way, taking with him a
certain young girl who, I blush to say, is my niece.

"Ah! oui, oui," the governor mumbled, shaking his head, "I heard the
story... The princess told me--"

Sipiagin raised his voice.

"That person is a certain Mr. Nejdanov, whom I strongly suspect of
dangerous ideas and theories--"

"Un rouge a tous crins," Kollomietzev put in.

"Yes, dangerous ideas and theories," Sipiagin repeated more
emphatically. "He must certainly know something about this propaganda.
He is... in hiding, as I have been informed by Mr. Paklin, in the
merchant Falyaeva's factory--"

At these words Markelov threw another glance at Paklin and gave a slow,
indifferent smile.

"Excuse me, excuse me, your excellency," Paklin cried, "and you, Mr.
Sipiagin, I never... never--"

"Did you say the merchant Falyaeva?" the governor asked, turning to
Sipiagin and merely shaking his fingers in Paklin's direction, as much
as to say, "Gently, my good man, gently." "What is coming over our
respectable, bearded merchants? Only yesterday one was arrested in
connection with this affair. You may have heard of him--Golushkin, a
very rich man. But he's harmless enough. He won't make revolutions; he's
grovelling on his knees already."

"The merchant Falyaeva has nothing whatever to do with it," Sipiagin
began; "I know nothing of his ideas; I was only talking of his factory
where Mr. Nejdanov is to be found at this very moment, as Mr. Paklin
says--"

"I said nothing of the kind!" Paklin cried; "you said it yourself!"

"Excuse me, Mr. Paklin," Sipiagin pronounced with the same relentless
precision, "I admire that feeling of friendship which prompts you to
deny it." ("A regular Guizot, upon my word!" the governor thought to
himself.) "But take example by me. Do you suppose that the feeling of
kinship is less strong in me than your feeling of friendship? But there
is another feeling, my dear sir, yet stronger still, which guides all
our deeds and actions, and that is duty!"

"Le sentiment du devoir," Kollomietzev explained.

Markelov took both the speakers in at a glance.

"Your excellency!" he exclaimed, "I ask you a second time; please have
me removed out of sight of these babblers."

But there the governor lost patience a little.

"Mr. Markelov!" he pronounced severely, "I would advise you, in your
present position, to be a little more careful of your tongue, and to
show a little more respect to your elders, especially when they