BORKIN. When are you going?

IVANOFF. At once.

BORKIN. Wait! Wait! Isn't this Sasha's birthday? So it is! The
idea of my forgetting it. What a memory I have. [Jumps about] I
shall go with you! [Sings] I shall go, I shall go! Nicholas, old
man, you are the joy of my life. If you were not always so
nervous and cross and gloomy, you and I could do great things
together. I would do anything for you. Shall I marry Martha
Babakina and give you half her fortune? That is, not half,
either, but all--take it all!

IVANOFF. Enough of this nonsense!

BORKIN. No, seriously, shan't I marry Martha and halve the money
with you? But no, why should I propose it? How can you
understand? [Angrily] You say to me: "Stop talking nonsense!" You
are a good man and a clever one, but you haven't any red blood in
your veins or any--well, enthusiasm. Why, if you wanted to, you
and I could cut a dash together that would shame the devil
himself. If you were a normal man instead of a morbid
hypochondriac we would have a million in a year. For instance, if
I had twenty-three hundred roubles now I could make twenty
thousand in two weeks. You don't believe me? You think it is all
nonsense? No, it isn't nonsense. Give me twenty-three hundred
roubles and let me try. Ofsianoff is selling a strip of land
across the river for that price. If we buy this, both banks will
be ours, and we shall have the right to build a dam across the