Then she would instantly hide her face and he would pretend to be deep in conversation with the old woman, while he listened all the time to her breathing and to her every movement and waited for her to look at him again.

In the presence of others she was generally bright and friendly with him, but when they were alone together she was shy and rough.

Sometimes he came in before Maryanka had returned home.

Suddenly he would hear her firm footsteps and catch a glimmer of her blue cotton smock at the open door.

Then she would step into the middle of the hut, catch sight of him, and her eyes would give a scarcely perceptible kindly smile, and he would feel happy and frightened.
He neither sought for nor wished for anything from her, but every day her presence became more and more necessary to him.
Olenin had entered into the life of the Cossack village so fully that his past seemed quite foreign to him.