eated to
himself. "It is not what is--I could get away by breaking the fastening
on the little gate I see there in the back wall. It is a flimsy lock.
Nobody in the house seems to know he is here with me. Oh yes. The hat!
These women would discover presently the hat he has left on the landing.
They would come upon him, lying dead in this damp, gloomy shade--but I
would be gone and no one could ever...Lord! Am I going mad?" he asked
himself in a fright.

The great man was heard--musing in an undertone.

"H'm, yes! That--no doubt--in a certain sense...." He raised his
voice. "There is a deal of pride about you...."

The intonation of Peter Ivanovitch took on a homely, familiar ring,
acknowledging, in a way, Razumov's claim to peasant descent.

"A great deal of pride, brother Kirylo. And I don't say that you have no
justification for it. I have admitted you had. I have ventured to allude
to the facts of your birth simply because I attach no mean importance
to it. You are one of us--_un des notres_. I reflect on that with
satisfaction."

"I attach some importance to it also," said Razumov quietly. "I won't
even deny that it may have some importance for you too," he continued,
after a slight pause and with a touch of grimness of which he was
himself aware, with some annoyance. He hoped it had escaped the
perception of Peter Ivanovitch. "But suppose we talk no more about it?"

"Well, we shall not--not after this one time, Kirylo Sidorovitch,"
persisted the noble arch-priest of Revolution. "This shall be the last
occasion. You cannot believe for a moment that I had the slightest idea
of wounding your feelings. You are clearly a superior nature--that's how
I read you. Quite above the common--h'm--susceptibilities. But the fact
is, Kirylo Sidorovitch, I don't know your susceptibilities. Nobody, out
of Russia, knows much of you--as yet!"

"You have been watching me?" suggested Razumov.

"Yes."

The great man had spoken in a tone of perfect frankness, but as they
turned their faces to each other Razumov felt baffled by the dark
spectacles. Under their cover, Peter Ivanovitch hinted that he had felt
for some time the need of meeting a man of energy and character, in view
of a certain project. He said nothing more precise, however; and after
some critical remarks upon the personalities of the various members
of the committee of revolutionary action in Stuttgart, he let the
conversation lapse for quite a long while. They p