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Old Granny Ulitka, also dressed only in a smock, was stooping with her back turned to him, sweeping the floor. 'Good-day to you. Mother! I've come about my lodgings, he began. The Cossack woman, without unbending, turned her severe but still handsome face towards him. 'What have you come here for? Want to mock at us, eh?
In her hand she holds a rag. 'Have you cleared up. Granny? 'The girl is lighting the fire. Is it fire you want? says Granny Ulitka, proud of being able to oblige her neighbour. Both women enter the hut, and coarse hands unused to dealing with small articles tremblingly lift the lid of a matchbox, which is a rarity in the Caucasus.
'Loves' she expressed by pressing her hands to her breast, kissing her hand, and pretending to embrace someone. Their mother returned to the hut, and seeing what her dumb daughter was saying, smiled and shook her head. Her daughter showed her the gingerbread and again made the noise which expressed joy. 'I told Ulitka the other day that I'd send a matchmaker to them, said the mother.
From the yards one hears the snorting and quiet chewing of the cattle eased of their milk, while in the street only the voices of women and children sound as they call to one another. It is rare on a week-day to hear the drunken voice of a man. One of the Cossack wives, a tall, masculine old woman, approaches Granny Ulitka from the homestead opposite and asks her for a light.
'Ah, she's a regular queen, a splendid worker, that girl! she thinks, looking at the beautiful maiden. 'What need for her to grow any more? It's time she was married and to a good home; married to Lukashka! But Granny Ulitka had her own cares and she remained sitting on the threshold thinking hard about something, till the girl called her.
'Go, my own, draw some for them, said Granny Ulitka to her daughter. 'Take it from the cask that's begun, my precious. The girl took the keys and a decanter and went out of the hut with Vanyusha. 'Tell me, who is that young woman? asked Olenin, pointing to Maryanka, who was passing the window. The old man winked and nudged the young man with his elbow.
Granny Ulitka became animated and went into raptures of hospitality. She brought Olenin preserved grapes and a grape tart and some of her best wine, and pressed him to eat and drink with the rough yet proud hospitality of country folk, only found among those who produce their bread by the labour of their own hands.
Granny Ulitka, the wife of the Cossack cornet who is also teacher in the regimental school, goes out to the gates of her yard like the other women, and waits for the cattle which her daughter Maryanka is driving along the street. Before she has had time fully to open the wattle gate in the fence, an enormous buffalo cow surrounded by mosquitoes rushes up bellowing and squeezes in.
Olenin followed her with his eyes as long as she was in the hut, and then looked at the door and waited, understanding nothing of what Granny Ulitka was telling him. A few minutes later some visitors arrived: an old man, Granny Ulitka's brother, with Daddy Eroshka, and following them came Maryanka and Ustenka. 'Good evening, squeaked Ustenka. 'Still on holiday? she added, turning to Olenin.
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