“Oh, Lord, yes; I should think so. We have only been married such a little while, and she has gone away.⁠ ⁠… Eh! Oh, but she is a tricky one, God strike me dead! She is such a fine, splendid girl, such a one for laughing and singing, full of life and fire! When she is there your brain is in a whirl, and now she is away I wander about the steppe like a fool, as though I had lost something. I have been walking since dinner.”

Konstantin rubbed his eyes, looked at the fire and laughed.

“You love her, then,⁠ ⁠…” said Panteley.

“She is so fine and splendid,” Konstantin repeated, not hearing him; “such a housewife, clever and sensible. You wouldn’t find another like her among simple folk in the whole province. She has gone away.⁠ ⁠… But she is missing me, I kno-ow! I know the little magpie. She said she would be back tomorrow by dinnertime.⁠ ⁠… And just think how queer!” Konstantin almost shouted, speaking a note higher and shifting his position. “Now she loves me and is sad without me, and yet she would not marry me.”

“But eat,” said Kiruha.