"How shall I talk?" she asked laughing.

"There you are, laughing--at what?"

"At you--."

"What have I done to you?" he said with irritation. And once more he
lowered his eyes under her gaze.

She made no reply.

Iakov understood her relations towards his father perfectly well and
that prevented him from expressing himself freely. He was not
surprised. It would have been difficult for a man like his father to
have been long without a companion.

"The soup is ready," announced Vassili, at the threshold of the cabin.
"Get the spoons, Malva."

When she found the spoons she said she must go down to the sea to wash
them.

The father and son watched her as she ran down the sands and both were
silent.

"Where did you meet her?" asked Vassili, finally.

"I went to get news of you at the office. She was there. She said to
me: 'Why go on foot along the sand? Come in the boat. I'm going
there.' And so we started."