VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH [looking at Porter, to Theodore Ivánitch] Why don't you attend to this fellow from Bourdier? He hasn't come to take lodgings with us, has he? Just look, he is asleep! Eh, what?
THEODORE IVÁNITCH. The note he brought has been sent in, and he has been told to wait until Anna Pávlovna comes down.
VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH [looks at Peasants and notices the money] And what is this? Money? For whom? Is it for us? [To Theodore Ivánitch] Who are they?
THEODORE IVÁNITCH. They are peasants from Koursk. They are buying land.
VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. Has it been sold them?
THEODORE IVÁNITCH. No, they have not yet come to any agreement. They are too stingy.
VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. Eh? Well, we must try and persuade them. [To the Peasants] Here, I say, are you buying land? Eh?
FIRST PEASANT. That's just it. We have made an offering as how we should like to acquire the possession of the land.
VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. Then you should not be so stingy, you know. Just let me tell you how necessary land is to peasants! Eh, what? It's very necessary, isn't it?
FIRST PEASANT. That's just it. The land appears as the very first and foremost necessity to a peasant. That's just it.