Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/87

 Rh "What, little mother?"

"It was not like a dream, but I saw quite clearly a cat creep up to me."

"Really!"

"It's quite true a cat crept up to me," and Katerina Lvovna related how the cat had crept up to her.

"Why did you fondle it?"

"That's just it. I don't know why I did."

"Wonderful, certainly!" exclaimed the cook.

"I can't help being astonished."

"It certainly seems as if somebody will come to you, don't you think, or as if something will happen?"

"At first I dreamed of the moon, and then of this cat," continued Katerina Lvovna.

"The moon, that means a baby."

Katerina Lvovna blushed.

"Should I not send Sergei to your honour?" said Aksinia trying to obtain confidences.

"Well, why not!" answered Katerina Lvovna, "that's a good idea. Go and send him to me, I will treat him to tea here."

"Well, well, just as I thought. I will send him," and Aksinia waddled off like a duck towards the garden gate.

Katerina Lvovna also told Sergei about the cat.