on't you joke about that, sir. The house
is nothing; I have such a dream in my head now about that subject, that I
must talk it over with you at length. Just come to my room, sir. Tishka!

SCENE VI

_The same and_ TISHKA

PODKHALYUZIN. Put all this in order! Well, let's go, Sysoy Psoich!

TISHKA _is about to carry away the vodka_.

RISPOLOZHENSKY. Wait, wait! Eh, my boy, what an idiot you are! If you see
that a fellow wants to drink, just wait a bit. You just wait a bit. You're
young yet, but you just be polite and condescending. Lazar Elizarych, I'll
just take a thimbleful.

PODKHALYUZIN. Help yourself, only hurry up; I'm afraid _he'll_ come.

RISPOLOZHENSKY. Right away, my dear Lazar Elizarych, right away! [_Drinks
and smacks his lips_] But it would be better to take it with us. [_They go
out_.

TISHKA _arranges something or other; from above descend_ USTINYA NAUMOVNA
_and_ FOMINISHNA. TISHKA _goes out_.

FOMINISHNA. Now do fix it up for her, Ustinya Naumovna! You see the girl is
all worked up; and, indeed, it's time, my dear. Youth isn't a bottomless
kettle, and they say it gets empty. I can say that from my own experience.
I got married when I was thirteen; but in another month she'll have passed
her nineteenth year. Why let her pine away for nothing? Others of her age
have long since borne children. And so, my dear, why let her pine away?

USTINYA NAUMOVNA. I keep thinking about that myself, my jewel; but the
thing isn't held up on my account; I have a whole pack of suitors, all
right. But, confound it, she and her mother are mighty particular.

FOMINISHNA. Why should they be particular? Well, the chief thing is that
they should be fresh-complexioned people, not bald, and not smell bad; and
then anything'll pass, so it's a man!

USTINYA NAUMOVNA. [_Sitting down_] Sit down a minute, my jewel. I have worn
myself out the livelong day; from early morning I've been tearing around
like a wet hen. But, you see, I couldn't neglect anything; I'm an
indispensable person everywhere. Naturally, my jewel, every person is a
human being: a man needs a wife, a girl a husband; give it to them if you
have to rob the cradle; then here and there there's a genuine wedding. And
who fixes them up? Why, I do. Ustinya Naumovna has to bear the burden for
all of them. And why does she have to? Because that's the way things are;
from the beginning of the world, that's the way the wheel was wound up.
However, to tell the tru