But against her own will, as it were accidentally, Varenka said: "So you found nothing? In the middle of the wood there are always fewer, though.

" Sergey Ivanovitch sighed and made no answer.

He was annoyed that she had spoken about the mushrooms.

He wanted to bring her back to the first words she had uttered about her childhood; but after a pause of some length, as though against his own will, he made an observation in response to her last words.