going to get
the 7,000 rubles.

SALOME. That is our affair. I would rather have broken my leg than to
have come in here.

KHALI. He is up to the ears in debt and is going to give such a dowry!

SALOME [_coming back_]. Even if we are in debt, we have robbed nobody,
as you have.

KHALI [_springing up_]. 'Tis you who steal; you! You are a thief! Look
out for yourself that I do not tear the veil off your head, you wicked
witch, you!

SALOME [_holding her veil toward her_]. Try it once. I would like to see
how you begin it. You have altogether too long a tongue, and are only
the daughter-in-law of the cobbler Matus.

KHALI. And what better are you? You are a gardener's daughter, you
insolent thing!

SALOME. You are insolent, yourself! Do not think so much of
yourself--everyone knows that you have robbed the whole world, and only
in that way have gotten up in the world.

KHALI. Oh, you good-for-nothing!
[_Throws herself on Salome and tears her veil off_.

SALOME. Oh! oh! [_Gets hold of Khali's hair_.

KHALI. Oh! oh!

SALOME. I'll pull all your hair out!
[_Astonished, she holds a lock in her hand_.

_Enter Ossep_.

OSSEP. What do I see?

KHALI [_tearing the lock from Salome's hand_]. May I be blind!
[_Exit embarrassed_.

SALOME [_arranging her veil_]. Oh, you monkey, you!

OSSEP. What is the meaning of this?

SALOME. God only knows how it came to this. I was walking quietly in the
street and she called me in and tore the veil from my head because I, as
she said, took her daughter's suitor away from her.

OSSEP. It serves you right! That comes from your having secrets from me
and promising him 7,000 rubles instead of 6,000.

SALOME. I would rather have broken a leg than come into this horrid
house. I did it only out of politeness. I wish these people might lose
everything they have got [_pinning her veil_]. At any rate, I punished
her for it by pulling off her false hair. If she tells on herself now,
she may also tell about me. She got out of the room quickly, so that no
one would find out that her hair was as false as everything else.

OSSEP. It would be best for us if the earth opened and swallowed us up.

SALOME [_crying_]. Am I, then, so much to blame here?

OSSEP. Really, you look splendid! Go! go! that no one sees you here. It
is not the first time that you have put me in a dilemma. Go! and pray
God to change noon into