of Shubin's words.

'No, Elena Nikolaevna, to tell you the truth, there was not a single
remarkable man among us. And, indeed, where are such to be found! There
was, they say, a good time once in the Moscow university! But not now.
Now it's a school, not a university. I was not happy with my comrades,'
he added, dropping his voice.

'Not happy,' murmured Elena.

'But I ought,' continued Bersenyev, 'to make an exception. I know one
student--it's true he is not in the same faculty--he is certainly a
remarkable man.'

'What is his name?' Elena inquired with interest.

'Insarov Dmitri Nikanorovitch. He is a Bulgarian.'

'Not a Russian?'

'No, he is not a Russian,'

'Why is he living in Moscow, then?'

'He came here to study. And do you know with what aim he is studying?
He has a single idea: the liberation of his country. And his story is
an exceptional one. His father was a fairly well-to-do merchant; he came
from Tirnova. Tirnova is now a small town, but it was the capital of
Bulgaria in the old days when Bulgaria was still an independent state.
He traded with Sophia, and had relations with Russia; his sister,
Insarov's aunt, is still living in Kiev, married to a senior history
teacher in the gymnasium there. In 1835, that is to say eighteen
years ago, a terrible crime was committed; Insarov's mother suddenly
disappeared without leaving a trace behind; a week later she was found
murdered.'

Elena shuddered. Bersenyev stopped.

'Go on, go on,' she said.

'There were rumours that she had been outraged and murdered by a Turkish
aga; her husband, Insarov's father, found out the truth, tried to avenge
her, but only succeeded in wounding the aga with his poniard.... He was
shot.'

'Shot, and without a trial?'

'Yes. Insarov was just eight years old at the time. He remained in
the hands of neighbours. The sister heard of the fate of her brother's
family, and wanted to take the nephew to live with her. They got him
to Odessa, and from there to Kiev. At Kiev he lived twelve whole years.
That's how it is he speaks Russian so well.'

'He speaks Russian?'

'Just as we do. When he was twenty (that was at the beginning of the
year 1848) he began to want to return to his country. He stayed in
Sophia and Tirnova, and travelled through the length and breadth of
Bulgaria, spending two years there, and learning his mother tongue
over again. The Turkish Government persecuted him, and he was certainly
exposed to great