Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 18.djvu/234



. This was not a success. Tell me, were you yesterday at the Mergasóvs'?

. Not so much at mère Gassof as at père Gassof, and not even père Gassof as fils Gassof.

. Can't you get along without puns? It is a disease. Were there any gipsies there? (Laughs.)

(sings). "Birds upon her apron fair, golden combs upon her hair!"

. How fortunate you are! It was so dull for us at Fofo's.

(continuing to chant). "And she swore most solemnly, she would stay—"What is the rest? Márya Konstantínovna, what is the rest?

. "An hour with me—"

. How? How is it, Márya Konstantínovna? (Laughs.)

. Cessez, vous devenez impossible!

. J'ai cessé, j'ai bébé, j'ai dédé—

. I see only one means of getting rid of your puns, and that is to make you sing. Let us go to Vovó's room! There is a guitar there. Come, Márya Konstantínovna, come!

. Who are these people?

. One is the young lady, and the other a mamzelle who teaches music.

. She promotes into science, so to speak. And how accurate she is, a regular portrait!

. Why don't they marry them off? They are advanced in years, it seems.