posed it. But"--she spoke
louder again--"hear me, go to Mitsha, and to her alone."

"But I cannot disown her mother and father."

"You need do nothing of the kind unless you wish. Be pleasant to the
man, as behooves you, but be careful. Never say sanaya is doing this or
that, or to-day they speak so or so at the estufa. If Tyope queries what
is your yaya doing, answer, her usual work. If he inquires about what is
going on in the estufa of Tanyi hanutsh, reply to him, 'Nashtio, I am
only a boy, and do not know what the men talk about.' To Tyope's wife
say nothing but what even Shyuote might hear. To the makatza you can
say, 'Let us be together and live for each other and talk as is right.
What concerns your hanutsh shall be hidden from me, and I will be silent
on anything that concerns mine.' If you will do thus, sa uishe, then you
can go to see Mitsha; and I myself would like to see the girl who is to
become my child."

This was too much for Okoya. He grasped with both his hands the hand of
his mother, carried it to his lips, and breathed on it. Then he gave
back the hand, and said with an effort,--

"You are good, yaya, and I will do as you say. Hayoue said to me the
same things you have."

"Hayoue is a true friend. His tongue is like his heart, and you did
right in taking his advice."

A tall figure stepped into the apartment with a shuffling step. His loud
greeting, "guatzena," cut off further talk for a moment. Both mother and
son, taken by surprise, answered,--

"Raua [=A]."

It was Hayoue himself who thus suddenly appeared. He complied with the
request to sit down, and afterward with the customary invitation to eat.
But he seemed as much surprised as the inmates themselves; for while
eating, his glance flitted inquiringly from mother to son, as if he were
astonished to see them together. When he had finished, he asked,--

"When will Zashue be here?"

"I do not know," replied Say.

Hayoue turned to his nephew,--

"Okoya, will you let me speak to your yaya alone?" These words he
accompanied with a knowing wink at the young man. It amused Okoya to see
that his uncle came so decidedly _post festum_ in the matter, but he at
once rose and went out.

In the court-yard it was still very damp, and hardly anybody was outside
of the dwellings; but from the estufas there sounded merry talking,
singing, and the beating of drums. Okoya stood a while in the doorway,
undecided whether he ought not to go to Mitsha