[She rises from her chair and is about to leave].
NÁDYA. [Falling at her feet] Whatever you wish, only not marriage with him!
MADAM ULANBÉKOV. Fiddlesticks! What I have once said is sacred. And what do you mean by this scene? Can't you see that I'm not well? To keep on plaguing me! Potápych! She has no father; you be a father to her instead; and impress upon her in fatherly fashion the baseness of her conduct, and the fact that she must obey my commands.
POTÁPYCH. You listen, Nadezhda, to what the mistress commands! Because when she intrusts you to me, it means that I must show my authority over you. If you command it, mistress, I can at once, in your presence, give her some moral instruction with my own hand! Here, if you dare to say one tiny word to the contrary, I'll drag you off by the hair, no matter what any one says.