"The women from our village are working here, so I have
come with them. . . . As a labourer, Yegor Vlassitch."
"Oh . . ." growled Yegor Vlassitch, and slowly walked on.
Pelagea followed him. They walked in silence for twenty pac-
es.
"I have not seen you for a long time, Yegor Vlassitch . . ." said
Pelagea looking tenderly at the huntsman's moving shoulders. "I
have not seen you since you came into our hut at Easter for a
drink of water . . . you came in at Easter for a minute and then
God knows how . . . drunk . . . you scolded and beat me and
went away . . . I have been waiting and waiting . . . I've tired my
eyes out looking for you. Ah, Yegor Vlassitch, Yegor Vlassitch!
you might look in just once!"
"What is there for me to do there?"
"Of course there is nothing for you to do . . . though to be
sure . . . there is the place to look after. . . . To see how things are
going. . . . You are the master. . . . I say, you have shot a black-
cock, Yegor Vlassitch! You ought to sit down and rest!"
As she said all this Pelagea laughed like a silly girl and
looked up at Yegor's face. Her face was simply radiant with hap-
piness.
"Sit down? If you like . . ." said Yegor in a tone of indiffer-
ence, and he chose a spot between two fir-trees. "Why are you
standing? You sit down too."
Pelagea sat a little way off in the sun and, ashamed of her joy,
put her hand over her smiling mouth. Two minutes passed in si-
lence.
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