ian.

CHAPTER XIV

Life flowed on swiftly. The days were diversified and full of color.
Each one brought with it something new, and the new ceased to alarm the
mother. Strangers came to the house in the evening more and more
frequently, and they talked with Andrey in subdued voices with an
engrossed air. Late at night they went out into the darkness, their
collars up, their hats thrust low over their faces, noiselessly,
cautiously. All seemed to feel a feverish excitement, which they kept
under restraint, and had the air of wanting to sing and laugh if they
only had the time. They were all in a perpetual hurry. All of
them--the mocking and the serious, the frank, jovial youth with
effervescing strength, the thoughtful and quiet--all of them in the
eyes of the mother were identical in the persistent faith that
characterized them; and although each had his own peculiar cast of
countenance, for her all their faces blended into one thin, composed,
resolute face with a profound expression in its dark eyes, kind yet
stern, like the look in Christ's eyes on his way to Emmaus.

The mother counted them, and mentally gathered them together into a
group around Pavel. In that throng he became invisible to the eyes of
the enemy.

One day a vivacious, curly-haired girl appeared from the city, bringing
some parcel for Andrey; and on leaving she said to Vlasova, with a
gleam in her merry eyes:

"Good-by, comrade!"

"Good-by!" the mother answered, restraining a smile. After seeing the
girl to the door, she walked to the window and, smiling, looked out on
the street to watch her comrade as she trotted away, nimbly raising and
dropping her little feet, fresh as a spring flower and light as a
butterfly.

"Comrade!" said the mother when her guest had disappeared from her
view. "Oh, you dear! God grant you a comrade for all your life!"

She often noticed in all the people from the city a certain
childishness, for which she had the indulgent smile of an elderly
person; but at the same time she was touched and joyously surprised by
their faith, the profundity of which she began to realize more and more
clearly. Their visions of the triumph of justice captivated her and
warmed her heart. As she listened to their recital of future
victories, she involuntarily sighed with an unknown sorrow. But what
touched her above all was their simplicity, their beautiful, grand,
generous unconcern for themselves.

She had alre