In the afternoon, however, when I saw my brother making him ready for a journey, despair seized hold of me:
"Take me with you."
"Why, you don't even know where I am going."
"I don't mind; I will go anywhere, only take me with you; for I cannot remain all by myself."
"Well, I will ask grandmother."
My brother exchanged a few words with my grandmother, and then came back to me.
"You may come with me. Take your stick and coat."
He slung his gun on his shoulder and took his dog with him.
Once again this thought agonized me afresh: "Father is dead, and we go for an afternoon's shooting, with grandmother's consent as if nothing had happened."
We went down through the gardens, all along the loam-pits; my brother seemed to be choosing a route where we should meet with no one. He kept the dog on the leash to prevent its wandering away. We went a long way, roaming among maize-fields and shrubs, without the idea once occurring to Lorand to take the gun down from his shoulder. He kept his eyes continually on the ground, and would always silence the dog, when the animal scented game.