_Yaìch._ French be hanged! But that confounded matchmaker.... Oh! the old hag! the old brute! If only you knew the way she described it all! Like a painter; for all the world like a painter! “A house, wings, basements, silver spoons, sledges, nothing to do but to get in and drive!” One hardly ever comes across such a page in a novel! Oh! you old harridan! once I get hold of you!... (_Enter_ FÈKLA. _All crowd round her and begin to speak at once._) _Yaìch._ Ah—h—h! There she is! Just come here a minute, you old——! Just come here a minute! _Anoùch._ How could you deceive me so, Fèkla Ivànovna? _Koch._ Now then, my beauty, stand up to the scratch! _Fèkla._ I can’t make out a word you say when you deafen me like that. _Yaìch._ The house is just built of stucco, you old hag, you! And you told me lies! It’s nothing but garrets, and the very devil knows what. _Fèkla._ I don’t know; I didn’t build it. I suppose if they built it with stucco it’s because they liked stucco. _Yaìch._ And it’s all mortgaged too, is it? May the devils eat you up, you damned old hag! (_Stamps his foot._) _Fèkla._ Oh! for shame! using such words! Anybody else would say “Thank you” for all the trouble I’ve taken. _Anoùch._ Ah! Fèkla Ivànovna! and you deceived me too; you told me she knew French! _Fèkla._ So she does, dear heart, so she does! And German; and all that outlandish gibberish. She can talk all the ways you like. _Anoùch._ No, no; I’m afraid she talks nothing but Russian. _Fèkla._ And what’s the harm of that? Of course she talks Russian; because Russian’s easier to understand. And if she could do all that heathen jabber, it would be the worse for you, because you wouldn’t be able to understand a word. What have you got against anybody talking good, plain Russian? It’s the proper way to talk; all the saints talked Russian. _Yaìch._ Just come here a minute, confound you! Just come here to me! _Fèkla_ (_backing towards the door_). Not I! I know you too well! You’ve got a heavy hand; one never knows when you may strike! _Yaìch._ Ah, my dove! I’ll pay you out for this! When I take you to the police-station you’ll get a lesson how to deceive honest people. I’ll let you know! And tell the girl from me that she’s a beast! Do you hear? Be sure you tell her. (_Exit._) _Fèkla._ Well, I never did! He’s in a fine fury! Just because he’s fat, he thinks there’s no one like him in the world. And supposing I say that you’re a beast yourself, what then? _Anoùch._ I am bound to say, my good woman, that I did not expect you to have deceived me so. If I had known that the young lady is so uneducated, I ... I simply would never have set foot inside the place. That’s the truth! (_Exit._) _Fèkla._ Is the man drunk or daft? These fine folk are over hard to please! All that foolish learning has just turned his head! (KOCHKARYÒV _points to Fèkla with his finger, and bursts into a roar of laughter_.)