"God gave you your uncle, that is who. God did it. If not for God, you would now be all alone in the world, you would not know how to manage things, or how to file a petition or where to file it, and what to expect from it. You would be lost in the woods. Anybody could deceive you, abuse you or even disgrace you. You see? And with the aid of God and your uncle the whole deal went through in one day. We went to town, and filed a petition and got the necessary mandates. You see, my dear, what uncle can do?" "Yes, uncle, I am grateful to you." "Well, if you are, don't snap at me, and do as I tell you. I mean your good, though at times it seems to you that----" Anninka could hardly control herself. There was one way left to rid herself of uncle's sermons--to feign that in principle she accepted his proposal to remain at Golovliovo. "All right, uncle," she said, "I'll think it over. I myself feel it is not quite proper to live alone, far from relatives. But I can't make up my mind now--I'll have to think it over." "Well, I am glad to see you have understood me, but what is there to think over? We'll have the horses unhitched, your trunks taken out of the cart--that's all the thinking there is to be done." "No, uncle, you forget I have a sister." Whether her argument convinced Porfiry Vladimirych or whether the whole scene had been staged for the mere show of it, it is hard to say. Porfiry Vladimirych himself did not know whether Anninka really ought to stay at Golovliovo or whether it was simply a whim of his. At any rate, from that moment on dinner proceeded at a livelier pace. Anninka agreed to everything he said and answered his questions in a manner that did not provoke much nagging and babbling. Nevertheless, the clock showed half past two when dinner was over. Anninka jumped up from the table as if she had been sitting in a steam bath, and ran to her uncle to say good-by. In ten minutes Yudushka, in his fur coat and bear-skin boots, saw her to the porch and in person supervised the process of seating the young mistress in the pony cart. "Easy when you go downhill--you hear? And see that you don't drop her out at the Senkino slope!" he shouted to the driver. Finally Anninka was seated, wrapped up, and the leather cover of the cart was fastened. "Suppose you stay!" Yudushka shouted again, wishing that in the presence of the servants gathered about, all go off properly as befits good kinsfolk. But Anninka already felt free, and was suddenly seized with a desire to play a girlish prank. She stood up in the cart and emphasizing every word, said, "No, uncle, I will not! You are a fright!" Yudushka pretended not to hear, but his lips turned pale. CHAPTER VI