Arkady was once again on the point of being embarrassed, but the first words she uttered calmed him at once. ‘Hello, you runaway!’ she said in her level, fond voice and walked towards him, smiling and screwing up her eyes against the sun and the breeze. ‘Where did you find him, Katya?’ ‘Anna Sergeevna,’ he began, ‘I have brought you something quite unexpected …’ ‘You’ve brought yourself, that’s best of all.’
