AST. What if he should say that he would take 420 roubles? PRAS. Astéryi Ivanovitch, you know the proverb--the elbow is near, but you cannot bite it. I am old and feeble. I want it now, now, now. Shall I outlive the bitter winter? A shelter to sit in and talk to my son. A monument worthy of such a saint. AST. Spiridón has been here. PRAS. Spiridón has been here? What did he say? Tell me! AST. He will build it for 400 roubles. VAR. For 400 roubles! AST. He will return soon to strike a bargain. PRAS. Is it true? AST. As true as that I wear the cross. PRAS. Oh, all the holy saints be praised! Sláva Tebyé Hóspodi! [_Kneeling before the eikons._] Oh, my darling Sasha, we will meet in a fine house, you and I, face to face. [_She prostrates herself three times before the eikons._] VAR. Then this is the good luck. AST. No, this cannot be what the cards told us; for this had happened already before the Wolf came out. VAR. Then there is something else to follow? AST. Evidently. VAR. What can it be? AST. To-morrow perhaps we shall know. PRAS. [_rising_]. And in a month I shall have my tomb-house finished, for which I have been waiting twenty years! A little stone house safe against the rain. [_Smiling and eager._] There will be a tile stove which I can light: in the middle a stone table and two chairs--one for me and one for my boy when he comes and sits with me, and.... VAR. [_at the window, shrieking_]. Ah! Heaven defend us! PRAS. What is it? VAR. The face! the face! PRAS. The face again? FOMÁ. What face? VAR. The face looked in at the window! AST. Whose face? VAR. It is the man that we have seen watching us in the cemetery. PRAS. [_crossing herself_]. Oh, Heaven preserve me from this man! FOMÁ. [_opening the street door_]. There is nobody there. AST. This is a false alarm. FOMÁ. People who tire their eyes by staring at window-panes at night often see faces looking in through them. PRAS. Oh, Hóspodi! AST. Spiridón will be returning soon. Have you the money ready? PRAS. The money? Yes, yes! I will get it ready. It is not here. Come, Varvára. [_They put on coats and shawls._] AST. If it is in the bank we must wait till the daytime. PRAS. My money in the bank? I am not so foolish. [_She lights the lantern._] Get the spade, Varvára. [_Varvára goes out and fetches a spade._] It is buried in the field, in a place that no one knows but myself. AST. Are you not afraid to go out? PRAS. Afraid? No, I am not afraid. FOMÁ. But your supper--you have not eaten your supper. PRAS. How can I think of supper at such a moment? FOMÁ. No supper? Oh, what a wonderful thing is a mother's love! PRAS. [_to Astéryi and Fomá_]. Stay here till we return. VAR. [_drawing back_]. I am afraid, Praskóvya Petróvna. PRAS. Nonsense, there is nothing to fear. FOMÁ. [_throwing his coat over his back_]. I will go with you to the corner of the street. AST. [_shuffling the cards_]. I must try one for myself.