AGRAFENA KONDRATYEVNA.  Then, Ustinya Naumovna, you ought to have informed him that our daughter hasn’t got piles of money.

USTINYA NAUMOVNA.  But he doesn’t know where to put his own.

AGRAFENA KONDRATYEVNA.  That would be good, and jolly good; only, look here, Ustinya Naumovna, and just consider it yourself, my friend:  what am I going to do with a nobleman for a son-in-law?  I shan’t dare say a word to him; I’ll be all at sea.

USTINYA NAUMOVNA.  It’s a little scary at first, my jewel, but afterwards you’ll get used to things, you’ll manage somehow or other.  But, here, we must talk a bit with Samson Silych; he may even know him, this man of ours.

SCENE VIII

The same and RISPOLOZHENSKY

RISPOLOZHENSKY. [Entering] I’ve come to you, my dear Agrafena Kondratyevna.  I was going to have a talk with Samson Silych, but he was busy, I saw, so I thought:  now, I’ll go to Agrafena Kondratyevna.  By the way, is that vodka, near you?  I’ll just take a thimbleful, Agrafena Kondratyevna. [Drinks.

AGRAFENA KONDRATYEVNA.  With my compliments, my dear sir.  Please sit down, won’t you?  How are you getting along?

RISPOLOZHENSKY.  What a life I live!  Well, I’m just loafing, Agrafena Kondratyevna; you know yourself, my family’s large, business is dull.  But I don’t grumble; it’s a sin to grumble, Agrafena Kondratyevna.

AGRAFENA KONDRATYEVNA.  That’s the last thing in the world to do, my dear sir.

RISPOLOZHENSKY.  Whoever grumbles, I think, offends against God, Agrafena Kondratyevna.  This is the way it happened—­

AGRAFENA KONDRATYEVNA.  What are your front names, my dear sir?  I keep forgetting.

RISPOLOZHENSKY.  Sysoy Psoich, my dear Agrafena Kondratyevna.

USTINYA NAUMOVNA.  What does Psoich mean, my jewel?  What lingo is that[1]?

[Footnote 1:  The name lends itself to the interpretation, “son of a dog (pes).”]

RISPOLOZHENSKY.  I can’t tell you positively:  they called my father Psoy—­well, naturally, that makes me Psoich.

USTINYA NAUMOVNA.  But, Psoich, like that, Psoich!  However, that’s nothing; there are worse, my jewel.

AGRAFENA KONDRATYEVNA.  Well, Sysoy Psoich, what was it you were going to tell us?

RISPOLOZHENSKY.  Well, it was like this, my dear Agrafena Kondratyevna:  it isn’t as if it were a proverb, in a kind of fable, but a real occurrence.  I’ll just take a thimbleful, Agrafena Kondratyevna. [Drinks.

AGRAFENA KONDRATYEVNA.  Help yourself, my dear sir, help yourself.