ugly cave and their mother's scolding that
they begged me to go on and on, as far as Rus-
sian Peter's house. The great fresh open, after
the stupefying warmth indoors, made them
behave like wild things. They laughed and
shouted, and said they never wanted to go
home again. Couldn't we settle down and live
in Russian Peter's house, Yulka asked, and
couldn't I go to town and buy things for us to
keep house with?

All the way to Russian Peter's we were ex-
travagantly happy, but when we turned back,
-- it must have been about four o'clock, --
the east wind grew stronger and began to
howl; the sun lost its heartening power and
the sky became gray and somber. I took off
my long woolen comforter and wound it
around Yulka's throat. She got so cold that
we made her hide her head under the buffalo
robe. Antonia and I sat erect, but I held the
reins clumsily, and my eyes were blinded by
the wind a good deal of the time. It was grow-
ing dark when we got to their house, but I re-
fused to go in with them and get warm. I
knew my hands would ache terribly if I went
near a fire. Yulka forgot to give me back my
comforter, and I had to drive home directly

[[73]]

p072 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p073w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p074

v?