ARKHÍP. [_Patting_ AFÓNYA _on the head_] What do you expect of him? He's a sick man. KRASNÓV _comes in_. SCENE IV KRASNÓV, TATYÁNA, LUKÉRYA, ARKHÍP, _and_ AFÓNYA LUKÉRYA. [_In a low voice to_ ARKHÍP] Lev Rodionych is here. ARKHÍP. Lev, you haven't had any dinner to-day. KRASNÓV. I had no time. TATYÁNA. If you wish, we'll serve you now. KRASNÓV. [_Sitting down to the table_] Certainly. I can't get along without eating! TATYÁNA. Set the table, sister! [_Goes to the kitchen_. LUKÉRYA _sets the table_. ARKHÍP. Lev, are you going back to the shop? KRASNÓV. No, I'm all through there. ARKHÍP. Will you stay at home? KRASNÓV. I'll be here for an hour, then I have to go across the river to make a collection. TATYÁNA _brings a plate of cabbage soup, puts it on the table, and goes out with_ LUKÉRYA. KRASNÓV, _after eating several spoonfuls, is lost in thought_. ARKHÍP. Lev! I can't see you, but it seems as if you weren't happy. KRASNÓV. What's there to be happy about? ARKHÍP. Why are you so sad? What's your sorrow? KRASNÓV. It's my sorrow, grandfather, mine. My very own. It's for me to judge of it. ARKHÍP. Well, as you choose! It's your sorrow, and for you to bear. [_Pause_] If I say anything, you know I'm not your enemy; if you scold me, there's no harm in it. I've lived longer than you, and I've seen more sorrow; maybe what I say will be good for you. KRASNÓV. It isn't the kind of affair, grandfather, that needs advice! You can't tell me anything. ARKHÍP. You're foolish, foolish! How do you know? Are you wiser than the rest of us? KRASNÓV. Please stop. I can't discuss with you. What do you want? _Strikes the spoon against the bowl angrily_. LUKÉRYA _enters, places a bowl of mush on the table, and goes out_. ARKHÍP. Your wife is wiser than you, really wiser. KRASNÓV. If she were wise she'd obey her husband. ARKHÍP. Not necessarily! One can't be on one's guard every minute! Don't you hold anger for every little thing. One wrong--is no wrong; and two wrongs--a half wrong; it takes three wrongs to make a whole wrong. KRASNÓV. What wrongs! All wrongs aren't the same. For some wrongs strangling would be mild. ARKHÍP. What makes you so fierce? Nowadays, they don't hang a man even for highway robbery. KRASNÓV. I can't even eat my food. ARKHÍP. You have a terrible temper! I began to talk about your wife; that wasn't just for the sake of saying something. She came to her senses before you did. [KRASNÓV _listens_] "Grandfather Arkhíp," says she, "put in a word for me to my husband! I love him," says she, "but I'm afraid of his temper. He seems to think me bad without any reason. I wouldn't exchange him for any one," says she. "I'd try to please him in every way, just so he forgives me and doesn't get angry." KRASNÓV. Is that true? ARKHÍP. Have you gone absolutely crazy? Do you think I'd turn liar in my old age? She'd have told you herself; she wants to bow down to you but, you see, she's ashamed, and then she's afraid.