Loud talk awakened Marta. Peredonov stood in the summer-house and greeted Vershina in a loud voice. Marta looked around in fear. Her heart beat, her eyes were still half-shut, and her thoughts were still wandering, where was Conscience? Or had she not been there at all? And ought she to have been there?
"Ah, you've been snoozing there," said Peredonov to her. "You were snoring in all sorts of ways. Now you're a pine."[3]
Marta did not understand his pun, but smiled, guessing from the smile on Vershina's lips that something had been said which had to be accepted as amusing.
"You ought to be called Sofya," continued Peredonov.
"Why?" asked Marta.
"Because you're Sonya[4] and not Marta."
Peredonov sat down on the bench beside Marta and said:
"I have a very important piece of news."
"What sort of news can you have?" said Vershina. "Share it with us."
And Marta immediately envied Vershina because she had such a vast number of words to express the simple question: "What is it?"