you want some?--I'll treat you to some sunflower seeds!"

"Come on in and pay us a visit," Liubka chimes in.

Niura snorts and adds through the laughter which suffocates her:

"Warm your feet for a while!"

But the front door opens; in it appears the formidable and stern
figure of the senior housekeeper.

"Pfui! [Footnote: A German exclamation of disgust or contempt,
corresponding to the English fie.--Trans.] What sort of indecency
is this!" she cries commandingly. "How many times must it be
repeated to you, that you must not jump out on the street during
the day, and also--pfui!--only in your underwear. I can't
understand how you have no conscience yourselves. Decent girls,
who respect themselves, must not demean themselves that way in
public. It seems, thank God, that you are not in an establishment
catering to soldiers, but in a respectable house. Not in Little
Yamskaya."

The girls return into the house, get into the kitchen, and for a
long time sit there on tabourets, contemplating the angry cook
Prascoviya, swinging their legs and silently gnawing the sunflower
seeds.

In the room of Little Manka, who is also called Manka the
Scandaliste and Little White Manka, a whole party has gathered.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she and another girl--Zoe, a tall