And I know you, and I know that it is a sort of foolish pleasure to you to employ a count in the work and to pay your money to a count, though he does not earn it any better than any one else, nor any worse, to be just.

And I know the Count, and I know his friends who borrow fifty marks of you and pay you back in stuffed dolls with tunes in them.

I know you, Christian Gregorovitch"-- at the thought of the lost money Akulina broke at last into her native language and gave the reins to her fury in good Russian--"yes, I know you, and him, and his friends and your friends, and I see the good yellow money flying out of the window like a flight of canary birds when the cage is opened, and I see you grinning like Player-Ape over the vile Vienna puppet, and winding up its abominable music as though you were turning the key upon your money in the safe instead of listening to the tune of its departure.

And then because Akulina has the courage to tell you the truth, and to tell you that your fine Count is no count, and that his friends get from you ten times the money he earns, then you turn on me like a bear, ready to bite off my head, and you tell me to choose my language! Is there no shame in you, Christian Gregorovitch, or is there also no understanding?
Am I the mother of your four children or not?
I would like to ask.

I suppose you cannot deny that, whatever else you deny which is true, and you tell me to choose my language! _Da_, I will choose my language, in truth! _Da_, I will choose out such a swarm of words as ought to sting your ears like hornets, if you had not such a leathery skin and such a soft brain inside it.