s, mother. What are
you doing?"

She answered boldly, seized with youthful ardor:

"I carry all this to the factory." She paused with a smile and
continued: "Sour soup, gruel, all Marya's cookery, and other stuff."

Pavel understood. The muscles of his face quivered with restrained
laughter. He ran his fingers through his hair and said in a tender
tone, such as she had never heard him use:

"My own dear mother! That's good! It's good you've found something to
do, so it isn't tedious for you. You don't feel lonesome, do you,
mother?"

"When the leaflets appeared, they searched me, too," she said, not
without a certain pride.

"Again on this subject!" said the warden in an offended tone. "I tell
you it's forbidden, it's not allowed. They have deprived him of
liberty so that he shouldn't know anything about it; and here you are
with your news. You ought to know it's forbidden!"

"Well, leave it, mother," said Pavel. "Matvey Ivanovich is a good man.
You mustn't do anything to provoke him. We get along together very
well. It's by chance he's here to-day with us. Usually, it's the
assistant superintendent who is present on such occasions. That's why
Matvey Ivanovich is afraid you will say something you oughtn't to."

"Time's up!" announced the warden looking at his watch. "Take your
leave!"

"Well, thank you," said Pavel. "Thank you, my darling mother! Don't
worry now. They'll let me out soon."

He embraced her, pressed her warmly to his bosom, and kissed her.
Touched by his endearments, and happy, she burst into tears.

"Now separate!" said the warden, and as he walked off with the mother
he mumbled:

"Don't cry! They'll let him out; they'll let everybody out. It's too
crowded here."

At home the mother told the Little Russian of her conversation with
Pavel, and her face wore a broad smile.

"I told him! Yes, indeed! And cleverly, too. He understood!" and,
heaving a melancholy sigh: "Oh, yes, he understood; otherwise he
wouldn't have been so tender and affectionate. He has never been that
way before."

"Oh, mother!" the Little Russian laughed. "No matter what other people
may want, a mother always wants affection. You certainly have a heart
plenty big enough for one man!"

"But those people! Just think, Andriusha!" she suddenly exclaimed,
amazement in her tone. "How used they get to all this! Their children
are taken away from them, are thrown into dungeons, and, mind you,