THIRD PEASANT. Oh Lord! Didn't I say we'd better wait outside until the time comes? [Silence]. SECOND PEASANT. Is it _you_, Simon wants to marry? TÁNYA. Why, has he been writing? [Hides her face in her apron]. SECOND PEASANT. It's evident he's written! But it's a bad business he's imagined here. I see the lad's got spoilt! TÁNYA [quickly] No, he's not at all spoilt! Shall I send him to you? SECOND PEASANT. Why send him? All in good time. Where's the hurry? VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH [desperately, behind scene] Gregory! Where the devil are you?... [Enters from his room in shirt-sleeves, adjusting his pince-nez]. VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. Is every one dead? TÁNYA. He's not here, sir.... I'll send him to you at once. [Moves towards the back door]. VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. I could hear you talking, you know. How have these scarecrows sprung up here? Eh? What? TÁNYA. They're peasants from the Koursk village, sir. [Peasants bow]. VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. And who is this? Oh yes, from Bourdier. Vasíly Leoníditch pays no attention to the Peasants' bow. Tánya meets Gregory at the doorway and remains on the scene. VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH [to Gregory] I told you the other boots... I can't wear these! GREGORY. Well, the others are also there. VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. But where is _there_? GREGORY. Just in the same place! VASÍLY LEONÍDITCH. They're not! GREGORY. Well, come and see. [Exeunt Gregory and Vasíly Leoníditch]. THIRD PEASANT. Say now, might we not in the meantime just go and wait, say, in some lodging-house or somewhere? TÁNYA. No, no, wait a little. I'll go and bring you some plates to put the presents on. [Exit]. Enter Sahátof and Leoníd Fyódoritch, followed by Theodore Ivánitch. The Peasants take up the presents, and pose themselves. LEONÍD FYÓDORITCH [to Peasants] Presently, presently! Wait a bit! [Points to Porter] Who is this? PORTER. From Bourdey's. LEONÍD FYÓDORITCH. Ah, from Bourdier. SAHÁTOF [smiling] Well, I don't deny it: still you understand that, never having seen it, we, the uninitiated, have some difficulty in believing. LEONÍD FYÓDORITCH. You say you find it difficult to believe! We do not ask for faith; all we demand of you is to investigate! How can I help believing in this ring? Yet this ring came from there! SAHÁTOF. From _there_? What do you mean? From where? LEONÍD FYÓDORITCH. From the other world. Yes! SAHÁTOF [smiling] That's very interesting--very interesting! LEONÍD FYÓDORITCH. Well, supposing we admit that I'm a man carried away by an idea, as you think, and that I am deluding myself. Well, but what of Alexéy Vladímiritch Krougosvétlof--he is not just an ordinary man, but a distinguished professor, and yet he admits it to be a fact. And not he alone. What of Crookes? What of Wallace? SAHÁTOF. But I don't deny anything. I only say it is very interesting. It would be interesting to know how Krougosvétlof explains it!