“You have both gone mad,” interrupted their aunt. “Is that the way to greet one another?”
“Marfa Vassilievna,” said Raisky, as he sought to kiss Marfinka’s hand.
“Vassilievna!” cried Tatiana Markovna. “Don’t you love her any more? Marfinka, not Marfa Vassilievna! You will be addressing me as Tatiana Markovna next! Kiss one another. Are you not brother and sister?”
“I won’t, Grandmama. He is teasing me about the goose. It is not polite to spy on people,” she said severely.
Everybody laughed. Raisky kissed her on both cheeks, embraced her, and overcame her confusion. She kissed him in return, and her shyness vanished.
“Do you remember, Marfinka, how we used to run about and draw, and how you cried?”
“No ... but yes. I do remember as if in a dream.”
“How should she remember, when she was only five?” interrupted her aunt.
“But I do, Grandmama, as in a dream.”
Raisky had hardly captured his old memories when Marfinka disappeared. Soon she returned with sketch books, drawings and toys, and sitting down by Raisky in friendly fashion began, “Granny says that I don’t remember. I remember how you used to draw, and how I sat on your knee. Granny has all your drawings, portraits and sketch books. She has kept them all in the dark room where the silver, the diamonds and the lace are. She got them out, and gave them to me a little time ago, when she heard you were coming. Here is my portrait. How funny I looked! And here is Veroshka, and Granny, and Vassilissa. Do you remember how you held me, and Veroshka sat on your shoulder, and you carried us over the water?”