The girls grabbed his sweetmeats from him, and, laughing, struggled for them among themselves. Belétski and Olénin stepped aside.
Lukáshka, as if ashamed of his generosity, took off his cap and wiping his forehead with his sleeve came up to Maryánka and Ústenka.
“Answer me, my dear, dost thou hold me in contempt?” he said in the words of the song they had just been singing, and turning to Maryánka he angrily repeated the words: “Dost thou hold me in contempt? When we shall married be thou wilt weep because of me!” he added, embracing Ústenka and Maryánka both together.
Ústenka tore herself away, and swinging her arm gave him such a blow on the back that she hurt her hand.
“Well, are you going to have another turn?” he asked.
“The other girls may if they like,” answered Ústenka, “but I am going home and Maryánka was coming to our house too.”
With his arm still round her, Lukáshka led Maryánka away from the crowd to the darker corner of a house.
“Don’t go, Maryánka,” he said, “let’s have some fun for the last time. Go home and I will come to you!”
“What am I to do at home? Holidays are meant for merrymaking. I am going to Ústenka’s,” replied Maryánka.
“I’ll marry you all the same, you know!”