“Oh yes, of course! I said, ‘We are acquaintances, Olga Mìtrevna.’”
“Oh yes,” she said, “I am quite aware of that.”
“I have been brought here,” said I, “to ask you in marriage.”
“Indeed!” said she.
“Do you know where I have seen you? At a christening at Ogoùrtzov,” said I, and she answered—
“Yes, I remember. And you are from Khmièlnoye?”
“Yes,” said I.
“Ah! the scenery is pretty round there.”
“And that was about all her cleverness!... Her father kept on begging me to marry quickly, because a man can’t live properly without some one to keep his house. ‘We shall get on much better together,’ she used to say.... So we stayed up till dawn, singing and dancing.”
“Sacred songs?”