SAHATOF. Yes, yes, I see. Well, you talk to them a bit, and I'll put it into that bag without being observed, so that they should not notice and could not point it out to him. Talk to them. VASILY LEONIDITCH. All right! (To PEASANTS.) Well then, old fellows, how about the land? Are you buying it? Eh, what? FIRST PEASANT. We have made an offering, so to say, with our whole heart. But there,--the business don't come into action nohow. VASILY LEONIDITCH. You should not be so stingy! Land is an important matter! I told you about planting mint. Or else tobacco would also do. FIRST PEASANT. That's just it. Every kind of producks. THIRD PEASANT. And you help us, master. Ask your father. Or else how are we to live? There's so little land. A fowl, let's say, there's not enough room for a fowl to run about. SAHATOF (having put the spoon into a bag belonging to the THIRD PEASANT). C'est fait. Ready. Come along. [Exit. VASILY LEONIDITCH. So don't be stingy! Eh? Well, good-bye. [Exit. THIRD PEASANT. Didn't I say, come to some lodging-house? Well, supposing we'd had to give three-pence each, then at least we'd have been in peace. As to here, the Lord be merciful! "Give us the money," he says. What's that for? SECOND PEASANT. He's drunk, I daresay. [PEASANTS turn their cups upside-down, rise, and cross themselves. FIRST PEASANT. And d'you mind what a saying he threw out? Sowing mint! One must know how to understand them, that one must! SECOND PEASANT. Sow mint indeed! He'd better bend his own back at that work, and then it's not mint he'll hanker after, no fear! Well, many thanks!... And now, good woman, would you tell us where we could lie down to sleep? SERVANTS' COOK. One of you can lie on the oven, and the others on these benches. THIRD PEASANT. Christ save you! [Prays, crossing himself. FIRST PEASANT. If only by God's help we get our business settled! (Lies down.) Then to-morrow, after dinner, we'd be off by the train, and on Tuesday we'd be home again. SECOND PEASANT. Are you going to put out the light? SERVANTS' COOK. Put it out? Oh, no! They'll keep running down here, first for one thing then another.... You lie down, I'll lower it. SECOND PEASANT. How is one to live, having so little land? Why, this year, I have had to buy corn since Christmas. And the oat-straw is all used up. I'd like to get hold of ten acres, and then I could take Simon back. THIRD PEASANT. You're a man with a family. You'd get the land cultivated without trouble. If only the business comes off. SECOND PEASANT. We must pray to the Holy Virgin, maybe she'll help us out. (Silence, broken by sighs. Then footsteps and voices are heard outside. The door opens. Enter GROSSMAN hurriedly, with his eyes bandaged, holding SAHATOF'S hand, and followed by the PROFESSOR and the DOCTOR, the FAT LADY and LEONID FYODORITCH, BETSY and PETRISTCHEF, VASILY LEONIDITCH and MARYA KONSTANTINOVNA, ANNA PAVLOVNA and the BARONESS, THEODORE IVANITCH and TANYA.)