the procession."

"Everything's been arranged," said Pavel.

"No use talking of things once decided upon. It only confuses the
mind," the Little Russian added. "If we are all arrested, Nikolay
Ivanovich will come and tell you what to do. He will help you in every
way."

"All right," said the mother with a heavy sigh.

"Let's go out," said Pavel dreamily.

"No, rather stay indoors," replied Andrey. "No need to annoy the eyes
of the police so often. They know you well enough."

Fedya Mazin came running in, all aglow, with red spots on his cheeks,
quivering with youthful joy. His animation dispelled the tedium of
expectation for them.

"It's begun!" he reported. "The people are all out on the street,
their faces sharp as the edge of an ax. Vyesovshchikov, the Gusevs,
and Samoylov have been standing at the factory gates all the time, and
have been making speeches. Most of the people went back from the
factory, and returned home. Let's go! It's just time! It's ten
o'clock already."

"I'm going!" said Pavel decidedly.

"You'll see," Fedya assured them, "the whole factory will rise up after
dinner."

And he hurried away, followed by the quiet words of the mother:

"Burning like a wax candle in the wind."

She rose and went into the kitchen to dress.

"Where are you going, mother?"

"With you," she said.

Andrey looked at Pavel pulling his mustache. Pavel arranged his hair
with a quick gesture, and went to his mother.

"Mother, I will not tell you anything; and don't you tell me anything,
either. Right, mother?"

"All right, all right! God bless you!" she murmured.

When she went out and heard the holiday hum of the people's voices--an
anxious and expectant hum--when she saw everywhere, at the gates and
windows, crowds of people staring at Andrey and her son, a blur
quivered before her eyes, changes from a transparent green to a muddy
gray.

People greeted them--there was something peculiar in their greetings.
She caught whispered, broken remarks:

"Here they are, the leaders!"

"We don't know who the leaders are!"

"Why, I didn't say anything wrong."

At another place some one in a yard shouted excitedly:

"The police will get them, and that'll be the end them!"

"What if they do?" retorted another voice.

Farther on a crying woman's voice leaped frightened the window to the
street:

"Consider! Are you a single man, are you? They are bachelors and
don't care!"

When they