“What girl do you mean?” inquired Maxim, as he followed the boy out of the door.
Petrùsya’s acquaintance of yesterday had in fact entered the yard of the mansion at that very moment, and on seeing Anna Michàilovna who was in the act of crossing it, deliberately went up to her.
“What do you wish, dear child?” asked the former, supposing that she had been sent on some errand.
The little woman offered her hand, as she demurely inquired, “Are you the mother of the blind boy? Yes?”
“Yes, my dear,” replied Pani Popèlska, admiring the girl’s clear eyes and the ease of her manners.
“Well, Mamma gave me permission to come to see him. May I see him?”
At that moment Petrùsya himself ran up to her, and behind him in the vestibule appeared Maxim.
“That’s yesterday’s girl, Mamma,—the one I told you of,” exclaimed the boy, as he greeted the child. “But I am taking my lesson now.”
“Well, Uncle Maxim will excuse you this time,” said Anna Michàilovna. “I will ask him.”