FOMÍNISHNA. The fact is, I don't know how to tell you. You're pretty strong on talk; but when it comes to action you aren't there! I asked you, and asked you, to give me just a handkerchief--nothing expensive: two heaps of stuff are lying around on your closet floor now without any care; but it didn't do any good; it's always give it to strangers, give it to strangers! AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. There, now, Fomínishna, I'll never make this out till doomsday. LÍPOCHKA. Let her go; she had a drink of beer after breakfast, and so she's getting fuzzy in her head. FOMÍNISHNA. That's all right; what are you laughing at? How's it coming out, Agraféna Kondrátyevna? Sometimes the beginning is worse than the end. AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. One can never find out anything from you! As soon as you begin to talk, we have to stop up our ears! Now, who was it who came here? LÍPOCHKA. A man or a woman? FOMÍNISHNA. You can never see anything but men! Where in the world did one ever see a man wearing a widow's bonnet? This is a widow's affair--so what should her name be? LÍPOCHKA. Naturally, a woman without a husband, a widow. FOMÍNISHNA. So I was right? And it comes out that it is a woman! LÍPOCHKA. What a senseless creature! Well, who is the woman? FOMÍNISHNA. There, there now, you're clever, but no guesser; it couldn't be anybody else but Ustinya Naúmovna. LÍPOCHKA. Ah, mamma, how lucky! AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Where has she been all this time? Bring her in quickly, Fomínishna. FOMÍNISHNA. She'll appear herself in a second. She stopped in the yard, quarrelling with the porter; he didn't open the door quickly enough. SCENE IV _The same and_ USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. [_Entering_] Ouf, fa, fa! Why do you have such a steep staircase, my jewels? You climb, and climb, and much as ever you get there! LÍPOCHKA. Oh, here she is! How are you, Ustinya Naúmovna? USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. Don't get in a hurry! There's people older than you. I want to chatter with your mamma a bit first. [_Exchanges kisses with_ AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA] How are you, Agraféna Kondrátyevna? How did you feel when you got up? How did you pass the night? All alive, my precious? AGRAFÉNA KONDRÁTYEVNA. Thank the Lord! I'm alive, able to chew; I've been joking with my daughter all the morning. USTÍNYA NAÚMOVNA. All about dresses, I suppose. [_Exchanging kisses with_ LÍPOCHKA] Well, your turn has come. What's this! It seems as if you had grown stouter, my jewel! Lord bless you! What could be better than to blossom out in beauty! FOMÍNISHNA. Shame on you, temptress! You'll give us bad luck yet! LÍPOCHKA. Oh, what nonsense! It just looks that way to you, Ustinya Naúmovna. I keep getting punier; first it's stomachache, then palpitation of the heart--just like the beating of a pendulum. Now I have a sinking feeling, or feel kind of seasick, and things swim before my eyes.