KHLESTAKOV. All right, all right. Well, and you?
[Addressing the Widow and leading the Locksmith's Wife to the door.]
LOCK.'S WIFE [leaving]. Don't forget, father. Be kind and gracious to me.
WIDOW. I have come to complain against the Governor, father.
KHLESTAKOV. What is it? What for? Be brief.
WIDOW. He flogged me, father.
KHLESTAKOV. How so?
WIDOW. By mistake, my father. Our women got into a squabble in the market, and when the police came, it was all over, and they took me and reported me—I couldn't sit down for two days.
KHLESTAKOV. But what's to be done now?
WIDOW. There's nothing to be done, of course. But if you please, order him to pay a fine for the mistake. I can't undo my luck. But the money would be very useful to me now.