the gift of the gab, and chatted away right merrily, laughing and talking about every possible thing.
"What did you say, Pasha?" Masha would ask almost every minute. "I am so cold I can hardly hear what you are talking about. I wonder whether those young men really will come."
"Have patience, my dear; men always keep one waiting; they can't be punctual to save their lives."
"I don't believe they will come, say what you like; but supposing only one man comes, which of us do you think he will choose—you or me?"
"Maybe he will take you," snarled Pasha.
"No, he will most likely choose you, my dear!" retorted Masha.
With that they began to sneer at each other, till they heard Jack Frost jumping from tree to tree, shaking them as though they were so many bells. Now it so happened that the girls did not know that it was Jack Frost who had given Martha all those presents, and that it was for him they were waiting.
"There, Masha!" cried Pasha, "I hear something. I believe the young men are coming at last in their troikas;[1] don't you hear the bells?"
Jack Frost came near them.
"Are you warm, pretty maidens?" he asked; "are you warm, my dears?"
"Warm, you old stupid!" cried Pasha, looking up at him; "warm, indeed! oh, yes, of course we are; it's a wonder we are not dead with the heat."
"What are you waiting for?" he asked.
- ↑ A carriage with three horses harnessed abreast.
