oven to the bench, that's as far as you can go. You are only hard on people.
Peter. If I were not hard on you, I should not be able to find a thing in a year. Oh, what people!
Anísya. You make one attend to a dozen things at once, and you scold all the while. It is easy enough to command when you are lying on the oven.
Peter (sighing). If it were not for this sickness of mine I should not keep him a day.
Akulína's voice behind the scene. Here, horsy, here, horsy! (One hears the neighing of a colt and horses running in through the gate. The gate creaks.)
Peter. All he knows is to prattle. Really, I would not keep him.
Anísya (mocking him). I won't keep him. Move about and then talk!
Scene III. The same and Akulína.
Akulína (entering). I had the hardest time driving them in. The dappled gray—
Peter. And where is Nikíta?
Akulína. Nikíta? He is standing in the street.
Peter. What is he standing there for?
Akulína. What is he standing there for? He is standing around the corner, and is talking.
Peter. I can't get anything out of her. With whom is he talking?
Akulína (not hearing him). What? (Peter waves his hand to Akulina; she goes back to her spinning.)
Scene IV. The same and Anyútka.
Anyútka (running in. To her mother). Nikita's parents have come to see him. Indeed, they are taking him home to get married.
