Peredonov stood at the gate and looked through the chink between the gate and the gate-post.
His face was morose and almost frightened, and all sorts of fancies and thoughts expired in his mind and were replaced by a heavy, aimless desire.
Darya was the first to come up to the open gate.
"What can I do to please you?" she asked.
Peredonov was morosely silent.
Darya said:
"I will make you the crispest pancakes piping hot—only don't choke over them."
Liudmilla cried over her shoulder:
"I'll go down every morning and collect all the gossip to tell you. That will make us jolly."
Between the two girls' cheerful faces showed for a moment Valeria's slender, capricious face, and her slight, frail voice was heard: