Liudmilla told him where to go. He thought a while and demanded forty kopecks. Liudmilla said: "Do you think it's far? That shows that you don't know the road." "Well, how much will you give?" asked the cabman. "You can take which half you like." Sasha laughed. "You're a cheerful young lady," said the cabby with a grin. "You might add another five-kopeck piece." "Thank you for escorting me, my dear," said Liudmilla, as she pressed Sasha's hand tightly and seated herself in the drozhky. Sasha ran back to the house thinking cheerfully about the cheerful maiden. * * * * * Liudmilla returned home in a cheerful mood, smiling and thinking of something pleasant. The sisters awaited her. They sat at a round table in the dining-room, lit up by a hanging lamp. The brown bottle of cherry-brandy on the white tablecloth looked very cheerful; the silver paper round the bottle's neck glittered brightly. It was surrounded by plates containing apples, nuts, and sweets made of honey and nuts. Darya was slightly tipsy. Her face was red and her clothes were a little dishevelled; she was singing loudly. Liudmilla as she came heard the last couplet but one of the well-known song: "Her dress is gone, her reed is gone. Naked, he leads her naked along the dune. Fear drives out shame, shame drives out fear, The shepherdess is all in tears: 'Forget what you have seen.'" Larissa was also present. She was sprucely dressed. She was tranquilly cheerful and eating an apple, cutting off the slices with a small knife and was laughing. "Well," she asked, "what did you see?" Darya stopped singing and looked at Liudmilla. Valeria leaned her head on her hand with the little finger against her temple and smiled responsively at Larissa. She was slender, fragile, and her smile was unreposeful. Liudmilla poured herself a cherry-red liqueur and said: "It's all nonsense! He's a real boy and quite sympathetic. He's very dark and his eyes sparkle, but he's quite young and innocent." Then she burst into a loud laugh. The sisters when they looked at her began to laugh also. "Well, what's one to say? It's all Peredonovian nonsense," said Darya, and waved her hand contemptuously; she grew thoughtful for a moment, leaning her head on her hands, with her elbows on the table. "I might as well go on singing," she said, and began to sing with piercing loudness. There was an intensely grim animation in her squeals. If a dead man should be released from the grave on condition of his singing perpetually, he would sing in this way. But the sisters had already become used to Darya's tipsy bawling, and at times even joined in with her in purposely ranting voices. "Well, she's let herself loose," said Liudmilla laughing. It was not that she objected to the noise, but she wanted her sisters to listen to her. Darya shouted angrily, interrupting her song in the middle of a word: "What's the matter with you? I'm not interfering with you!"