cried, stopping outside the door.

"Who do you want, sir?" asked a voice in the darkness.

Petya replied that he wanted the French lad who had been captured that
day.

"Ah, Vesenny?" said a Cossack.

Vincent, the boy's name, had already been changed by the Cossacks into
Vesenny (vernal) and into Vesenya by the peasants and soldiers. In both
these adaptations the reference to spring (vesna) matched the impression
made by the young lad.

"He is warming himself there by the bonfire. Ho, Vesenya!
Vesenya!--Vesenny!" laughing voices were heard calling to one another in
the darkness.

"He's a smart lad," said an hussar standing near Petya. "We gave him
something to eat a while ago. He was awfully hungry!"

The sound of bare feet splashing through the mud was heard in the
darkness, and the drummer boy came to the door.

"Ah, c'est vous!" said Petya. "Voulez-vous manger? N'ayez pas peur, on
ne vous fera pas de mal," * he added shyly and affectionately, touching
the boy's hand. "Entrez, entrez." *(2)

* "Ah, it's you! Do you want something to eat? Don't be
afraid, they won't hurt you."

* (2) "Come in, come in."

"Merci, monsieur," * said the drummer boy in a trembling almost childish
voice, and he began scraping his dirty feet on the threshold.

* "Thank you, sir."

There were many things Petya wanted to say to the drummer boy, but did
not dare to. He stood irresolutely beside him in the passage. Then in
the darkness he took the boy's hand and pressed it.

"Come in, come in!" he repeated in a gentle whisper. "Oh, what can I do
for him?" he thought, and opening the door he let the boy pass in first.

When the boy had entered the hut, Petya sat down at a distance from
him, considering it beneath his dignity to pay attention to him. But
he fingered the money in his pocket and wondered whether it would seem
ridiculous to give some to the drummer boy.

CHAPTER VIII

The arrival of Dolokhov diverted Petya's attention from the drummer boy,
to whom Denisov had had some mutton and vodka given, and whom he had had
dressed in a Russian coat so that he might be kept with their band and
not sent away with the other prisoners. Petya had heard in the army many
stories of Dolokhov's extraordinary bravery and of his cruelty to the
French, so from the moment he entered the hut Petya did not take his
eyes from him, but braced himself up more and more and held his head
high, that he might