Ye-es, hm! Why, Mr. Tropinin--why, my dear fellow--don't I know, don't I understand it all? It's a rotten, cursed life! Ah, Mr. Savva, Mr. Savva--look here. If I were to tell anyone that I am a good man, they'd laugh and say: "What are you lying for, you drunkard?" Kondraty a good man! It sounds like a joke even to myself. And yet I swear to you, by God, I am a good man! I don't know how it happened the way it did, why I am what I am now. I lived and lived, and suddenly! How it came about, what the reason of it is, I don't know. SAVVA And you are still afraid? KONDRATY What am I now? I am neither a candle for God nor a poker for the devil. Sometimes when I think matters over--ah, Mr. Savva, do you think I have no conscience? Don't I understand? I understand everything but--I am not really afraid of the devil either. I am just playing the fool. The devil--nonsense! If you were in the place of us in there, you would understand. Not long ago, when I was drunk, I cried: "Get out, devil--out of my way--am a desperate man!" I don't care for anything. I don't care if I die. I am ready. You have worked at me, Mr. Savva, until I have grown quite soft. _(Wipes his eyes with his sleeves)_ SAVVA Why should you die? I don't want to die either. We are going to live for some time to come, we are. How old are you? KONDRATY Forty-two. SAVVA Just the right age. KONDRATY I am sorry for the ikon. They say it appeared miraculously in the river, and that's how it came to be here. SAVVA Nonsense. Don't waste your feelings. It's supposed to be a wonder-working ikon and hasn't one miracle to its credit. Why, it makes one feel like a fool just to say it. KONDRATY They say it has been replaced by the devil, so that it isn't the real one. SAVVA So much the better. And yet you crack your heads in front of it and fool the people about it. There is no use wasting words, my friend. It's agreed then. KONDRATY You have to go now. The gate will soon be closed. And all of a sudden-- SAVVA What "all of a sudden"? KONDRATY And all of a sudden I'll be going to the ikon, and it will strike me down with lightning and thunder. Won't it? SAVVA _(laughing)_ Don't be afraid. It won't strike you. That's what everybody thinks. They are all afraid they'll be struck by lightning and thunder. But it won't happen. Believe me, a man may blow up the ikon and no lightning will strike him. Do you need money? KONDRATY Have you got any? SAVVA I have. KONDRATY _(suspiciously)_ Where did you get it? SAVVA What business is that of yours? Suppose I killed a rich man, or cut somebody's throat--are you going to report me to the police? KONDRATY _(reassured)_