At that instant Kitty came up from the spring beaming with delight that her mother had become acquainted with her unknown friend.

“Well, see, Kitty, your intense desire to make friends with Mademoiselle.⁠ ⁠…”

“Varenka,” Varenka put in smiling, “that’s what everyone calls me.”

Kitty blushed with pleasure, and slowly, without speaking, pressed her new friend’s hand, which did not respond to her pressure, but lay motionless in her hand. The hand did not respond to her pressure, but the face of Mademoiselle Varenka glowed with a soft, glad, though rather mournful smile, that showed large but handsome teeth.

“I have long wished for this too,” she said.

“But you are so busy.”