"And then, I walk some."
The old woman laughed coarsely: "What a shameless hussy you are, Tanka!"
Had the old woman not said that, I would not have understood Tatiana's words. Now I knew what she meant, and became ill at ease. It was the first time in my life I had seen a loose girl, near-to, and naturally I did not think well of such women. Tatiana laughed.
"See, Petrovna, he blushes," she said.
I became angry. "And so I have fallen in here—from penance right into sin," I thought. I said to the girl:
"Does one boast of such an occupation?"
She answered boldly: "I boast of it."
The old woman began to sniff again: "Oh, Tatiana, Tatiana!"
I did not know what to say or how to go away from them. No excuse came to me.
I sat there silent. The wind rattled on the windows, the samovar sang and Tatiana began to tempt me.