_Mrs. Uncouth._ “Read it yourself!” No, madam! Thank the Lord, I have not been educated that way! I may receive letters, but I order others to read them to me. (_To her husband._) Read it! _Uncouth_ (_looking at it for sometime_). It’s more than I can read. _Mrs. Uncouth._ I see, they have educated you like a fair maiden. Brother, be so kind as to read it. _Beastly._ I? I have never read a line since I was born! God has saved me that annoyance. _Sophia._ Let me read it to you. _Mrs. Uncouth._ I know you will read it, but I don’t trust you. There! Mitrofán’s teacher will soon be here, so I’ll tell him---- _Beastly._ So you have begun to teach your son reading? _Mrs. Uncouth._ Oh, my brother! He has been studying these four years. It shall not be laid to our door that we are not giving Mitrofán an education: we pay three teachers for it. The deacon from Pokróv, Carouse, comes to him for reading and writing. Arikmethick he studies with an ex-sergeant, Cipher. They both come from town, which is only two miles from us. French and all the sciences he takes from a German, Adam Adámych Bluster. He gets three hundred roubles a year. We let him eat at table with us; our peasant women wash his linen; if he has to travel anywhere, he gets our horses; at the table he always has a glass of wine, and at night a tallow candle, and Fomká fixes his wig for nothing. To tell the truth, we are satisfied with him, for he does not drive our child. I don’t see, anyway, why we should not fondle Mitrofán as long as he is a minor. He will have to suffer enough some ten years hence, when serving the Government. You know, brother, some people have luck from their birth. Take our family of Uncouths: they get all kinds of advancements while lying softly on their sides. With what is our Mitrofán worse than they? Ah, there is our dear guest. SCENE 7. THE SAME AND TRUTHFUL _Mrs. Uncouth._ Brother, I recommend to you our dear guest, Mr. Truthful; and to you, sir, I recommend my brother. _Truthful._ Am glad to make your acquaintance. _Beastly._ Very well, sir. What is your name? I did not quite hear it. _Truthful._ My name is Truthful, so that you may hear it. _Beastly._ Where born, sir? Where are your villages? _Truthful._ I was born in Moscow, if you must know that, and my villages are in this province. _Beastly._ And may I ask you,--I do not know your name and patronymic,--are there any pigs in your villages? _Mrs. Uncouth._ Now, stop, brother, asking about your pigs. We had better talk about our trouble. (_To Truthful._) Listen, sir! By God’s command we have taken this maiden upon our hands. She deigns to receive letters from her uncles: you see, her uncles write to her from heaven. Do us the kindness, sir, and read us this letter aloud. _Truthful._ Excuse me, madam, I never read letters without the permission of those to whom they have been addressed. _Sophia._ On the contrary, I beg you to do me the favour. _Truthful._ If you so order. (_He reads._)