"I am too heavy for you, dear,"—she said with a smile. "Mamma is running, tell her!" And she bent towards him and kissed him. She evidently wanted her mother to see how he was carrying her.
Eugene shouted to Varvara Alexeevna not to hurry, and that he would carry Liza home. Varvara Alexeevna stopped and began to shout still louder.
"You will drop her, you'll be sure to drop her. You want to destroy her. You have no conscience!"
"But I am carrying her excellently."
"I do not want to watch you killing my daughter, and I can't." And she ran round the bend in the alley.
"Never mind, it will pass," said Liza, smiling.
"Yes. If only it does not have consequences like last time."
"No. I am not speaking of that. That is all right. I mean mamma. You are tired. Rest a bit."
But though he found it heavy, Eugene carried his burden proudly and gladly to the house and did not hand her over to the housemaid and the man-cook whom Varvara Alexeevna had found and sent to meet them. He carried her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed.
"Now go away," she said and drawing his hand to her she kissed it. "Annushka and I will manage all right."