KHLESTAKOV. All right, all right. Go now, go. I'll see to it. [Hands with petitions are thrust through the window.] Who else is out there? [Goes to the window.] No, no. I don't want to, I don't want to. [Leaves the window.] I'm sick of it, the devil take it! Don't let them in, Osip.
OSIP [calling through the window]. Go away, go away! He has no time. Come tomorrow.
The door opens and a figure appears in a shag cloak, with unshaven beard, swollen lip, and a bandage over his cheek. Behind him appear a whole line of others.
OSIP. Go away, go away! What are you crowding in here for?
He puts his hands against the stomach of the first one, and goes out through the door, pushing him and banging the door behind.
Khlestakov and Marya Antonovna.
MARYA. Oh!
KHLESTAKOV. What frightened you so, mademoiselle?
MARYA. I wasn't frightened.
KHLESTAKOV [showing off]. Please, miss. It's a great pleasure to me that you took me for a man who—May I venture to ask you where you were going?