“For lots of reasons. Perhaps old Makogon won’t consent.”
“Bah! Let me talk to him.”
“Well, what would you say?”
“I’ll tell you. I’d be on my way from the city with a load of vodka. He’d be coming toward me. We’d talk a while and then I’d say: I’ve found a husband for your daughter; it’s our miller.”
“And what would he say?”
“He’d say: ‘Well I never! Your grandmother never expected that! How much is he worth?’”
“And what would you answer?”
“I’d answer: Of course my grandmother never expected it because she died long ago, God rest her soul! So you don’t know, I see, that the devil has carried away our Jew?”
“‘Then that’s altogether different,’ he’d say. ‘If there’s no Jew in the village the miller will be a substantial man.’”
“All right, supposing Makogon gives his consent, will Galya marry the workman?”