BORKIN. Well, well, excuse me. Sit here by yourself then, for heaven's sake, if it amuses you. [Gets up and goes away] What extraordinary people one meets in the world. They won't even allow themselves to be spoken to. [He comes back] Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. Please let me have eighty-two roubles. IVANOFF. Why do you want eighty-two roubles? BORKIN. To pay the workmen to-morrow. IVANOFF. I haven't the money. BORKIN. Many thanks. [Angrily] So you haven't the money! And yet the workmen must be paid, mustn't they? IVANOFF. I don't know. Wait till my salary comes in on the first of the month. BORKIN. How is it possible to discuss anything with a man like you? Can't you understand that the workmen are coming to-morrow morning and not on the first of the month? IVANOFF. How can I help it? I'll be hanged if I can do anything about it now. And what do you mean by this irritating way you have of pestering me whenever I am trying to read or write or---- BORKIN. Must the workmen be paid or not, I ask you? But, good gracious! What is the use of talking to you! [Waves his hand] Do you think because you own an estate you can command the whole world? With your two thousand acres and your empty pockets you are like a man who has a cellar full of wine and no corkscrew. I have sold the oats as they stand in the field. Yes, sir! And to-morrow I shall sell the rye and the carriage horses. [He stamps up and down] Do you think I am going to stand upon ceremony with you? Certainly not! I am not that kind of a man! ANNA appears at the open window. ANNA. Whose voice did I hear just now? Was it yours, Misha? Why are you stamping up and down? BORKIN. Anybody who had anything to do with your Nicholas would stamp up and down. ANNA. Listen, Misha! Please have some hay carried onto the croquet lawn. BORKIN. [Waves his hand] Leave me alone, please! ANNA. Oh, what manners! They are not becoming to you at all. If you want to be liked by women you must never let them see you when you are angry or obstinate. [To her husband] Nicholas, let us go and play on the lawn in the hay! IVANOFF. Don't you know it is bad for you to stand at the open window, Annie? [Calls] Shut the window, Uncle! [The window is shut from the inside.] BORKIN. Don't forget that the interest on the money you owe Lebedieff must be paid in two days. IVANOFF. I haven't forgotten it. I am going over to see Lebedieff today and shall ask him to wait. [He looks at his watch.] BORKIN. When are you going? IVANOFF. At once. BORKIN. Wait! Wait! Isn't this Sasha's birthday? So it is! The idea of my forgetting it. What a memory I have. [Jumps about] I shall go with you! [Sings] I shall go, I shall go! Nicholas, old man, you are the joy of my life. If you were not always so nervous and cross and gloomy, you and I could do great things together. I would do anything for you. Shall I marry Martha Babakina and give you half her fortune? That is, not half, either, but all--take it all!