She responded, laughing, with something of her former tone of voice.
"Great goose! what ails you? I knew it well from the very first day!"
Savel began to tremble. He stammered out: "You knew it? Then—"
He stopped.
She asked:
"Then?... What?"
He answered:
"Then ... what would you think?... what ... what.... What would you have answered?"
She broke forth into a peal of laughter, which made the sugar juice run off the tips of her fingers on to the carpet.
"I? But you did not ask me anything. It was not for me to make a declaration."