.. let me
alone!"
Then something occurred. Looking down over the side of the cart I saw,
to my great surprise, Marie Ivanovna.
"You!" I whispered.
"Hush!" she answered. "Come down."
I let myself down and at once she put her hand into mine.
"Walk with me just a little way," she whispered, "to those trees and
back." I had noticed at once that her voice trembled; now I perceived
that her whole body was shaking; her hand gave little startled quivers
under mine.
"You're cold," I said.
"No, I'm not cold," she answered still in a whisper, although we were
now some way from the wagons. "I'm frightened, Mr. Durward, that's
what's the matter--desperately frightened."
"Nonsense," I answered her. "You! Frightened! Never!"
"But I am. I've been terribly fr-frightened all night; and that
Sister Anna Petrovna, he (she sometimes confused her pronouns) sleeps
like a log. How can he? I've never slept, not for a moment, and I've
been so cold and every time the cannon sounded I wanted to run
away.
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