"I am the midwife. What do you want?" The gentleman walks into the entry and Marya Petrovna sees facing her a tall, well-made man, no longer young, but with a handsome, severe face and bushy whiskers. "I am a collegiate assessor, my name is Kiryakov," he says. "I came to fetch you to my wife. Only please make haste." "Very good . . ." the midwife assents. "I'll dress at once, and I must trouble you to wait for me in the parlour." Kiryakov takes off his overcoat and goes into the parlour. The greenish light of the lamp lies sparsely on the cheap furniture in patched white covers, on the pitiful flowers and the posts on which ivy is trained. . . . There is a smell of geranium and carbolic. The little clock on the wall ticks timidly, as though abashed at the presence of a strange man. "I am ready," says Marya Petrovna, coming into the room five minutes later, dressed, washed, and ready for action. "Let us go." "Yes, you must make haste," says Kiryakov. "And, by the way, it is not out of place to enquire--what do you ask for your services?" "I really don't know . . ." says Marya Petrovna with an embarrassed smile. "As much as you will give." "No, I don't like that," says Kiryakov, looking coldly and steadily at the midwife. "An arrangement beforehand is best. I don't want to take advantage of you and you don't want to take advantage of me. To avoid misunderstandings it is more sensible for us to make an arrangement beforehand." "I really don't know--there is no fixed price." "I work myself and am accustomed to respect the work of others. I don't like injustice. It will be equally unpleasant to me if I pay you too little, or if you demand from me too much, and so I insist on your naming your charge." "Well, there are such different charges." "H'm. In view of your hesitation, which I fail to understand, I am constrained to fix the sum myself. I can give you two roubles." "Good gracious! . . . Upon my word! . . ." says Marya Petrovna, turning crimson and stepping back. "I am really ashamed. Rather than take two roubles I will come for nothing . . . . Five roubles, if you like." "Two roubles, not a kopeck more. I don't want to take advantage of you, but I do not intend to be overcharged." "As you please, but I am not coming for two roubles. . . ." "But by law you have not the right to refuse." "Very well, I will come for nothing." "I won't have you for nothing. All work ought to receive remuneration. I work myself and I understand that. . . ." "I won't come for two roubles," Marya Petrovna answers mildly. "I'll come for nothing if you like." "In that case I regret that I have troubled you for nothing. . . . I have the honour to wish you good-bye." "Well, you are a man!" says Marya Petrovna, seeing him into the entry. "I will come for three roubles if that will satisfy you."