‘I am to blame, Volodya � ’ said Zina�da. ‘I am very much to blame � ’ she added, wringing her hands. ‘How much there is bad and black and sinful in me!� But I am not playing with you now. I love you; you don’t even suspect why and how� . But what is it you know?’

What could I say to her? She stood facing me, and looked at me; and I belonged to her altogether from head to foot directly she looked at me� . A quarter of an hour later I was running races with the cadet and Zina�da. I was not crying, I was laughing, though my swollen eyelids dropped a tear or two as I laughed. I had Zina�da’s ribbon round my neck for a cravat, and I shouted with delight whenever I succeeded in catching her round the waist. She did just as she liked with me.