human
A pleasant holiday, your excellency!
gpt
Thanks, my friend. I came to see how your affairs[3] were progressing, said Nekhliudof with boyish friendliness and timidity, glancing at the peasant's garb.
human
Just show me what you need in the way of supports that you asked me about at the last meeting.
gpt
Supports, of course, sir, your excellency, sir.[4] I should like it fixed a little here, sir, if you will have the goodness to cast your eye on it: here this corner has given way, sir, and only by the mercy of God the cattle didn't happen to be there. It barely hangs at all, said Churis, gazing with an expressive look at his broken-down, ramshackly, and ruined sheds.
human
Now the girders and the supports and the rafters are nothing but rot; you won't see a sound timber. But where can we get lumber nowadays, I should like to know?
gpt
Well, what do you want with the five supports when the one shed has fallen in? the others will be soon falling in too, won't they? You need to have every thing made new,--rafters and girders and posts; but you don't want supports,
human
Of course you need lumber, but not supports. You ought to have told me so.
gpt
Surely I do, but there's nowhere to get it. Not all of us can come to the manor-house. If we all should get into the habit of coming to the manor-house and asking your excellency for every thing we wanted, what kind of serfs should we be? But if your kindness went so far as to let me have some of the oak saplings that are lying idle over by the threshing-floor, said the peasant, making a low bow and scraping with his foot,
human
What is the good of the old? Why, you just told me that it was all old and rotten. This part has fallen in to-day; to-morrow, that one will; the day after, a third. So, if any thing is to be done, it must be all made new, so that the work may not be wasted. Now tell me what you think about it. Can your premises[5] last out this winter, or not?
gpt
Who can tell?
human
No, but what do you think? Will they fall in, or not?
gpt
Can't help falling in,
human
Well, now you see you had better have said that at the meeting, that you needed to rebuild your whole place,[5] instead of a few props. You see, I should be glad to help you.
gpt
Many thanks for your kindness, replied Churis, in an incredulous tone and not looking at the bárin.
human
If you would give me four joists and some props, then, perhaps, I might fix things up myself; but if any one is hunting after good-for-nothing timbers, then he'd find them in the joists of the hut.
gpt
Why, is your hut so wretched as all that?
human
My old woman and I are expecting it to fall in on us any day, replied Churis indifferently.
gpt
A day or two ago, a girder fell from the ceiling, and struck my old woman.
human
What! struck her?
gpt
Yes, struck her, your excellency: whacked her on the back, so that she lay half dead all night.
human
Well, did she get over it?
gpt
Pretty much, but she's been ailing ever since; but then she's always ailing.
human
What, are you sick?
gpt
It bothers me here more and more, especially on Sundays,
human
Again? asked the young master in a tone of vexation, shrugging his shoulders.
gpt
Why, if you are so sick, don't you come and get advice at the dispensary? That is what the dispensary was built for. Haven't you been told about it?
human
Certainly we have, but I have not had any time to spare; have had to work in the field, and at home, and look after the children, and no one to help me; if I weren't all alone