"Bathsheba's fault! What makes you ask me such a question?"
"Because he spoke about it; and I want to know what it was. Why is no one called after her? And if she was so wicked, I don't want to bear her name either. Give me some other."
"Quiet, silly child! She did nothing wrong."
"But Sophie's godfather told her that she had committed sin with King David."
"It was love, and no sin."
"Love! What is that?"
Maria Alexievna Korynthia laughed aloud.
"Now, am I to tell you what is love? You will know soon enough, child, when you fall in love yourself."
"How shall I do that? Is love an evil which attacks people like an illness, or is it a good thing for which people long?"
Maria Alexievna Korynthia laughed still louder.