JACOB. No, they won't allow that. He's here one day, there another. If he's got a copper he goes to a dosshouse; but when he has drunk all, he comes here. SECOND PEASANT. How did he come to this? JACOB. Simply grew weak. And what a man he used to be--like a gentleman! Went about with a gold watch; got forty roubles a month wages. And now look at him! He'd have starved to death long ago if it hadn't been for Loukérya. Enter Servants' Cook with the sour cabbage. JACOB [to Servants' Cook] I see you've got Paul Petróvitch here again? SERVANTS' COOK. And where's he to go to? Is he to go and freeze? THIRD PEASANT. What liquor does.... Liquor, let's say ... [Clicks his tongue sympathetically]. SECOND PEASANT. Of course. A firm man's firm as a rock; a weak man's weaker than water. DISCHARGED COOK [gets off the oven with trembling hands and legs] Loukérya, I say, give us a drop! SERVANTS' COOK. What are you up to? I'll give you such a drop!... DISCHARGED COOK. Have you no conscience? I'm dying! Brothers, a copper ... SERVANTS' COOK. Get back on the oven, I tell you! DISCHARGED COOK. Half a glass only, cook, for Heaven's sake! I say, do you understand? I ask you in the name of Heaven, now! SERVANTS' COOK. Come along, here's some tea for you. DISCHARGED COOK. Tea; what is tea? Weak, sloppy stuff. A little vódka--just one little drop ... Loukérya! THIRD PEASANT. Poor old soul, what agony it is! SECOND PEASANT. You'd better give him some. SERVANTS' COOK [gets out a bottle and fills a wine-glass] Here you are; you'll get no more. DISCHARGED COOK [clutches hold of it and drinks, trembling all over] Loukérya, Cook! I am drinking, and you must understand ... SERVANTS' COOK. Now then, stop your chatter! Get on to the oven, and let not a breath of you be heard! [The old Cook meekly begins to climb up, muttering something to himself]. SECOND PEASANT. What it is, when a man gives way to his weakness! FIRST PEASANT. That's just it--human weakness. THIRD PEASANT. That goes without saying. The Discharged Cook settles down, muttering all the time. Silence. SECOND PEASANT. I want to ask you something: that girl of Aksínya's as comes from our village and is living here. How is she? What is she like? How is she living--I mean, does she live honest? JACOB. She's a nice girl; one can say nothing but good of her. SERVANTS' COOK. I'll tell you straight, daddy; I know this here establishment out and out, and if you mean to have Tánya for your son's wife--be quick about it, before she comes to grief, or else she'll not escape! JACOB. Yes, that's true. A while ago we had a girl here, Nataly. She was a good girl too. And she was lost without rhyme or reason. No better than that chap! [Pointing to the old Cook].