"He's getting all mixed up, my lady said," Duniasha.
"I carried my nephew, who's gone as a necruit, and on my way back I found it on the road. Polikéï must have dropped it accidentally."
"Well, now go, now go! I am glad."
"So am I glad, mátushka," said the muzhík.
Then he recollected that he had not thanked her, but he did not know how to go about it in the proper manner. The lady and Duniasha both smiled, as he again started to walk, as though through tall grass, and by main force conquered his impulse to break into a run. But all the time it seemed to him that they were going to hold him, and take it from him.
[23] The son of Nahum. It is customary among the peasantry to call each other by the patronymic. Thus Polikéï is generally called Ilyitch, son of Ilya, instead of the more formal Polikéï Ilyitch.
[24] Akh Bozhe moï.
[25] sudárinya.
[26] mátushki rodimuïa!