“God knows,” she answered. “Would you seek to know as much as He, Masha?”
“May the saints forbid!”
Anna Evauovna returned to her interrupted occupation, and Masha still sat gazing at her, awestruck.
“Njania,” she said timidly, “is it right that a girl should keep a man dangling after her, as a lash to a whip, if she means nothing by it?”
“You mean Grusha and Alioscha,” said Anna Evauovna shortly. “Is it not her own affair?”
Masha blushed and hung her head.
“It was Grusha I thought of,” she stammered. “You know the very hairs on our heads, Anna Evauovna.”
The Njania nodded, not ill pleased.
“I know what I know. Grusha thinks Ivan will marry her when he comes back from the war.”
“Then why does she keep Alioscha waiting and sticking to her like a wet leaf?” cried Masha passionately. “It is wicked, Njania, if she loves Ivan.”