Aga-Kerim. Yes. Aga-Selman is at this very moment with Sekiné-Khanoun, and as soon as he is at liberty he will come here.
Aga-Merdan. It is wonderful, Aga-Kerim. By God, you work miracles with your tongue. But, tell me, is the widow of Hadji-Ghafour pretty?
Aga-Kerim. Why do you ask?
Aga-Merdan. Why, because I want her to fall in love with me, and marry me. Why should she not be my wife?
Aga-Kerim. How can I tell you whether she will love you or not? Your age is a little advanced and the woman is young.
Aga-Merdan. No, Aga-Kerim, as sure as death, I am not so advanced in age. I am exactly fifty-one.
Aga-Kerim. I shouldn’t have believed it; I thought you were seventy.
Aga-Merdan. Seventy? Not on your life. You know I was born the year of the great earthquake at Tebriz.
Aga-Kerim. You are married already.
Aga-Merdan. I do not wish to marry her because I am in want of a wife. But this is how I consider the matter: If we succeed in carrying off all this fortune from Hadji-Ghafour’s sister, and transferring it to this woman, why should it go to another husband? Let me marry the woman, and the fortune becomes mine at the same time. This is also in your interest; what advantage will you otherwise gain from it?