"Ah! how you upset me!... What am I to be up to now? I mustn't come back, I suppose.... Well, I won't come any more...."
"Get along with you, you baggage!... What a set of creatures you are!... He mocks me, and now you are doing the same ... and you are the two who are the nearest to me. And where's the joke, I would like to know? You're a pair of devils!"
He ceased speaking and walked away. She remained sitting, holding her knees and rocking her whole body backwards and forwards with a gentle movement, watching with her lambent green eyes the joyous sea, and smiling one of those triumphant smiles which women indulge in who understand the power of their beauty.
A sailing-boat was gliding over the water, looking like a huge bird with grey wings. It was far from the shore, and was moving ever further and further away, towards the point where the sea and the sky melted into an infinite blue, drawing everything into the mystery of its absorbing tranquillity.
"Why don't you speak?" said Vassili.
"I am thinking," replied Malva.
"What about?"
"Nothing in particular."
She raised her eyebrows, and after a few minutes' silence added—
"That son of yours is a fine lad!"