“Well, good-bye!”
Sanine gently held her proffered hand in his.
“If you like, I will row you across to the other side. Why should you go all that way round?”
“Oh! no, please don’t trouble,” said Sina, feeling strangely shy.
“Yes, let him row you across,” said little Grischka persuasively, “for there’s such a lot of mud on the bank.”
“Very well, then. You can go back to your mother.”
“Aren’t you afraid to cross the fields alone?” asked the boy.
“I will accompany you as far as the town,” said Sanine.
“But what will your friends say?”
“Oh! that doesn’t matter. They’ll stop there till dawn. Besides, they’ve bored me enough as it is.”