ment. Liudmila is wearing herself
out. She'll get sick if we don't see that she gets assistance."

"And Vyesovshchikov?" asked Sofya.

"He cannot live in the city. He won't be able to go to work until he
can enter the new printing establishment. And one man is still needed
for it."

"Won't I do?" the mother asked quietly.

All three looked at her in silence for a short while.

"No, it's too hard for you, Nilovna," said Nikolay. "You'll have to
live outside the city and stop your visits to Pavel, and in general----"

With a sigh the mother said:

"For Pasha it won't be a great loss. And so far as I am concerned
these visits, too, are a torment; they tear out my heart. I'm not
allowed to speak of anything; I stand opposite my son like a fool. And
they look into my mouth and wait to see something come out that
oughtn't."

Sofya groped for the mother's hand under the table and pressed it
warmly with her thin fingers. Nikolay looked at the mother fixedly
while explaining to her that she would have to serve in the new
printing establishment as a protection to the workers.

"I understand," she said. "I'll be a cook. I'll be able to do it; I
can imagine what's needed."

"How persistent you are!" remarked Sofya.

The events of the last few days had exhausted the mother; and now as
she heard of the possibility of living outside the city, away from its
bustle, she greedily grasped at the chance.

But Nikolay changed the subject of conversation.

"What are you thinking about, Ivan?" He turned to the physician.

Raising his head from the table, the physician answered sullenly:

"There are too few of us. That's what I'm thinking of. We positively
must begin to work more energetically, and we must persuade Pavel and
Andrey to escape. They are both too invaluable to be sitting there
idle."

Nikolay lowered his brows and shook his head in doubt, darting a glance
at the mother.

As she realized the embarrassment they must feel in speaking of her son
in her presence, she walked out into her own room.

There, lying in bed with open eyes, the murmur of low talking in her
ears, she gave herself up to anxious thoughts. She wanted to see her
son at liberty, but at the same time the idea of freeing him frightened
her. She felt that the struggle around her was growing keener and that
a sharp collision was threatening. The silent patience of the people
was wearing away, yielding to a strained expectation of