fe demands hundreds
of hands!"

"Now, if Pasha could be free--and Andriusha," said the mother softly.
Nikolay looked at her and drooped his head.

"You see, Nilovna, it'll be hard for you to hear; but I'll say it,
anyway--I know Pavel well; he won't leave prison. He wants to be
tried; he wants to rise in all his height. He won't give up a trial,
and he needn't either. He will escape from Siberia."

The mother sighed and answered softly:

"Well, he knows what's best for the cause."

Nikolay quickly jumped to his feet, suddenly seized with joy again.

"Thank you, Nilovna! I've just lived through a magnificent
moment--maybe the best moment of my life. Thank you! Now, come, let's
give each other a good, strong kiss!"

They embraced, looking into each other's eyes. And they gave each
other firm, comradely kisses.

"That's good!" he said softly.

The mother unclasped her hands from about his neck and laughed quietly
and happily.

"Um!" said Nikolay the next minute. "If your peasant there would hurry
up and come here! You see, we must be sure to write a leaflet about
Rybin for the village. It won't hurt him once he's come out so boldly,
and it will help the cause. I'll surely do it to-day. Liudmila will
print it quickly. But then arises the question--how will it get to the
village?"

"I'll take it!"

"No, thank you!" Nikolay exclaimed quietly. "I'm wondering whether
Vyesovshchikov won't do for it. Shall I speak to him?"

"Yes; suppose you try and instruct him."

"What'll I do then?"

"Don't worry!"

Nikolay sat down to write, while the mother put the table in order,
from time to time casting a look at him. She saw how his pen trembled
in his hand. It traveled along the paper in straight lines. Sometimes
the skin on his neck quivered; he threw back his head and shut his
eyes. All this moved her.

"Execute them!" she muttered under her breath. "Don't pity the
villains!"

"There! It's ready!" he said, rising. "Hide the paper somewhere on
your body. But know that when the gendarmes come they'll search you,
too!"

"The dogs take them!" she answered calmly.

In the evening Dr. Ivan Danilovich came.

"What's gotten into the authorities all of a sudden?" he said, running
about the room. "There were seven searches last night. Where's the
patient?"

"He left yesterday. To-day, you see, Saturday, he reads to working
people. He couldn't bring it over himself to omit the reading."