‘Is this the place for a Cossack — with the girls? Go away!’

When alone under the wagon with her friend, Ustenka suddenly put both her arms round her, and clinging close to her began kissing her cheeks and neck.

‘Darling, sweetheart,’ she kept repeating, between bursts of shrill, clear laughter.

‘Why, you’ve learnt it from Grandad,’ said Maryanka, struggling. ‘Stop it!

’

And they both broke into such peals of laughter that Maryanka’s mother shouted to them to be quiet.

‘Are you jealous?’ asked Ustenka in a whisper.

‘What humbug! Let me sleep. What have you come for?’