FOMÁ. Did ever one hear such stuff? She put out the lamp at Candlemas, and lighted it anew from the taper which she brought home from the midnight service, from the new fire struck by the priest with flint and steel; and now she thinks that is the reason why it burns so brightly. VAR. Is that not so then, Astéryi Ivanovitch? AST. Oh, Fomá Ilyitch is a chemist; he can tell you what fire is made of. FOMÁ. So you have been all the way to St. Pantaléimon's in the Marsh? Oh, piety, thy name is Praskóvya Petróvna! Not a person can hold the most miserably little service in the remotest corner of the town but you smell it out and go to it. VAR. It is a Christian deed, Fomá Ilyitch. AST. Now I can get at the ace. VAR. [_to Praskóvya_]. I must get your supper. [_She gets a plate of meat from a cupboard._] FOMÁ. And on All Souls' Day she brought home holy water in a bottle and sprinkled the rooms of all the lodgers. The schoolmaster was very angry. You spotted the cover of his Greek Lexicon. He says it is a pagan custom, come down to us from the ancient Scythians. PRAS. I do not like to hear jokes about sacred things. One may provoke Heaven to anger. AST. Now I get all this row off. FOMÁ. You are always afraid of offending Heaven. PRAS. Of course I am. Think what I have at stake. For you it is only a little thing. You have a life of your own on earth; I have none. I have been as good as dead for twenty years, and the only thing that I desire is to get safely to heaven to join my son who is there. FOMÁ. We all wish to get to heaven. PRAS. Not so much as I do. If I were in hell it is not the brimstone that would matter; it would be to know that I should not see my son. [_Fomá nods_]. AST. I believe it is coming out. [_They all concentrate their attention eagerly on the patience._] VAR. The six and the seven go. Saints preserve us! and the eight. [_She takes up a card to move it._] AST. No, not that one; leave that. VAR. Where did it come from? AST. From here. PRAS. No, from there. VAR. It was from here. AST. It is all the same. FOMÁ. It will go. PRAS. And the knave from off this row. VAR. The Wolf is going out! PRAS. It is seven years since it went out. FOMÁ. Seven years? AST. It is out! PRAS. It is done! VAR. [_clapping her hands_]. Hooray! AST. [_elated_]. Some great good fortune is going to happen. VAR. What can it be? [_A pause._] PRAS. And what is the vodka for? AST. The vodka? PRAS. You promised to tell me when the patience was done. AST. How much money have you saved up for the house on Sasha's tomb? PRAS. Four hundred and six roubles and a few kopecks. AST. And Spiridón asks for 500 roubles? PRAS. Five hundred roubles. AST. What if he should lower his price? PRAS. He will not lower his price. AST. What if he should say that he would take 450 roubles? PRAS. Why, if I went without food for a year.... [_Laughing at herself._] If one could but live without food!