irs now, you fool! I know your kind. You are mighty
pleased."

Some one opened the door. He let her go leisurely, saying:

"I will send a matchmaker to you next Sunday."

And he did.

The mother covered her eyes and heaved a deep sigh.

"I do not want to know how people used to live, but how they ought to
live!" The dull, dissatisfied voice of Vyesovshchikov was heard in the
room.

"That's it!" corroborated the red-headed man, rising.

"And I disagree!" cried Somov. "If we are to go forward, we must know
everything."

"True, true!" said the curly-headed youth in a low tone.

A heated discussion ensued; and the words flashed like tongues of fire
in a wood pile. The mother did not understand what they were shouting
about. All faces glowed in an aureole of animation, but none grew
angry, no one spoke the harsh, offensive words so familiar to her.

"They restrain themselves on account of a woman's presence," she
concluded.

The serious face of Natasha pleased her. The young woman looked at all
these young men so considerately, with the air of an elder person
toward children.

"Wait, comrades," she broke out suddenly. And they all grew silent and
turned their eyes upon her.

"Those who say that we ought to know everything are right. We ought to
illumine ourselves with the light of reason, so that the people in the
dark may see us; we ought to be able to answer every question honestly
and truly. We must know all the truth, all the falsehood."

The Little Russian listened and nodded his head in accompaniment to her
words. Vyesovshchikov, the red-haired fellow, and the other factory
worker, who had come with Pavel, stood in a close circle of three. For
some reason the mother did not like them.

When Natasha ceased talking, Pavel arose and asked calmly:

"Is filling our stomachs the only thing we want?"

"No!" he answered himself, looking hard in the direction of the three.
"We want to be people. We must show those who sit on our necks, and
cover up our eyes, that we see everything, that we are not foolish, we
are not animals, and that we do not want merely to eat, but also to
live like decent human beings. We must show our enemies that our life
of servitude, of hard toil which they impose upon us, does not hinder
us from measuring up to them in intellect, and as to spirit, that we
rise far above them!"

The mother listened to his words, and a feeling of pride in her son
stirred her bosom