longer,
but Mikhail...
- Vassilyevich.
- That's right.
Look at him! Michel never goes
anywhere, yet he knows everyone.
Sophie, there he is! Come on,
don't you recognize him?
I don't believe it!
It has been seven years,
Sophia Yegorovna.
A dog gets old in that time,
and a horse, too.
Horses live as long as 18 years.
On the average, of course.
Well... Mikhail Vassilyevich and I
have known each other long ago.
He was a student at that time,
and I...
We all thought he'd become Minister of
some special affairs, another Byron.
And I was preparing to be a Yermolova,
do you remember?
Yes, seven years have passed...
How are you? What are you doing now?
I'm a school teacher,
nothing more.
What? You?
Yes, me.
Unbelievable!
But why nothing more?
One phrase wouldn't suffice
to answer your question.
Well, have you finished university
at least?
No, I quit.
Just chucked it.
But it doesn't prevent you from
being a man... Does it?
Sorry, but I don't understand
your question. What do you mean?
Yes, I didn't express myself
clearly enough.
It doesn't prevent you from
being a man working for
the benefit of women's emancipation,
universal education and progress.
It doesn't prevent you
from serving the idea?
Oh, no! On the contrary!
For example, Ivan Ivanovich and I
are working now
for the benefit of emancipation and
the idea, and quite successfully.
Mr. Triletsky here is a doctor,
a Darwinist.
Porfiry Semyonovich can mow.
He's a hygienist! He shaves mouzhiks'
beards. And does it splendidly!
His village looks like
the Mariyinsky Theatre,
everyone walks around
bare-faced.
We subscribe to the capital's
newspapers,
and Mister Petrin
reads them to us.
So we do work for various benefits,
we work a lot.
And this is my wife!
I almost forgot! Alexandra!
Stay put.
Say hello, Sashenka.
My wife, a civil duty,
the prolongation of a family line.
We breed...
I have a son, the heir to the idea.
Lacking means, ladies and gentlemen,
we inherit ideas.
Ladies and gentlemen,
what's going on?
Isn't it a holiday today?
Isn't it summertime?
And you sit here,
like at a funeral service.
Sophia Yegorovna and I
just played out a comedy for you.
And nobody even smiled.
Just look at them, they're as boring
as a choir of Moravian teachers.
He can't stand it
when people sit quietly.
Michel is right!
He's absolutely right! We've deserved
it! We've deserved even more!
He's the only one among us who lives
and breathes at his full potential!
If it were not for him,
we would have withered altogether.
You're such a clever man,
Sergey Pavlovich.
What do you think, ladies and
gentlemen, is there any hope
that we'd be given something to eat
today?
Yes, Anna Petrovna, really?
I'm so tired of him!
He's outrageously cheeky!
Everyone is being patient and waits,
so you wait too!
Do you ever happen not to be hungry?
He eats and eats, there's no end of it.
I made a point of watching him,
and was amazed.
Two cups of tea,
a piece of beef that big,
then five eggs, after which
he returned to his room
and finished half a pie!
Why's everybody shouting, quarrelling,
stamping their feet? No peace all day!
What's that racket?
Stop it now!
What is it?
Aha! Hurray! My admirer's coming!
Yes! Yes!
And I'll repeat it: You're toads!
They tagged after their father here,
just to make a show of disobedience,
and they put on those green dresses
to boot!
Just look at them, Christian people!
Green lizards! Stupid girls!
You could leave your rudeness
at home, father.
- And they dragged my nephew along!
- There's no one to leave him with!
You should've taken your mother, too,
you fools!
This is a real gentleman,
unlike all of you!
Congratulations on your lawful
wedlock, Your Excellency!
You should congratulate Sophia
Yegorovna, not me.
This is our cousin, Petechka. There's
no one at home to look after him.
- Is the doctor here?
- Yes, he's here.
Tell him not to make fun of us.