Vanyusha would bring him his tea and he would sit down in a corner near the oven.

The old woman did not mind him but went on with her work, and over their tea or their chikhir they talked about Cossack affairs, about the neighbours, or about Russia: Olenin relating and the others inquiring.

Sometimes he brought a book and read to himself.
Maryanka crouched like a wild goat with her feet drawn up under her, sometimes on the top of the oven, sometimes in a dark corner.

She did not take part in the conversations, but Olenin saw her eyes and face and heard her moving or cracking sunflower seeds, and he felt that she listened with her whole being when he spoke, and was aware of his presence while he silently read to himself.

Sometimes he thought her eyes were fixed on him, and meeting their radiance he involuntarily became silent and gazed at her.