‘Come, what rubbish!’ said Olenin. ‘You’d better tell me more about Maryanka. Does she carry on with Lukashka?’

‘Hush ... be quiet now!’ the old man again interrupted in a whisper: ‘just listen, we’ll go round through the forest.’

And the old man, stepping quietly in his soft shoes, led the way by a narrow path leading into the dense, wild, overgrown forest.

Now and again with a frown he turned to look at Olenin, who rustled and clattered with his heavy boots and, carrying his gun carelessly, several times caught the twigs of trees that grew across the path.

‘Don’t make a noise. Step softly, soldier!’ the old man whispered angrily.