"That is a pity; what can I say at home?"
"What dost thou need to say?"
"Something, for papa would not have let me come to the forest, so I had to wait till all were in bed."
After a while she added,—
"Say not that I was here, so that they may not wonder at me."
"But I will conduct thee home, for the wolves might attack thee, and thou hast no fork."
"Well, do so!"
And they conversed thus for some time by the cheerful light of the fire, near the body of the bear, both like some young creatures of the forest.
Zbyshko looked at Yagenka's charming face, lighted by the gleam of the flame, and said in involuntary astonishment:
"Another girl like thee there is not in the whole world, I think. Thou shouldst go to the war!"
She looked into his eyes for a moment, then answered almost sadly,—
"I know—but do not laugh at me."
