OSSEP [aside].  There you have it!  They insist that I let them inspect my books. [Aloud.] Do you know, what, aunt?  What I say I first consider, for I do not like to speak to no purpose.  If that young man pleases you and my daughter, and you will have him at all hazards, I have nothing against it.  So therefore go to him; and if you can settle the affair with 6,000 rubles, do it.  I will gladly make the best of it; but mind, this is my last word, and if you hang me up by the feet, I will not add a single shilling.

CHACHO.  What has come over you, Ossep?  If you are willing to give 6,000 rubles, you will surely not let the whole thing go to pieces for the sake of 500 or 1,000 more?

OSSEP.  Do you know what, aunt?  Even if a voice from heaven were to demand it of me, that is my last word.  Even if you flayed me alive, I would not give another shilling.

CHACHO.  Do not excite yourself, dear son.  Let us first see.  Perhaps it can be settled with 6,000 rubles.

OSSEP.  Yes, to that even I say yes.

SALOME.  If a man can give 6,000, he can surely give 1,000 or 2,000 more. 
Why do you fret yourself unnecessarily?

OSSEP [aroused].  God deliver me from the hands of these women!  They say that one woman can get the best of two men; and here I am alone and fallen into the hands of two of you.  Where, then, have you discovered this confounded fellow of a son-in-law?  That comes of his visits.  What has he to do with us?  We are entirely different kind of people. [To Salome:] He is neither your brother nor your cousin; why, then, does he come running into our house?  I believe he has been here as many as three times.  I decline once and for all his visits.  May his foot never cross my threshold!

CHACHO.  Do not get excited, my son.  Do not be vexed.

OSSEP.  Now, aunt, you come so seldom to our house, and just to-day you happen in:  how does that come?

CHACHO.  If you are so vexed about my visit, go down in the cellar and cool yourself off a little.

OSSEP.  I am a man; do you understand me?  If I tell you that I can give no more, you should believe me.

CHACHO.  We believe it, truly; we believe it, but we must say to you, nevertheless, that the dowry that a man gives his daughter means a great deal.  It does not mean buying a house, when it is laudable to be economical.  No; where the dowry is concerned, a man must think neither of his pocket nor of his money-box.  You were acquainted with Jegor?  Did he not sell his last house and afterward lived like a beggar to give his daughter a proper dowry?  When he died, was there not money for his burial?  That you know yourself very well.  Are you any poorer than he, that you grumble like a bear about 2,000 rubles?

OSSEP.  O great Heavens! they will bring me to despair yet.  Isn’t this a punishment of Providence, to bring up a daughter, spend a lot of money on her education, and when you have done everything, then hang a bag of gold around her neck, so that she may find someone who is kind enough to take her home with him?  A pretty custom!