Sina held out her trembling hand.
"It's so dark that one can't see," she said, by way of excuse.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to the town. They've sent for me."
"What, alone?"
"No, the little boy's going with me. He's my cavalier."
"Cavalier! Ha! Ha!" repeated Grischka merrily, stamping his bare feet.
"And what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Oh! we're just having a drink together."
"You said 'we'?"
"Yes--Schafroff, Svarogitsch, Ivanoff ..."
"Oh! Yourii Nicolaijevitsch is with you, is he?" asked Sina, and she
blushed. To utter the name of him she loved sent a thrill through her
as though she were looking down into some precipice.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because--er--I met him," she answered, blushing deeper.
"Well, good-bye!"
Sanine gently held her proffered hand in his.
"If you like, I will row you across to the other side. Why should you
go all that way round?"
"Oh! no, please don't trouble," said Sina, feeling strangely shy.
"Yes, let him row you across," said little Grischka persuasively, "for
there's such a lot of mud on the bank."
"Very well, then. You can go back to your mother."
"Aren't you afraid to cross the fields alone?" asked the boy.
"I will accompany you as far as the town," said Sanine.
"But what will your friends say?"
"Oh! that doesn't matter. They'll stop there till dawn. Besides,
they've bored me enough as it is."
"Well, it is very kind of you, I am sure. Grischka you can go."
"Good-night, Miss," said the boy, as he noiselessly disappeared. Sina
and Sanine were left there alone.
"Take my arm," he suggested, "or else you may fall."
Sina placed her arm in his, feeling a strange emotion as she touched
his muscles that were hard as steel. Thus they went on in the darkness,
through the woods to the river. In the wood it was pitch-dark, as if
all the trees had been fused and melted in a warm, impenetrable mist.
"Oh! how dark it is!"
"That doesn't matter," whispered Sanine in her ear. His voice trembled
slightly. "I like woods best at night time. It is then that man strips
off his everyday mask and becomes bolder, more mysterious, more
interesting."
As the sandy soil slipped beneath their feet, Sina found it difficult
to save herself from falling. It was this darkness and this physical
contact with a supple, masterful male to whom she had always been
drawn, that now caused her most exquisite agitation. Her face glowed,
her soft arm shared its warmth with that of Sanine's, and her laughter
was forced and incessant.