everything is mixed in my head. Anyútka! Go, darling, to the calves! They may have run away. Oh, I won't have the courage.
Matréna. Go! The samovár is running over by this time.
Anísya. Oh, my wretched head! (Exit.)
Scene XVIII. Matréna and Nikíta.
Matréna (goes up to her son). Yes, my son! (Sits down on the mound, near him.) Your affair, too, has to be considered. It must not be left out.
Nikíta. What affair?
Matréna. Namely, how you are to get on in the world.
Nikíta. How to get on in the world? I shall live just as other people do.
Matréna. The old man is going to die to-day.
Nikíta. If he does, the kingdom of heaven be his. What is that to me?
Matréna (looking all the time at the porch while speaking). Oh, my son! A living person thinks of living things. My dear, it takes much thinking here. I have been in all kinds of places, attending to your affairs; I have worn out my legs running errands for you. Don't forget me for it!
Nikíta. What is it you attended to?
Matréna. To your affair, to your fate. If I did not attend to it in time, nothing would come of it. You know Iván Moséich? I go to see him now and then. The other day I attended to some business of his; I stayed there awhile and chatted with him. "Explain to me, Iván Moséich," says I, "a certain matter. For example," says I, "there is a widower, and he has taken unto himself a second wife, and, let us say, he has children by both wives. Suppose now," says I, "the man dies; can another man,” says I, "step in and marry the widow? Can
