VIRGIN SOIL
kind of impetuous gratitude in his voice. 'To the ends of the earth!' At that instant he would certainly have gone with her wherever she wished, without looking back.
Marianna understood him, and gave a short blissful sigh.
'Then take my hand, Alexey, only don't kiss it; and hold it tight, like a comrade, like a friend—there, so!'
They walked together to the house, pensive, blissful; the young grass caressed their feet, the young leaves stirred about them; patches of light and shade flittered swiftly over their garments; and they both smiled at the restless frolic of the light, and the merry bluster of the wind, and the fresh glitter of the leaves, and at their own youth and one another.
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