Nikíta. But why are you rushing away from the tea?
Akím (girding himself). I will go away, because, so to speak, it is not good here; it is not good here, Nikíta, so to speak. You are living badly, so to speak, Nikíta, badly. I will go away.
Nikíta. Stop talking! Sit down and drink tea
Anísya. Father, it will be a disgrace before people. What is it that has offended you?
Akím. I have not been offended, so to speak, but I see that everything is making for ruin, so to speak,—yes, my son, for ruin, so to speak.
Nikíta. What ruin? Prove it!
Akím. To ruin, to ruin, you are going to ruin. I told you so last year.
Nikíta. What of it if you told me?
Akím. I told you about the orphan. You have wronged, so to speak, the orphan, Marína,—you have wronged her.
Nikíta. What are you thinking about? Of old yeast make not a new feast! That is a thing of the past—
Akím (excitedly). Past? No, friend, it is not past. One sin holds on to another and pulls you along. Nikíta, you are stuck in sins. You are stuck, I see, in sins. You are stuck fast, so to speak.
Nikíta. Sit down and drink tea, and stop that talking!
Akím. I cannot, so to speak, drink tea with you. Because your evil deeds, so to speak, make me feel bad. I cannot, so to speak, drink with you.
Nikíta. You are repeating one and the same story. Go to the table!
Akím. You are sitting in your wealth, so to speak, as though in a snare, in a snare, so to speak. Oh, Nikíta, one needs a soul.
Nikíta. What right have you to talk to me that way in my own house? What do you want of me, anyway?
