MISSAIL. Our comrade.

GREGORY. A layman from the suburb; I have conducted the
old men as far as the frontier; from here I am going to
my own home.

MISSAIL. So you have changed your mind?

GREGORY. (Sotto voce.) Be silent.

OFFICER. Hostess, bring some more wine, and we will
drink here a little and talk a little with these old men.

2ND OFFICER. (Sotto voce.) Yon lad, it appears, is poor;
there's nothing to be got out of him; on the other hand
the old men--

1ST OFFICER. Be silent; we shall come to them presently.
--Well, my fathers, how are you getting on?

VARLAAM. Badly, my sons, badly! The Christians have
now turned stingy; they love their money; they hide
their money. They give little to God. The people of
the world have become great sinners. They have all
devoted themselves to commerce, to earthly cares; they
think of worldly wealth, not of the salvation of the soul.
You walk and walk; you beg and beg; sometimes in
three days begging will not bring you three half-pence.
What a sin! A week goes by; another week; you look