"But why?" asked Jakoff, disquieted.
"That's my business!... Well! and when are you going to marry me, Malva?"
"First tell me what we shall do, and how we shall live. Then I will think about it ..." she replied seriously.
Sereja watched the sea, screwed up his eyes, and after licking his lips, said—
"We should do nothing but wander about in the world."
"And how should we manage to live?"
"Bah!" said Sereja, with a despondent gesture. "You argue just like my mother. 'How? What?' Women are so tiresome! How do I know? I'm going off to have a drink...."
He rose and walked off; Malva watching him with a strange smile on her lips, and the young man with an angry look on his face.
"What a boaster!" said Jakoff, when Sereja had gone some distance. "At home, in the village, he would soon be put in his place. He would have got a good lesson before now. But here, they seem frightened of him...."
Malva stared at Jakoff, and said between her teeth—