or to free men all heights
are attainable. Then we shall live in truth and freedom and in beauty,
and those will be accounted the best who will the more widely embrace
the world with their hearts, and whose love of it will be the
profoundest; those will be the best who will be the freest; for in them
is the greatest beauty. Then will life be great, and the people will
be great who live that life."

He ceased and straightened himself. Then swinging to and fro like the
tongue of a bell, he added in a resonant voice that seemed to issue
from the depths of his breast:

"So for the sake of this life I am prepared for everything! I will
tear my heart out, if necessary, and will trample it with my own feet!"

His face quivered and stiffened with excitement, and great, heavy tears
rolled down one after the other.

Pavel raised his head and looked at him with a pale face and wide-open
eyes. The mother raised herself a little over the table with a feeling
that something great was growing and impending.

"What is the matter with you, Andrey?" Pavel asked softly.

The Little Russian shook his head, stretched himself like a violin
string, and said, looking at the mother:

"I struck Isay."

She rose, and quickly walked up to him, all in a tremble, and seized
his hands. He tried to free his right hand, but she held it firmly in
her grasp and whispered hotly:

"My dear, my own, hush! It's nothing--it's nothing--nothing, Pasha!
Andriushenka--oh, what a calamity! You sufferer! My darling heart!"

"Wait, mother," the Little Russian muttered hoarsely. "I'll tell you
how it happened."

"Don't!" she whispered, looking at him with tears in her eyes. "Don't,
Andriusha! It isn't our business. It's God's affair!"

Pavel came up to him slowly, looking at his comrade with moist eyes. He
was pale, and his lips trembled. With a strange smile he said softly
and slowly:

"Come, give me your hand, Andrey. I want to shake hands with you. Upon
my word, I understand how hard it is for you!"

"Wait!" said the Little Russian without looking at them, shaking his
head, and tearing himself away from their grasp. When he succeeded in
freeing his right hand from the mother's, Pavel caught it, pressing it
vigorously and wringing it.

"And you mean to tell me you killed that man?" said the mother. "No,
YOU didn't do it! If I saw it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it."

"Stop, Andrey! Mother is right. This thing is beyond o