He says they are looking out for abreks again.
Lukashka is quite happy, he says.' 'Ah well, thank God,' said the cornet's wife.' "Snatcher" is certainly the only word for him.' Lukashka was surnamed 'the Snatcher' because of his bravery in snatching a boy from a watery grave, and the cornet's wife alluded to this, wishing in her turn to say something agreeable to Lukashka's mother.
'I thank God, Mother, that he's a good son! He's a fine fellow, everyone praises him,' says Lukashka's mother.

'All I wish is to get him married; then I could die in peace.' 'Well, aren't there plenty of young women in the village ?' answered the cornet's wife slyly as she carefully replaced the lid of the matchbox with her horny hands.
'Plenty, Mother, plenty,' remarked Lukashka's mother, shaking her head.
'There's your girl now, your Maryanka--that's the sort of girl! You'd have to search through the whole place to find such another!' The cornet's wife knows what Lukashka's mother is after, but though she believes him to be a good Cossack she hangs back: first because she is a cornet's wife and rich, while Lukashka is the son of a simple Cossack and fatherless, secondly because she does not want to part with her daughter yet, but chiefly because propriety demands it.
'Well, when Maryanka grows up she'll be marriageable too,' she answers soberly and modestly.
'I'll send the matchmakers to you--I'll send them! Only let me get the vineyard done and then we'll come and make our bows to you,' says Lukashka's mother.

'And we'll make our bows to Elias Vasilich too.' 'Elias, indeed!' says the cornet's wife proudly.

'It's to me you must speak! All in its own good time.' Lukashka's mother sees by the stern face of the cornet's wife that it is not the time to say anything more just now, so she lights her rag with the match and says, rising: 'Don't refuse us, think of my words.
I'll go, it is time to light the fire.' As she crosses the road swinging the burning rag, she meets Maryanka, who bows.
'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..