I'm after lace; I buy lace."
"They don't make lace here. They make lace in Tinkov and in
Daryina, but not among us."
"I'm going there to-morrow; I'm tired."
On paying for the tea she made the girl very happy by handing her
three kopecks. On the road the girl's feet splashed quickly in the mud.
"If you want to, I'll run over to Daryina, and I'll tell the women
to bring their lace here. That'll save your going there. It's
about eight miles."
"That's not necessary, my dear."
The cold air refreshed the mother as she stepped along beside the
girl. A resolution slowly formulated itself in her mind--confused,
but fraught with a promise. She wished to hasten its growth, and
asked herself persistently: "How shall I behave? Suppose I come
straight out with the truth?"
It was dark, damp, and cold. The windows of the peasants' huts shone
dimly with a motionless reddish light; the cattle lowed drowsily in
the stillness, and short halloos reverberated through the fields.
The village was clothed in darkness and an oppressive melancholy.
"Here!" said the girl, "you've chosen a poor lodging for yourself.
This peasant is very poor." She opened the door and shouted briskly
into the hut: "Aunt Tatyana, a lodger has come!" She ran away,
her "Good-by!" flying back from the darkness.
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