"And she will say she has not been asleep," I said, whispering, as if afraid of waking her; but I did not do it altogether for that,--it was so delightful to whisper when I spoke to him! He moved his lips in almost dumb show, imitating me, and as if he, on his side, was saying something that no one else must hear. Then, spying the plate of cherries, he pretended to seize it and carry it off by stealth, running away towards Sonia, and dropping on the grass under the linden-tree in the midst of her accumulation of dolls. Sonia was about to fly into a little rage, but he made peace with her by proposing a new game, the point of which lay in seeing which of the two could devour the most cherries. "Shall I order some more?" I asked, "or shall we go gather them for ourselves?" He picked up the plate, piled Sonia's dolls in it, and we all three started for the cherry orchard. Sonia, shouting with laughter, trotted after him, tugging at his coat to make him give her back her family. He did so; and turning gravely to me: "Come, how can you convince me that you are not a violet?" he said, still speaking very low, though there was now no one for him to be afraid of waking; "as soon as I came near you, after having been through so much dust and heat and fatigue, I seemed to perceive the fragrance of a violet, not, it is true, that violet with the powerful perfume, but the little early one, you know, which steals out first, still modest, to breathe at once the expiring snow and the springing grass...." "But, tell me, is the harvest coming on well?" I put in hastily, to cover the happy confusion his words caused me. "Wonderfully! what excellent people these all are,--the more one knows them, the more one loves them." "Oh, yes!--A little while ago, before you came, I sat watching their work, and it really went to my conscience to see them toiling so faithfully, while I was just idly taking my ease, and...." "Do not play with these sentiments, Katia," he interrupted, with a serious manner, giving me at the same time a caressing glance, "there is holy work there. May God guard you from _posing_ in such matters!" "But it was only to you that I said that!" "I know it.--Well, and our cherries?" The cherry orchard was locked, not a single gardener was to be found (he had sent them all to the harvest fields). Sonia ran off to look for the key; but, without waiting for her return, he climbed up at a corner by catching hold of the meshes of the net, and jumped down inside the wall. "Will you give me the plate?" he asked me, from within. "No, I want to gather some, myself; I will go get the key, I doubt if Sonia can find it."