es, sir! And to-morrow I shall sell the rye and
the carriage horses. [He stamps up and down] Do you think I am going
to stand upon ceremony with you? Certainly not! I am not that kind of a
man!

ANNA appears at the open window.

ANNA. Whose voice did I hear just now? Was it yours, Misha? Why are you
stamping up and down?

BORKIN. Anybody who had anything to do with your Nicholas would stamp up
and down.

ANNA. Listen, Misha! Please have some hay carried onto the croquet lawn.

BORKIN. [Waves his hand] Leave me alone, please!

ANNA. Oh, what manners! They are not becoming to you at all. If you want
to be liked by women you must never let them see you when you are angry
or obstinate. [To her husband] Nicholas, let us go and play on the lawn
in the hay!

IVANOFF. Don't you know it is bad for you to stand at the open window,
Annie? [Calls] Shut the window, Uncle!

[The window is shut from the inside.]

BORKIN. Don't forget that the interest on the money you owe Lebedieff
must be paid in two days.

IVANOFF. I haven't forgotten it. I am going over to see Lebedieff today
and shall ask him to wait.

[He looks at his watch.]

BORKIN. When are you going?

IVANOFF. At once.

BORKIN. Wait! Wait! Isn't this Sasha's birthday? So it is! The idea of
my forgetting it. What a memory I have. [Jumps about] I shall go with
you! [Sings] I shall go, I shall go! Nicholas, old man, you are the joy
of my life. If you were not always so nervous and cross and gloomy, you
and I could do great things together. I would do anything for you. Shall
I marry Martha Babakina and give you half her fortune? That is, not
half, either, but all--take it all!

IVANOFF. Enough of this nonsense!

BORKIN. No, seriously, shan't I marry Martha and halve the money with
you? But no, why should I propose it? How can you understand? [Angrily]
You say to me: "Stop talking nonsense!" You are a good man and a
clever one, but you haven't any red blood in your veins or any--well,
enthusiasm. Why, if you wanted to, you and I could cut a dash together
that would shame the devil himself. If you were a normal man instead of
a morbid hypochondriac we would have a million in a year. For instance,
if I had twenty-three hundred roubles now I could make twenty thousand
in two weeks. You don't believe me? You think it is all nonsense? No,
it isn't nonsense. Give me twenty-three hundred roubles and let me try.
Ofsianoff is selling a strip of land across the river f