"You stupid creature! Aren't you ashamed?... What am I to do now? Am I to tell him straight out that ... But I have a wife at home.... His mother.... You might have understood!"
"What does it matter to me? Do you think I'm frightened of him? Or of you?" she asked, screwing up contemptuously her green eyes. "And how you carried on when you first saw him!... What fun it was to see you!"
"You thought it fun, did you?... But what am I going to do?"
"You ought to have thought of that before."
"But could I imagine that the sea was going to throw him up here, without giving me a word of warning?"
Jakoff's footsteps were heard in the sand, and they were obliged to interrupt their conversation. Jakoff had brought back a bag, which he tossed into a corner, glancing angrily towards the woman. She was still nibbling seeds. Vassili sat on the log of wood, rubbing his knee, and said with a constrained smile—
"Well, here you are!... What made you think of coming here?"
"It just came into my head.... We had written to you...."
"When? I didn't get any letter."
"Is that so?... Well, we wrote to you!"