gether," said Sizov, speaking sedately,
"talked the matter over, and our comrades, you see, sent us over to
you, as you are a knowing man among us. Is there such a law as gives
our manager the right to make war upon mosquitoes with our kopecks?"

"Think!" said Makhotin, with a glimmer in his narrow eyes. "Three
years ago these sharpers collected a tax to build a bath house. Three
thousand eight hundred rubles is what they gathered in. Where are
those rubles? And where is the bath house?"

Pavel explained the injustice of the tax, and the obvious advantage of
such a procedure to the factory owners; and both of his visitors went
away in a surly mood.

The mother, who had gone with them to the door, said, laughing:

"Now, Pasha, the old people have also begun to come to seek wisdom from
you."

Without replying, Pavel sat down at the table with a busy air and began
to write. In a few minutes he said to her: "Please go to the city
immediately and deliver this note."

"Is it dangerous?" she asked.

"Yes! A newspaper is being published for us down there! That 'Muddy
Penny' story must go into the next issue."

"I'll go at once," she replied, beginning hurriedly to put on her wraps.

This was the first commission her son had given her. She was happy
that he spoke to her so openly about the matter, and that she might be
useful to him in his work.

"I understand all about it, Pasha," she said. "It's a piece of
robbery. What's the name of the man? Yegor Ivanovich?"

"Yes," said Pavel, smiling kindly.

She returned late in the evening, exhausted but contented.

"I saw Sashenka," she told her son. "She sends you her regards. And
this Yegor Ivanovich is such a simple fellow, such a joker! He speaks
so comically."

"I'm glad you like them," said Pavel softly.

"They are simple people, Pasha. It's good when people are simple. And
they all respect you."

Again, Monday, Pavel did not go to work. His head ached. But at
dinner time Fedya Mazin came running in, excited, out of breath, happy,
and tired.

"Come! The whole factory has arisen! They've sent for you. Sizov and
Makhotin say you can explain better than anybody else. My! What a
hullabaloo!"

Pavel began to dress himself silently.

"A crowd of women are gathered there; they are screaming!"

"I'll go, too," declared the mother. "You're not well, and--what are
they doing? I'm going, too."

"Come," Pavel said briefly.

They walked along