day that he had been released, but I knew nothing about you.
Nobody told me that you were there."

"What's the good of telling? I should like to change my dress before
Yegor Ivanovich comes!" said the girl, looking around.

"You are all wet."

"I've brought the booklets."

"Give them here, give them to me!" cried the mother impatiently.

"Directly," replied the girl. She untied her skirt and shook it, and
like leaves from a tree, down fluttered a lot of thin paper parcels on
the floor around her. The mother picked them up, laughing, and said:

"I was wondering what made you so stout. Oh, what a heap of them you
have brought! Did you come on foot?"

"Yes," said Sashenka. She was again her graceful, slender self. The
mother noticed that her cheeks were shrunken, and that dark rings were
under her unnaturally large eyes.

"You are just out of prison. You ought to rest, and there you are
carrying a load like that for seven versts!" said the mother, sighing
and shaking her head.

"It's got to be done!" said the girl. "Tell me, how is Pavel? Did he
stand it all right? He wasn't very much worried, was he?" Sashenka
asked the question without looking at the mother. She bent her head
and her fingers trembled as she arranged her hair.

"All right," replied the mother. "You can rest assured he won't betray
himself."

"How strong he is!" murmured the girl quietly.

"He has never been sick," replied the mother. "Why, you are all in a
shiver! I'll get you some tea, and some raspberry jam."

"That's fine!" exclaimed the girl with a faint smile. "But don't you
trouble! It's too late. Let me do it myself."

"What! Tired as you are?" the mother reproached her, hurrying into the
kitchen, where she busied herself with the samovar. The girl followed
into the kitchen, sat down on the bench, and folded her hands behind
her head before she replied:

"Yes, I'm very tired! After all, the prison makes one weak. The awful
thing about it is the enforced inactivity. There is nothing more
tormenting. We stay a week, five weeks. We know how much there is to
be done. The people are waiting for knowledge. We're in a position to
satisfy their wants, and there we are locked up in a cage like animals!
That's what is so trying, that's what dries up the heart!"

"Who will reward you for all this?" asked the mother; and with a sigh
she answered the question herself. "No one but God! Of course you
don't believe in