He rose and moved briskly toward the entrance to the cooking apartment; but Say held him back.
"Tell me, but tell me the truth; did Hayoue say it was well for you to go with Mitsha ?" Okoya was so embarrassed by this direct query that he could not answer at once.

He stood still and hung his head.
"Tell me, child," Say insisted.
"He said"-- the words were scarcely audible--"that it was well." "Did he also say it was good for you to listen to the words of Tyope and his woman ?" Now light began to dawn upon the boy.

He felt a presentiment of something favourable.

"No," he exclaimed, "he said that I must beware of Tyope and of his koitza; but that Mitsha I could trust." "Then it is well, sa uishe," replied the mother; "come in and eat." Okoya could hardly believe his senses.

Had his mother really said, "It is well ?" Was it possible that she was satisfied and in sympathy with his feeling toward Mitsha?
Such was his surprise that he performed his prayers before squatting down to the meal without a thought of the kopishtai, to whom he scattered crumbs mechanically.